BEIRUT: Syrian warplanes resumed bombarding the key northwestern town of Maaret Al-Numan yesterday, as clashes erupted on a nearby highway and an explosion rocked a town in Damascus province, a watchdog said.
The warplanes pounded Maaret Al-Numan as they have daily since it was overrun by fighters on Oct. 9, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
One fighter was killed in fighting after a military convoy was attacked on the highway south of Maaret Al-Numan, the Observatory said.
The military wants to regain control of the highway to resupply units under fire in Aleppo for the past three months and assist 250 troops besieged in their Wadi Deif base.
On Friday, fighters accused the regime of using cluster bombs in the attack, echoing claims by a rights group.
Fighters showed AFP debris from cluster bombs they accused the air force of dropping on residential areas, as well as dozens of others that failed to explode on impact.
Human Rights Watch has accused Syria of using cluster bombs.
In Damascus province, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the town of Harasta after a powerful explosion rocked it, followed by shelling that killed two civilians killed, the Observatory said.
Meanwhile, peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi yesterday pressed Damascus for a truce to break the cycle of bloodshed.
Brahimi is hoping to secure a ceasefire during the four-day Eid Al-Adha Muslim holiday, which he believes could pave the way for other, more permanent peace initiatives.
“We will have discussions here with the government, the political parties and civil society about the situation in Syria,” Brahimi said when he arrived in Damascus on Friday.
“We will talk about the need to reduce the current violence and about whether it is possible to stop for the occasion of Eid Al-Adha.”
He is also expected to hold talks with Assad at a later date.
Brahimi is backed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Arab League head Nabil Al-Arabi who believe that if a truce is agreed during Eid, it could be extended to bring some respite in the 19-month conflict that has already killed more than 34,000 people.
Washington too has backed the truce call.
“We urge the Syrian government to stop all military operations and call on opposition forces to follow suit,” said a State Department statement.
Damascus has said it is ready to discuss the truce plan with Brahimi, while the opposition says the regime must take the first step and halt its daily bombardments.
Meanwhile, Washington has reportedly stepped up intelligence cooperation with Turkey, whose ties with Assad’s regime have rapidly deteriorated.
Separately, Turkey’s state-run agency said clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country have left nine people dead.
The Anatolia news agency said yesterday three Turkish troops and three Kurdish rebels were killed in fighting that broke out in Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq.
The agency said rebels also attacked a military unit in Bitlis province, northwest of Hakkari, killing three government-paid village guards who are helping the Turkish security forces.
The attack comes amid a sharp escalation in violence over the past few months in Turkey’s southeast, where the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, are fighting for self-rule for Kurds.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the group took up arms in 1984.
Assad’s jets resume bombarding Maaret Al-Numan
Assad’s jets resume bombarding Maaret Al-Numan
Blast rocks church in Syria’s Damascus, witnesses say
DAMASCUS: A blast rocked the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of Syria’s capital Damascus on Sunday, according to witnesses.
One told Reuters a suicide bomber detonated himself inside the church. A spokesperson for Damascus security forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israeli authorities arrest four Al-Aqsa guards, storm old prayer hall
- Israeli forces storm prayer hall beneath the Qibli Mosque, damaging its contents
- Jerusalem Governorate says action is part of efforts to assert control over the mosque’s administration and undermine the Waqf authority
LONDON: Israeli authorities arrested four guards at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during a search raid on Saturday night inside the compound’s old prayer hall.
The Jerusalem Governorate, affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, said that the detainees were identified as Mohammad Arbash, Ramzi Al-Zaanin, Basem Abu Juma, and Iyad Odeh. Several other guards and a firefighter in the compound were interrogated at the site by Israelis, the Wafa news agency reported.
Just after midnight on Saturday, Israeli forces stormed the old prayer hall at Al-Aqsa, a subterranean area beneath the Qibli Mosque, damaging its contents after breaking into storage cabinets and searching the premises, Wafa added.
The governorate said the latest Israeli action was part of efforts to assert control over the mosque’s administration and undermine the authority of the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem.
After less than a week of complete closure under a state of emergency linked to the ongoing war with Iran, the Al-Aqsa Mosque was reopened by Israeli authorities, allowing Palestinian and other Muslim worshippers to enter the site under strict regulations, Wafa reported.
Palestinian Authority considers phasing out shekel as Israeli banks refuse to accept surplus
- Israeli banks’ refusal to accept the transfer of surplus shekels means fewer foreign currencies that are necessary for commerce and business
- Israel’s finance minister in June ended a waiver that allowed Israeli banks to engage with Palestinian ones without being scrutinized for money laundering and financing extremism
LONDON: The Palestinian Authority is considering replacing the Israeli shekel as the primary currency in circulation due to its increasing accumulation in the banks.
The Palestine Monetary Authority announced on Sunday that it has taken significant steps to address the growing accumulation of shekels in Palestinian banks after Israeli banks’ continuing refusal to accept the transfer of surplus shekels in exchange for foreign currencies necessary for commerce and business.
The PMA is considering alternative options, including a shift away from using the shekel as the primary currency in circulation, the Wafa news agency reported.
In early June, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ended a waiver that allowed Israeli banks to engage with Palestinian banks without being scrutinized for money laundering and financing extremism.
Smotrich, who has been outspoken about weakening the Palestinian Authority and opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, made this decision shortly after being sanctioned by the UK and four European countries for inciting violence in the occupied West Bank.
The PMA said it aims to create a more resilient and sustainable digital economy in Palestine and has consulted various economic sectors and the Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture before it makes a final decision. Alongside phasing out the Israeli shekel, the PMA studied digital payment strategies to avoid shekel accumulation in Palestinian banks, Wafa reported.
How many hostages are left in Gaza?
- 50 hostages remain in captivity
- PM Netanyahu said Israel is committed to returning the remaining hostages even as it wages a new military campaign against Iran
Israel said Sunday that it has recovered the bodies of three more hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that ignited the ongoing 20-month war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military identified them as Yonatan Samerano, 21; Ofra Keidar, 70; and Shay Levinson, 19. All three were killed during the initial attack and their bodies were taken into Gaza. Kobi Samerano said in a Facebook post that his son’s remains were returned on what would have been Yonatan’s 23rd birthday.
The military did not provide details about the operation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is committed to returning the remaining hostages even as it wages a new military campaign against Iran.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack. More than 55,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Here are details on the hostages:
Total hostages captured on Oct. 7, 2023: 251
Hostages taken before the Oct. 7 attack: 4, including 2 who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015 and the bodies of 2 soldiers killed in the 2014 war
Hostages released in exchanges or other deals: 148, of whom 8 were dead
Bodies of hostages retrieved by Israeli forces: 49
Hostages rescued alive: 8
Hostages still in captivity: 50, of whom Israel believes 27 are dead. Netanyahu has said there are “doubts” about the fate of several more.
The hostages in captivity include four non-Israelis: 2 Thais and 1 Tanzanian who have been confirmed dead, and a Nepalese captive.
US, Israel crossed ‘big red line’, Iran FM says as heads to Moscow
- ‘Through this action, the United States has dealt a serious blow to international peace and security’
- Iran’s top envoy says any demand to return to negotiations was ‘irrelevant’
ISTANBUL: The United States and Israel crossed a major red line in attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran’s top diplomat warned Sunday, saying he was heading to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin.
“They crossed a very big red line by attacking (Iran’s) nuclear facilities,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.
He was speaking just hours after President Donald Trump said US warplanes struck three Iranian nuclear sites, nine days into an Israeli bombing campaign targeting its nuclear facilities.
“The most dangerous one happened only last night,” Araghchi said, while acknowledging he did not know the full extent of the damage done in the strikes, including one at the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo.
“I still do not have exact information about the level of damages, but I don’t think it matters... Last night’s attack was a grave crime,” he said.
“Through this action, the United States has dealt a serious blow to international peace and security,” he said, vowing that Iran would defend itself “by all means necessary against... US military aggression.”
Araghchi said he would head to Moscow on Sunday and hold talks with Putin on Monday morning.
“I’m going to Moscow this afternoon” to hold “serious consultations with the Russian president tomorrow,” he said.
After the strikes, Trump said Iran “must now agree to end this war.”
But Araghchi said any demand to return to negotiations was “irrelevant.”
“The world must not forget that it was the United States which — in the midst of a process to forge a diplomatic outcome — betrayed diplomacy by supporting the genocidal Israeli regime’s launch of an illegal war of aggression on the Iranian nation,” he said.
“So we were in diplomacy, but we were attacked... They have proved that they are not men of diplomacy, and they only understand the language of threat and force.”
Turkiye, which was hosting the weekend OIC summit, warned that the strikes risked escalating the Iran-Israel conflict to a global level that could have “catastrophic” consequences.
“The ongoing developments could cause the regional conflict to escalate to a global level. We do not want this catastrophic scenario to come to life,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
