BEIRUT: Daesh militants have destroyed parts of the second-century Roman amphitheater and an iconic monument known as the Tetrapylon in Syria’s historic town of Palmyra, the government and experts said Friday.
It was the extremist group’s latest attack on world heritage, an act that the UN cultural agency called a “war crime.” A Syrian government official said he feared for the remaining antiquities in Palmyra, which IS recaptured last month.
Also on Friday, Turkey’s military said Daesh killed five Turkish soldiers and wounded nine in a bomb attack in northern Syria.
Turkey is leading Syrian opposition fighters in an offensive against the IS-held town of Al-Bab in the Aleppo province, a push that has been bogged down since mid-November. Since its military intervention, Turkey has lost 54 soldiers in Syria, most of them in the Al-Bab offensive.
After suffering several setbacks in Syria, Daesh has gone on the offensive— reclaiming ancient Palmyra in December and launching an attack on a government-held city and military air base in Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria.
On Friday, the state news agency SANA said seven civilians were killed when Daesh shelled a residential area in the city of Deir el-Zour.
However, Daesh remains under pressure in northern Syria from Turkey and US-backed Kurdish forces, as well as in neighboring Iraq where Iraqi troops backed by the US-led coalition is fighting to retake the city of Mosul from the militants.
Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site that once linked Persia, India, China with the Roman empire and the Mediterranean area, has already seen destruction at the hands of the Daesh group. The ancient town first fell to Daesh militants in May 2015, when they held it for 10 months. During that time, Daesh damaged a number of its relics and eventually emptied it of most of its residents, causing an international outcry.
Palmyra fell again to the group last month, only nine months after a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive was hailed as a significant victory for Damascus.
On Friday, Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of Syria’s antiquities department, said reports of the recent destruction first trickled out of the Daesh-held town late in December. But satellite images of the damage only became available late Thursday, confirming the destruction.
Abdulkarim said militants have destroyed the facade of the second-century theater, along with the Roman-era Tetrapylon — a set of four monuments with four columns each standing at the center of the colonnaded road leading to the theater.
Satellite imagery obtained by the Boston-based American Schools of Oriental Research, or ASOR, show extensive damage to the Tetrapylon. DigitalGlobe satellite imagery also shows damage to the theater facade.
ASOR said the damage was likely caused by intentional destruction from Daesh, but the organization was unable to verify the exact cause.
Daesh extremists have destroyed ancient sites across their self-styled Islamic caliphate in Syria and Iraq, perceiving them as monuments to idolatry.
UNESCO’s director-general, Irina Bokova, said the new destruction in Palmyra amounted to a war crime.
“The Tetrapylon was an architectural symbol of the spirit of the encounter and openness of Palmyra — and this is also one of the reasons why it has been destroyed,” she said in a statement.
Abdulkarim told The Associated Press that only two of the 16 columns of the Tetrapylon remain standing.
The Palmyra Tetrapylon, characterized by its four plinths that are not connected overhead, had only one original ancient column, said Abdulkarim. The 15 other columns were modelled after the ancient one and installed by Palmyra’s 81-year old distinguished antiquities scholar Khaled Al-Asaad, who was killed by Daesh militants when they were controlling the town the last time. The militants hung his body from a Roman column.
It was not immediately clear if the original column survived the destruction, Abdulkarim said.
ASOR said new stone debris was scattered across the center stage from damage to the stage backdrop that is also the facade of the theater.
During their first stay in Palmyra, Daesh destroyed ancient temples — including the Temple of Bel, which dated back to A.D. 32, and the Temple of Baalshamin, a structure of stone blocks several stories high and fronted by six towering columns. The group also used the theater for public killings and posted chilling videos of the slayings.
The militants also blew up the Arch of Triumph, built between A.D. 193 and A.D. 211.
Spokesman for Russian President Dmitry Peskov said Syrian troops are continuing their efforts to take back Palmyra. Peskov called the new destruction “barbaric,” saying that it is a “real tragedy for the historic heritage.”
On Friday, Syria’s state news agency said government forces and allied troops have clashed with Daesh militants south of Palmyra, part of a new week-old offensive to reclaim the city.
Abdulkarim said he fears for what remains of the city’s ancient relics.
“When Palmyra fell for the second time, we shed tears because we expected this terror,” he said. “Now we are destined to see more terror if (IS control of Palmyra) continues.”
Palmyra, with its 2,000-year-old towering Roman colonnades and priceless artifacts, was affectionately referred to by Syrians as the “Bride of the Desert.”
A desert oasis surrounded by palm trees in central Syria, Palmyra is also a strategic crossroads linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the country’s east and neighboring Iraq. Located 215 kilometers (155 miles) east of Damascus, the city was once home to 65,000 people before the Syrian civil war began.
However, most Palmyra residents did not return after it was retaken by the government. Activists estimate the city is now home to a few hundred families. Many residents tried to flee as Daesh recaptured the city in December.
On Thursday, reports emerged that the militant group killed 12 captives it held in Palmyra, some of them beheaded in the Roman theater.
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Associated Press writer Lori Hinnant in Paris and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
Daesh in Syria destroys part of Roman theater in Palmyra
Daesh in Syria destroys part of Roman theater in Palmyra
Israel threatens Hamas with ‘annihilation’ as Trump says Gaza ceasefire close
- Israel has repeatedly said that the destruction of Hamas was a key aim of the war
- At least 4,058 people had been killed since Israel resumed military operations on March 18
It came amid dire conditions on the ground, with the United Nations warning that Gaza’s entire population was at risk of famine.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hamas must agree to a ceasefire proposal presented by US envoy Steve Witkoff or be destroyed, after the Palestinian militant group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands.
“The Hamas murderers will now be forced to choose: accept the terms of the ‘Witkoff Deal’ for the release of the hostages – or be annihilated.”
Israel has repeatedly said that the destruction of Hamas was a key aim of the war.
Negotiations to end nearly 20 months of war in Gaza have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in March following a short-lived truce.
In the United States, Trump told reporters “they’re very close to an agreement on Gaza,” adding: “We’ll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow.”
Food shortages in Gaza persist, with aid only trickling in after the partial lifting by Israel of a more than two-month blockade.
Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency, called Gaza “the hungriest place on Earth.”
“It’s the only defined area – a country or defined territory within a country – where you have the entire population at risk of famine,” he said.
Later, the UN condemned the “looting of large quantities of medical equipment” and other supplies “intended for malnourished children” from one of its Gaza warehouses by armed individuals.
Aid groups have warned that desperation for food and medicine among Gazans was causing security to deteriorate.
Israel has doubled down on its settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, while defying calls from French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders for a two-state solution.
This week Israel announced the creation of 22 new settlements in the Palestinian territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
London said the move was a “deliberate obstacle” to Palestinian statehood while Egypt called it “a provocative and blatant new violation of international law and Palestinian rights.”
The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which includes Egypt, also condemned Israel’s decision.
On Friday, Katz vowed to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the West Bank.
Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law and seen as a major obstacle to a lasting peace in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Katz framed the move as a direct rebuke to Macron and others pushing for recognition of a Palestinian state.
Macron on Friday said that recognition of a Palestinian state, with some conditions, was “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.”
Israel’s foreign ministry accused the French president of undertaking a “crusade against the Jewish state.”
Separately, a diplomatic source said that Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan would make the first visit of its kind to the West Bank on Sunday.
The White House announced on Thursday that Israel had “signed off” on a new ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas.
The Palestinian group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands, but stopped short of rejecting it outright, saying it was “holding consultations” on the proposal.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said that at least 45 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Friday, including seven in a strike targeting a family home in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.
Palestinians sobbed over the bodies of their loved ones at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital following the strike, AFPTV footage showed.
“These were civilians and were sleeping at their homes,” said neighbor Mahmud Al-Ghaf, describing “children in pieces.”
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said separately that the air force had hit “dozens of targets” across Gaza over the past day.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Friday that at least 4,058 people had been killed since Israel resumed operations on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,321, mostly civilians.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Tunisia row over ‘repressive’ transfers of political detainees
- Weekly prison visits in Tunisia allow families to bring prisoners baskets of food to last them through the week
TUNIS: Several jailed Tunisian opposition figures have been transferred without prior notice to prisons far from their families in a move their lawyers and relatives on Friday denounced as “repressive.”
At least seven political figures were moved on Thursday from Mornaguia prison near Tunis to remote facilities, lawyer Dalila Msaddek told AFP.
Prominent figure Issam Chebbi was taken to a jail in Tunisia’s northernmost city of Bizerte, while Ridha BelHajj was moved to Siliana some two hours south of Tunis.
“They were moved without any warning to their families or lawyers,” said Msaddek.
She called the transfers “a form of harassment” aimed at making it harder for their Tunis-based families and lawyers to visit.
Weekly prison visits in Tunisia allow families to bring prisoners baskets of food to last them through the week.
Msaddek said some prison inmates resisted the move but were forcibly transferred.
In a letter from prison posted on social media, BelHajj denounced what he called a forced transfer “far from my family, my children, and my lawyers, in yet another attempt to break my will.”
He said he, Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi were “prisoners or conscience, not criminals.”
“What is happening today is a desperate attempt to silence free voices and intimidate anyone who dares to say ‘no’ to injustice and tyranny,” he wrote.
Since President Kais Saied’s power grab in July 2021, when he dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree, rights groups have warned of a sharp decline in civil liberties in the North African country.
In a video statement, Chebbi’s wife denounced the authorities’ move as “an injustice” and “abuse.”
She said she learned of the transfer during her scheduled weekly visit, and that her husband was informed just an hour before being moved.
Once a French military bunker built in 1932, Bizerte prison — Borj Erroumi — became infamous for its harsh conditions under Tunisia’s former longtime rulers Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
All of the transferred prisoners were defendants in a mass trial last month that saw around 40 public figures, some staunch Saied critics, sentenced to long terms on charges including plotting against the state.
The trial drew international criticism, from France, Germany and the United Nations, which Saied dismissed as “blatant interference in Tunisia’s internal affairs.”
During a protest in Tunis demanding the release of jailed lawyer Ahmed Souab, public figures also condemned the prison transfers.
Souab had been a member of the defense team during the mass trial. He was detained on terrorism-related charges after claiming that judges were under political pressure to hand the defendants hefty sentences.
“We’re seeing a return to the old practices of the Ben Ali dictatorship which aimed at breaking the morale of political prisoners by moving them from one prison to another,” opposition figure Chaima Issa told AFP during the protest.
Also attending the rally, Chebbi’s wife said he was now detained in “inhumane” conditions after visiting him.
She said he was being held in the same room as 60 other inmates, deprived of even “basic standards of detention.”
Libya protesters call on PM to quit in third weekly march
- The clashes were sparked by the killing of an armed faction leader by a group aligned with Dbeibah’s government — the 444 Brigade which later fought a third group, the Radaa force that controls parts of eastern Tripoli and the city’s airport
TRIPOLI: Hundreds of protesters gathered in central Tripoli on Friday for the third week in a row to demand the resignation of UN-recognized Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah following recent clashes in Libya’s capital.
Demonstrators chanted “Dbeibah out,” “the people want the fall of the government,” and “long live Libya.”
At least 200 people had assembled by late afternoon, with several hundred more following suit later. Some blasted slogans on loudspeakers from their cars.
Libya is split between the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, led by Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east controlled by the family of military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
The North African country has remained deeply divided since the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi.
National elections scheduled for December 2021 were postponed indefinitely due to disputes between the two rival powers.
The recent unrest came after deadly clashes between armed groups controlling different areas of Tripoli killed at least eight people, according to the UN.
The clashes were sparked by the killing of an armed faction leader by a group aligned with Dbeibah’s government — the 444 Brigade which later fought a third group, the Radaa force that controls parts of eastern Tripoli and the city’s airport.
The fighting broke out also after Dbeibah announced a string of executive orders seeking to dismantle Radaa and dissolve other Tripoli-based armed groups but excluding the 444 Brigade.
The government and UN support mission in Libya have been pressing efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire since.
Last Saturday, a separate protest in Tripoli drew hundreds in support of Dbeibah.
Demonstrators condemned the armed groups and called for the reinstatement of Libya’s 1951 constitution, which was abolished by Qaddafi after his 1969 coup.
Israel strikes western Syria, despite talks
- Syrian state television said the strike targeted sites in the Jableh countryside south of Latakia
- The Israeli military said it struck weapon storage facilities containing coastal missiles
DAMASCUS: Israel on Friday struck western Syria, the Israeli military and Syrian state media said, in the first such attack on the country in nearly a month.
It came after Damascus announced earlier this month indirect talks with Israel to calm tensions, and the US called for a “non-aggression agreement” between the two countries, which are technically at war.
“A strike from Israeli occupation aircraft targeted sites close to the village of Zama in the Jableh countryside south of Latakia,” state television said.
The Israeli military shortly thereafter said it “struck weapon storage facilities containing coastal missiles that posed a threat to international and Israeli maritime freedom of navigation, in the Latakia area of Syria.”
“In addition, components of surface-to-air missiles were struck in the area of Latakia,” it said, adding that it would “continue to operate to maintain freedom of action in the region, in order to carry out its missions and will act to remove any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights meanwhile reported that jets likely to be Israeli struck military sides on the outskirts of Tartus and Latakia.
Syria and Israel have technically been at war since 1948. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and has carried out hundreds of strikes and several incursions since the overthrow of Bashar Assad in December.
Israel says its strikes aim to stop advanced weapons reaching Syria’s new authorities, whom it considers jihadists.
UN condemns ‘armed individuals’ for looting medical supplies in Gaza
- The group “stormed the warehouses at a field hospital in Deir Al-Balah, looting large quantities of medical equipment,” said Dujarric
- The stolen aid had been brought into war-ravaged Gaza just a day earlier
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations condemned Friday a group of “armed individuals” for raiding warehouses in the Palestinian territory of Gaza and looting large amounts of medical supplies.
The group “stormed the warehouses at a field hospital in Deir Al-Balah, looting large quantities of medical equipment, supplies, medicines, nutritional supplements that was intended for malnourished children,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The stolen aid had been brought into war-ravaged Gaza just a day earlier, he said.
“As conditions on the ground further deteriorate and public order and safety breaks down, looting incidents continue to be reported,” he said.
But Dujarric highlighted the difference between Friday’s event and the looting two days earlier of a UN World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse by “starving” Palestinians, desperate for aid.
“This appeared to be much more organized and much different from the looting we’d seen... in the past days,” he said.
“This was an organized operation with armed men.”
Since the beginning of last week, Israel has begun to allow a trickle of aid into the Palestinian territory, after a total blockade imposed on March 2.
The UN has warned that the aid allowed through so far was “a drop in the ocean” of the towering needs in Gaza, after the blockade created dramatic shortages of food and medicine.
The UN humanitarian agency warned Friday that “100 percent of the population (are) at risk of famine.”
Gaza has been decimated by Israel’s punishing military offensive on the territory, which has killed at least 54,321 people, mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures the UN considers reliable.
It has also reduced much of the territory to rubble, destroying hospitals, schools, residential areas and basic road and sewage infrastructure.
Israel launched its offensive in response to an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
On Thursday, “we and our humanitarian partners only managed to collect five truckloads of cargo from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing,” Dujarric said.
“Another 60 trucks had to return to the crossing due to intense hostilities in the area.”
He rejected Israeli allegations that the UN was not collecting available aid.
“It was no longer safe to use that road,” which Israel’s military had asked aid organizations to use, he said, stressing that there are “a lot of armed gangs” operating there.
The five trucks that did make it through on Thursday were carrying medical supplies for the Deir Al-Balah field hospital.
And most of those supplies “were looted today, very sadly and tragically,” Dujarric said.
