DAMASCUS: Syria’s regime drew closer to taking full control of Eastern Ghouta on Monday as state media reported that fighters began evacuating the last opposition-held pocket of the former opposition stronghold near Damascus.
A Russian-brokered deal had been reported on Sunday for fighters with Jaish Al-Islam, the largest opposition group still in Ghouta, to leave the enclave’s main town of Douma.
But the fighters have not yet confirmed the agreement, amid reports of divisions in the group as hard-line militants refuse to abandon their posts.
The retaking of Eastern Ghouta would mark a major milestone in Bashar Assad’s efforts to regain control of territory seized by opposition factions during Syria’s seven-year civil war.
Meanwhile, a senior US Republican senator on Sunday warned President Donald Trump against pulling American troops from Syria, saying it would lead to a resurgence of Daesh and increased Iranian sway over the Syrian regime in Damascus.
“It’d be the single worst decision the president could make,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on the Fox News Sunday program.
“We got ISIL (Daesh) on the ropes. You want to let ‘em off the ropes, remove American soldiers,” Graham said.
Assad’s forces have retaken 95 percent of Eastern Ghouta since launching a blistering assault on the besieged enclave on Feb. 18, killing 1,600 civilians and displacing tens of thousands more.
State media on Monday said Jaish Al-Islam fighters and members of their families had started leaving Douma in preparation for them heading to an opposition-held town in northern Syria.
“Twelve buses carrying 629 Jaish Al-Islam terrorists and their families exited Douma ... in preparation of them being transported to Jarabulus,” state news agency SANA said, using the regime’s term for all opposition fighters.
But journalists on the ground said both the regime and the opposition fighters had restricted access to the evacuation operation from Douma.
Pro-regime newspaper Al-Watan said in an editorial on Monday it was a matter of hours until Douma was declared a “town empty of terrorism.”
“The town of Douma has come closer to joining other villages and areas of (Eastern) Ghouta taken back by the army,” it said.
The fighters have been negotiating with Russia, a key ally of Assad, for days on an agreement to evacuate Douma.
Late on Sunday, Russian news agency Interfax quoted General Yuri Yevtushenko as saying a “preliminary deal” had been reached to evacuate Jaish Al-Islam fighters.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group on Monday reported divisions within the ranks of Jaish Al-Islam, which has previously said it would not leave Douma.
“There are attempts to convince the hard-line wing of Jaish Al-Islam not to obstruct the agreement with the Russians,” said the head of the Britain-based monitor, Rami Abdel Rahman.
In video footage published by Jaish Al-Islam online on Sunday, the group’s leader told a group of men in a mosque he would stay put.
“We will stay in this town and will not leave. Those who want to leave should leave,” Essam Al-Buidani says in the video, although it was unclear when it was filmed.
Jaish Al-Islam counts around 10,000 fighters, according to the Observatory.
Backed by Russia, Assad’s forces have scored a series of victories over opposition forces in recent years, often through campaigns of siege, aerial bombardment and ground offensives that have drawn widespread international condemnation.
Before Feb. 18, some 400,000 people in Eastern Ghouta had lived under regime siege for five years, facing severe food and medicine shortages.
After pounding it with airstrikes, regime forces have taken back most of the enclave through a combination of ground assaults and Russia-brokered evacuation deals.
In the past few weeks, these deals have seen more than 46,000 people — fighters and civilians — board buses with scant belongings to be driven to the northwestern province of Idlib, which is largely outside regime control.
These include more than 1,000 people — fighters from another faction, Faylaq Al-Rahman, and family members — who left Douma late Sunday, according to state media.
Opposition fighters begin leaving Eastern Ghouta
Opposition fighters begin leaving Eastern Ghouta
Netanyahu says Israel offering $5 mn reward for each Gaza hostage freed
- During Oct. 7, 2023 attack which triggered war in Gaza, Hamas took 251 hostages
- Of those, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed dead
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel was offering a reward of $5 million to anybody who brings out a hostage held in Gaza.
“Anybody who brings out a hostage will find with us a secure way for them and their family to leave” Gaza, Netanyahu said in a video filmed inside the Palestinian territory, according to his office.
“We will also give them a reward of $5 million for each hostage.”
Wearing a helmet and a bullet-proof jacket, Netanyahu spoke with his back to the Mediterranean in the Netzarim Corridor, Israel’s main military supply route which carves the Gaza Strip in two just south of Gaza City.
“Anyone who dares to do harm to our hostages is considered dead — we will pursue you and we will catch up with you,” he said.
Accompanied by Defense Minister Israel Katz, Netanyahu underlined that one of Israel’s war aims remained that “Hamas does not rule in Gaza.”
“We are also making efforts to locate the hostages and bring them home. We won’t give up. We will continue until we’ve found them all, alive or dead.”
During Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack which triggered the war in Gaza, militants took 251 hostages. Of those, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed dead.
Netanyahu says Israel offering $5 mn reward for each Gaza hostage freed
- “Anybody who brings out a hostage will find with us a secure way for them and their family to leave” Gaza, Netanyahu says
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel was offering a reward of $5 million to anybody who brings out a hostage held in Gaza.
“Anybody who brings out a hostage will find with us a secure way for them and their family to leave” Gaza, Netanyahu said in a video filmed inside the Palestinian territory, according to his office.
“We will also give them a reward of $5 million for each hostage.”
Wearing a helmet and a bullet-proof jacket, Netanyahu spoke with his back to the Mediterranean in the Netzarim Corridor, Israel’s main military supply route which carves the Gaza Strip in two just south of Gaza City.
“Anyone who dares to do harm to our hostages is considered dead — we will pursue you and we will catch up with you,” he said.
Accompanied by Defense Minister Israel Katz, Netanyahu underlined that one of Israel’s war aims remained that “Hamas does not rule in Gaza.”
“We are also making efforts to locate the hostages and bring them home. We won’t give up. We will continue until we’ve found them all, alive or dead.”
During Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack which triggered the war in Gaza, militants took 251 hostages. Of those, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed dead.
Turkiye’s Erdogan says Israel’s Herzog was denied airspace en route to Azerbaijan
- “In light of the situation assessment and for security reasons, the President of the State has decided to cancel his trip to the Climate Conference in Azerbaijan,” the Israeli presidency said
ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkiye refused to allow Israeli President Isaac Herzog to use its airspace to attend the COP climate summit in Azerbaijan, highlighting Ankara’s stance amid tensions with Israel.
“We did not allow the Israeli president to use our airspace to attend the COP summit. We suggested alternative routes and other options,” Erdogan told reporters at the G20 Summit in Brazil.
Herzog ended up canceling the visit.
“In light of the situation assessment and for security reasons, the President of the State has decided to cancel his trip to the Climate Conference in Azerbaijan,” the Israeli presidency said. Israel launched a devastating war against Hamas in Gaza a year ago after the Palestinian Islamist group’s deadly cross-border attack.
Turkiye withdrew its ambassador in Israel for consultations after the Gaza war broke out, but has not officially severed its ties with Israel and its embassy remains open and operational.
“But whether he was able to go or not, I honestly don’t know,” Erdogan said on Herzog’s visit to Baku.
“On certain matters, as Turkiye, we are compelled to take a stand, and we will continue to do so,” he said.
Hospital chief decries ‘extreme catastrophe’ in north Gaza
- Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hossam Abu Safiyeh told AFP by phone: “The situation in northern Gaza is that of an extreme catastrophe
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: The World Health Organization expressed grave concern on Tuesday for hospitals still partly operating in war-stricken northern Gaza, where one hospital director described the situation as an “extreme catastrophe.”
“We are very, very concerned, and it’s getting harder and harder to get the aid in. It’s getting harder and harder to get the specialist personnel in at a time when there is greater and greater need,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told journalists in Geneva.
She said the organization was “particularly concerned about Kamal Adwan Hospital” in Beit Lahia, where Israeli forces launched an offensive against Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups last month.
Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hossam Abu Safiyeh told AFP by phone: “The situation in northern Gaza is that of an extreme catastrophe.
“We’re beginning to lose patients because we lack medical supplies and personnel,” he said.
Abu Safiyeh added that his hospital had been “targeted many times by the occupation forces, most recently” on Monday.
“A large number of children and elderly people continue to arrive suffering from malnutrition,” the doctor said.
He accused Israel of “blocking the entry of food, water, medical staff and materials destined for the north” of the Gaza Strip.
The WHO’s Harris estimated that between November 8 and 16, “four WHO missions we were trying to get up to go were denied.”
“There’s a lack of food and drinking water, shortage of medical supplies. There’s really only enough for two weeks at the very best,” she said.
A statement from COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said Tuesday: “COGAT-led humanitarian efforts in the medical field continue.”
It said that on Monday, “1,000 blood units were transferred” to Al-Sahaba hospital in Gaza City, outside the area where Israel’s military operations are taking place.
In its latest update on the situation in northern Gaza, the UN humanitarian office OCHA said Tuesday that “access to the Kamal Adwan, Al Awda and Indonesian hospitals remains severely restricted amid severe shortages of medical supplies, fuel and blood units.”
Turkiye asks export group to help snuff out Israel trade
- Ankara has faced public criticism that trade may be continuing with Israel since a ban in May
ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s government has asked one of the country’s top export associations to help enforce a ban on trade with Israel, slowing the flow of goods in recent weeks, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Ankara has faced public criticism that trade may be continuing with Israel given a spike in exports to the Palestinian territories since the ban in May. So it turned to the Central Anatolian Exporters’ Association, the sources said.
The Trade Ministry has asked the association to require more checks and approvals of proposed shipments, including vetting with Palestinian authorities, they said.
One of the sources, from an export association, said the new system began in mid-October, causing an initial backlog. The “main concern was goods still going to Israel, so there is a procedural change in exports to Palestine,” he said.
In response to a query, the Trade Ministry said goods were only shipped if approved by Palestinian authorities under a bilateral trade mechanism. “The destination is Palestine and the importer is a Palestinian,” it said.
According to official Turkish Statistical Institute data, Turkiye, among the fiercest critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, has cut exports there to zero since May, from a monthly average of $380 million in the first four months of the year.
But at the same time exports to Palestinian territories — which must flow through Israel — jumped around 10-fold to a monthly average of $127 million in June-September, from only $12 million in the first four months of the year, the data show.
The top goods leaving Turkish ports and earmarked for Palestinian territories in recent months are steel, cement, machinery, and chemicals, according to the Turkish Exporters Assembly, also known as TIM.
The jump in such exports raised suspicions the trade ban was being circumvented, sparking street protests that questioned one of the main policies President Tayyip Erdogan’s government imposed to oppose Israel’s war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Opposition lawmakers have also sought answers in parliament.
Trade Minister Omer Bolat said this month that, before the ban, some $2 billion of Turkiye’s $6.5 billion annual trade with Israel was goods ultimately purchased by Palestinian buyers.
Last week, Bolat told parliament that the Palestinian Economy Ministry vetted all shipments. Turkiye’s Trade Ministry said that Palestinian confirmations then run through an electronic system, after which customs declarations require a separate approval.
The Central Anatolian Exporters’ Association is an umbrella body for sector-specific export groups. In the past, they all usually quickly approved shipments with little question, the sources said.
Under the new instructions from the government, the association is the main approval body, two sources said. It must first confirm receipt of information about the proposed export including the Palestinian authorities’ approval, and then approve a separate application for export, they said.
The first source said the system was working now, but slower than in the past due to relevant checks.
In the first 10 months of the year, exports to Palestinian territories were up 543 percent from a year earlier, TIM data show. In the first four months, before the Israel ban was imposed, they were up only 35 percent.
