Middle East latest: Israeli strikes hit Gaza and also target suspected weapons sites in Syria
Israeli strikes killed at least six people in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical officials said Monday, while also hitting suspected chemical and long-range weapons sites in Syria to keep them from rebels who seized Damascus.
The U.N. Security Council on Monday held emergency closed consultations on Syria at the request of Russia, which said it granted asylum to its longtime ally Syrian leader Bashar Assad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin personally made the decision to offer asylum to Assad, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Peskov wouldn’t comment on Assad’s specific whereabouts and said that Putin wasn’t planning to meet with him.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,500 Palestinians in the Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to local health authorities. They say most of the dead are women and children but do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250, including older adults and children. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
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UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council appears united on the need to preserve Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity and provide humanitarian assistance to millions in need following the surprise rebel offensive that overthrew President Bashar Assad, the United States and Russia said after a closed U.N. Security Council emergency meeting.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, who called for Monday’s meeting, told reporters that the lightning takeover of Syria took everyone by surprise and the council has to watch and evaluate the fluid situation.
“The council, I think, was more or less united on the need to preserve the territorial integrity and unity of Syria, to ensure the protection of civilians, to ensure that humanitarian aid is coming to the needed population,” he said.
Nebenzia said council members discussed issuing a united statement on Syria at the closed meeting, hopefully “in the coming days.”
U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said the U.S. is working to get agreement on a statement “over the next day or so.”
“The intention is for the council to speak with one voice on the situation in Syria,” he said.
During the closed consultations, Wood said, the 15 council members showed “a great respect and great understanding of what’s going on on the ground right now.”
“No one expected the Syrian forces to fall like a house of cards, and it took a lot of people by surprise,” he said. “It’s very fluid situation, but just about everyone spoke about the need for Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence to be respected, concern about the humanitarian situation.”
Wood said there’s a lot of uncertainty about the future, but Assad’s ouster is a new opportunity for a democratic Syria that respects the human rights and dignity of the Syrian people. At the same time, there are great risks, he said, and “we want to try to take advantage of the opportunities before other nefarious actors, try to take advantage of it for not so good purposes.
UNITED NATIONS – Syria’s U.N. ambassador says the country’s embassies and missions have received instructions to continue doing their job during the current transitional period.
“We are with the Syrian people,” Koussay Aldahhak told a group of journalists including The Associated Press on Monday outside the U.N. Security Council where members were holding emergency closed consultations on the rebel overthrow of President Bashar Assad.
“Syria now is witnessing a new era of change, a new historical phase of its history and Syrians are looking forward for establishing a state of freedom, equality, rule of law, democracy,” the Syrian envoy said. “We will join efforts to rebuild our country, to rebuild what was destroyed, and to rebuild the future, a better future of Syria for all Syrians,”
Syria’s U.N. mission follows instructions from the leaders who draw up the country’s foreign policy, he said, adding that while they await a new government "we are continuing with the current one and the leadership.”
On instructions from the current leaders, Aldahhak said he sent letters to the Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Monday condemning and demanding an end to Israeli attacks on Syria on Sunday and Monday, and demanding “to not allow Israel to benefit from the transition that the Syrians are doing now.”
Aldahhak said like everyone he was surprised at the sudden transformation in the country.
Asked whether he was happy about it, he said that even though the U.N. mission is thousands of miles from Syria, “When Syrians are happy, we are happy. When Syrians are suffering, we are suffering.”
“We want to live in stability and security. Syrians suffered for a long time," he said.
WASHINGTON — The State Department says it is not actively reviewing the “foreign terrorist organization” designation of the main Syrian rebel group that overthrew of President Bashar Assad’s government this weekend. But, it says such designations are constantly under review and that even while it is in place, the designation does not bar U.S. officials speaking with members or leaders of the group.
“There is no specific review related to what happened” over the weekend, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday. “That said, we are always reviewing. Based on their actions there could be a change in our sanctions posture, but we have nothing today.”
He said a review could be initiated if HTS takes steps to reverse the reasons for its designation. That would be based entirely on their actions, he said.
The so-called FTO designation imposes numerous sanctions against those targeted, including a ban on the provision of “material support” to such groups, although Miller said that would not necessarily prevent discussions between its members and U.S. officials.
He cited the case of the Trump administration negotiating with the Taliban over the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan but later conceded that the Taliban has never been designated an FTO. Instead, the Taliban was listed as a “specially designated terrorist organization” a label that comes with less stringent sanctions.
Nevertheless, Miller said that U.S. officials “do have the ability, when it is in our interest legally to communicate with a designated terrorist organization.”
In an unrelated move, Miller said the U.S. had arranged with local groups to secure the shuttered U.S. embassy compound in Damascus, which suspended operations in 2012 and had been until recently under the protection of the Czech embassy. The Czechs, however, closed their own embassy in Damascus as the situation in the capital grew more uncertain. Miller would not say with what groups the U.S. made the arrangements with.
President Joe Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah II spoke by phone on Monday about the rapidly evolving situation in Syria and joint efforts to keep the terror group ISIS from exploiting the situation, according to the White House.
The leaders also discussed the dozens of U.S airstrikes conducted on Sunday targeting IS leaders and fighters in the Syrian desert as well as ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.
The call between the leaders comes with Undersecretary of state for Political Affairs John Bass and Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf in the region now holding consultations with key partners. They are in Amman, Jordan, on Monday and were in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend.
More than a million Syrian refugees have flooded into neighboring Jordan since the civil war ignited in 2011, and officials in Amman are hoping to avoid another refugee crisis following the fall of Basher al-Assad’s regime.
“The President emphasized the support of the United States for the stability of Jordan and Jordan’s central role in maintaining stability and de-escalating tensions throughout the Middle East region,” the White House said in a statement.
DAMASCUS—The Israeli air force launched more than 100 airstrikes targeting military sites in four Syrian cities, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Associated Press reporters. The strikes killed two people and caused extensive damage to key military facilities.
The targeted military sites included research centers, weapons warehouses, airports and aircraft squadrons, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The attacks also disabled air defense systems and rendered multiple sites inoperable.
Among the targets were research centers in Hama and Damascus, including the Barzeh Scientific Research Center. The facility has previously been targeted, most notably during a 2018 U.S.-led coalition strike in response to Syria’s alleged chemical weapons program.
In Damascus, an Associated Press reporter described plumes of smoke rising from the Barzeh research facility as weapon warehouses were also struck. Heavy explosions were heard across the capital.
In the port city of Latakia, airstrikes hit an air defense facility near the coastal port, damaging Syrian naval ships and warehouses previously controlled by the former Syrian regime, the Syrian Observatory said.
In Daraa, a city in southwestern Syria, strikes targeted military positions and warehouses in the western countryside and northern areas, killing two people, the observatory said.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the strikes in Syria.
Earlier on Monday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said it had struck suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets in Syria to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile actors.
The U.S. has sent its special envoy for hostage affairs to Beirut to seek information about the whereabouts of Austin Tice, a journalist who vanished in Syria 12 years ago, following the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s government.
Roger Carstens is talking to officials in the region to find out where Tice is and “get him home as soon as possible,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Monday.
President Joe Biden said Sunday that his administration believed Tice was alive and was committed to bringing him home. Tice, who has had his work published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets, disappeared in August 2012 at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus.
A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, “Oh, Jesus.” He has not been heard from since. Syria has publicly denied that it was holding him.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon sent an urgent letter to the U.N. Security Council Monday calling the recent developments in Syria “a security threat” and saying it has taken “limited and temporary measures to counter any further threat to its citizens.” He said Israel is committed to the framework of the 1974 disengagement agreement and “does not intervene in the ongoing conflict between Syrian armed groups.”
The Security Council is scheduled to meet shortly for closed consultations called by Russia which said it wanted the buffer zone issue discussed.
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations says Israeli forces are occupying a demilitarized buffer zone between Israel and Syria in violation of a 1974 ceasefire agreement following the 1973 Mideast war.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday U.N. peacekeepers confirmed that “Israeli Defense Forces have entered the area of separation and have been moving within that area where they remain in at least three locations.”
The Israeli military informed the peacekeeping force, known as UNDOF, that it would enter the area as “a temporary defensive measure” to prevent it from being occupied “by non-state armed groups” and reserved the right to take action against any threat against Israel, Dujarric said.
“For our part, the peacekeepers at UNDOF informed the Israeli counterparts that these actions would constitute a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement, that there should be no military forces or activities in the area of separation, and Israel and Syria must continue to uphold the terms of that 1974 agreement,” the U.N. spokesman said.
Dujarric underscored that following the rebel overthrow of president Bashar Assad “the U.N. remains committed to helping Syrians build a country where reconciliation, where justice, and where freedom and prosperity are shared realities for all.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to Turkey’s foreign minister and Qatar’s prime minister Monday morning about rebuilding Syria’s institutions so that they are inclusive, protect minority rights, and restore Syria’s territorial integrity, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Guterres and his senior advisors, including U.N. special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, will continue to press this issue with other key leaders and parties, he said.
On the humanitarian front, Dujarric said more than 16 million Syrians need assistance and there is an urgent need for more shelter materials, food and sanitation facilities.
According to the U.N.’s partners, he said, some one million people, mostly women and children, were displaced between Nov. 28 and Sunday, particularly from Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Idlib governorates.
Hundreds of Syrian refugees gathered at two border crossings in southern Turkey on Monday, eagerly anticipating their return home following the fall of President Bashar Assad’s government.
Many arrived at the Cilvegozu and Oncupinar border gates at daybreak, draped in blankets and coats. Some camped by the barriers of the border crossing, warming themselves with makeshift fires or resting on the cold ground. The crossings correspond to the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salameh gates on the Syrian side of the border.
Hundreds of displaced Syrians are also returning from Lebanon, with dozens of cars lining up to enter. Turkish officials have not said how many Syrians have returned since Assad’s downfall. The country hosts 3 million refugees.
ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey’s president on Monday welcomed the capture of two Kurdish-held cities in northern Syria by a Turkey-backed opposition force and said Turkey would not allow militant groups to threaten its security from across its borders.
The Turkish proxy force, known as the Syrian National Army, took control of the city of Manbij on Monday days after it also took over the city of Tal Rifaat, expelling Syrian Kurdish militias.
In a televised address, Recep Tayyip Erdogan maintained that Kurdish groups in Syria were attempting to “turn the chaos into an opportunity.”
“We will not tolerate the emergence of new terrorist outbreaks beyond our borders,” Erdogan said.
The Turkish leader again hailed the fall of Syrian President Bashir Assad and vowed to stand by the Syrian people.
“As of yesterday, dark era has ended in Syria, bright days have begun,” Erdogan said. “While Aleppo, Hama, Homs and finally Damascus passed under the control of (Syria’s) real owners, the Baath dictatorship which had survived through blood, cruelty, oppression and tyranny for 61 years, has completely collapsed."
Erdogan added that Turkey wanted all of Syria's ethnic and religious groups to live in peace.
As hundreds of refugees began to return to Syria, Erdogan announced plans to reopen a third border crossing to prevent “congestions and ease the (refugee) flows.”
BEIRUT — The leader of Syria’s opposition met for the first time with the country’s prime minister to discuss Syria’s political transition following the fall of the Syrian regime. He emphasized that the new leadership cannot entirely abandon the practices of the previous government.
In a video of the meeting shared on the rebels’ “Military Operations” Telegram channel, opposition leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, widely known as Abu Mohammad al-Golani, told Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi Jalali, “The men have a high level of experience,” referring to the rebels.
“They started the work from nothing. Idlib is small and has few resources, but thank God, we were able to achieve something big through it,” he added. “You will see there are skills, and despite this, we cannot dispense of the old practices.”
Earlier today, Jalali said most cabinet members who are in Damascus are performing their duties from their offices to guarantee security in the country.
LONDON — Britain has followed Germany and several other European countries by suspending decisions about whether to accept Syrian refugees in the wake of the Assad government’s fall.
The Home Office said in a statement on Monday that it “has paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims whilst we assess the current situation.”
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the U.K. will not soon remove Syrian militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham from its list of terror groups, after one of his Cabinet ministers said it would be considered “quite quickly.”
Speaking on a visit to Saudi Arabia, Starmer said “no decision is pending at all on this.”
Starmer said “it is far too early” to make that decision, and “at the moment the focus has to be on talking to our allies, making sure that this is an opportunity for Syria and therefore we have to work to make sure that this is a peaceful opportunity.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said HTS’ past links with al-Qaida “should rightly make us cautious” and “we will judge HTS by their actions.”
Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden said earlier that the group’s removal from the terrorist list “will have to be considered quite quickly.”
UNITED NATIONS – The United States has three primary interests in Syria: protecting U.S. soldiers and personnel, ensuring U.S. allies are safe, and preventing a humanitarian catastrophe, the U.S. deputy ambassador said ahead of an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on the fast-evolving events in the country.
The United States will work to try and ensure that “all of those things happen,” Robert Wood told reporters ahead of Monday afternoon’s closed council meeting called by Russia.
He said another “high, high priority” for the U.S. is to locate and free missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago near the Syrian capital. “We have reasons to believe that he still is (alive), but we have to see,” he said.
Wood called the situation in Syria “dynamic” following the rebel overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The U.S. will judge the insurgent force now in control of Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS on “what actions they take.” HTS is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, which impacts U.S. efforts to communicate directly with the rebels. But he said there are various channels to talk to different factions “and we’re going to do that in order to try to best protect our interests in Syria right now.”
As for Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, Wood said Tehran and its allies Hezbollah and Hamas are clearly weakened while Israel has been strengthened.
“We just want to make sure that nefarious players are not going to be able to take advantage of the situation in Syria right now, because everything is fragile and fast-moving,” Wood said.
BEIRUT— Rebel forces in Syria announced Monday a general amnesty for all conscripted soldiers serving under mandatory service in the now-ousted Syrian regime.
“The Military Operations Directorate announces a general amnesty for all conscripted soldiers serving under mandatory service. Their safety is guaranteed, and any harm or assault against them is strictly prohibited,” the opposition said in a message on their Telegram channel.
The announcement followed the ousting of Bashar Assad and the fall of his regime, which had ruled Syria for over 50 years. The opposition faced little resistance from the Syrian army as it moved south, swiftly capturing one city after another.
THE HAGUE — The global chemical weapons watchdog on Monday reminded Syria of its obligations to comply with rules to safeguard certain toxic chemicals, after rebels entered the capital Damascus over the weekend and overthrew President Bashar Assad.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a statement it has been “monitoring closely the recent developments in Syria, with special attention to the status of its chemical weapons related sites and other locations of interest.”
Syria’s Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said Monday that most cabinet ministers are still working from offices in Damascus but the status of a stockpile of chemical weapons that Assad has been accused of using against civilians is unclear.
Assad’s government has denied using chemical weapons but the OPCW has found evidence indicating their repeated use by Syria in the country’s grinding civil war.
BEIRUT — Representatives from a five-member committee tasked with enforcing a ceasefire that stopped the war between Hezbollah and Israel on Monday held their first meeting in Naqoura, southern Lebanon.
The group, comprising the United States, France, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon known as UNIFIL, the Lebanese army and the Israeli army met to coordinate efforts supporting the Nov. 27 ceasefire, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said.
Hosted by UNIFIL and chaired by the U.S. with France assisting, the meeting focused on advancing the implementation of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which aims to maintain stability along the Lebanon-Israel border, the embassy said.
“This mechanism will meet regularly and coordinate closely to advance implementation of the ceasefire agreement and UNSCR 1701,” the U.S. Embassy said.
The U.S. military announced in late November that Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers and envoy Amos Hochstein would co-chair the committee temporarily, with Hochstein serving until a permanent civilian co-chair is appointed.
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