JERUSALEM: Israel Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman Friday called on President Bashar Assad to “get rid” of Iranian forces in Syria, warning their continued presence would only cause trouble.
Iran, meanwhile, in its first official reaction to the Israeli attacks on suspected Iranian targets in Syria, said Damascus has the legitimate right to respond to what it said were repeated violations of the country’s sovereignty “under fabricated and baseless excuses.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Braham Ghasemi added that the international silence in the face of such “aggressive moves” is in effect a “green light” to more such attacks.
A hard-line Iranian cleric threatened Iran would retaliate if Israel “does anything foolish.”
Israel attacked dozens of suspected Iranian targets in Syria in overnight strikes this week that it said were in response to an Iranian rocket barrage. It was the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date. The cross-border exchange gave way to a war of words.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called late Thursday for an immediate halt to “all hostile acts” to avoid “a new conflagration” in the Middle East.
Guterres’ comments came as a calm night followed intense attacks on parts of Syria by Israel. Israel has called on the UN Security Council and secretary-general to condemn Iran’s attack on its positions in the Golan Heights, occupied and annexed by Israel.
The Security Council, deeply divided over Syria, is highly unlikely to issue a statement and as of Friday morning no council member had asked for a meeting.
Speaking while touring the Israeli side of the occupied Golan Heights, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel is not looking for friction. “We did not come to the Iranian border, they came here,” he said.
Iran has advisers and experts and has backed tens of thousands of militiamen who are fighting alongside Assad forces in the civil war. Israel has warned it will not tolerate its archenemy Iran establishing a military presence on its doorstep.
“I will take this opportunity to send a message to Assad: Get rid of the Iranians, get rid of Qasem Soleimani, and the Quds Force, they are not helping you, they only cause damage, and their presence will only cause problems and damages” Lieberman said. Soleimani is the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds expeditionary force which is fighting in both Iraq and Syria.
“Get rid of the Iranians and maybe it will be possible to have a different kind of life,” Lieberman added.
Israel and Iran have long fought each other through proxies, and with the new exchange each seemed to be sending a warning that a direct clash between them could swiftly escalate.
The scope of the attacks — which Israel called its largest in Syria since the 1973 Mideast war — raised the specter of a full-fledged war between Iran and Israel in Syria, a conflict that could potentially drag the militant Hezbollah and Lebanon into the mix with devastating effects, although both sides appeared to signal they wanted the confrontation to remain contained, at least for now.
The rising tension in Syria came just as the United States decided to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and impose new sanctions, adding to the pressure on Tehran.
In Tehran, senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said the Western pressure will backfire, threatening that Israel will pay the price.
“The holy system of Islamic Republic will step up its missile capabilities day by day so that Israel, this occupying regime, will become sleepless and the nightmare will constantly haunt it that if it does anything foolish, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground,” the hard-line cleric said during Friday sermons. The worshippers chanted: “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel.”
Ghasemi, the foreign ministry spokesman, said the direct attacks on Syria come as the government of Assad is regaining control of territories from rebel fighters, accusing Israel and the United States of supporting the opposition which he called “terrorists.”
In the latest victory for Assad, Syrian police prepared Friday to take control of three suburbs of the capital Damascus previously controlled by the rebels.
Opposition fighters and their families left Babila, Beit Sahem and Yalda, three southern suburbs that were held by rebels for years, Syrian state media and a war monitor said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the last group evacuated the suburbs Thursday night, bringing the total of those fighters and civilians who left the area since May 3 to a total of 8,400.
Syria’s state news agency SANA said opposition fighters who decided to stay in the suburbs will hand over the weapons and return to normal life.
With the capture of the three suburbs, the only area outside government control in Damascus is that of the neighborhood of Hajjar Al-Aswad and the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk that are partially controlled by the Daesh group.
Government forces have been on the offensive against IS in the area since last month and its capture would boost security in Assad’s seat of power.
Israel calls on Syria’s Assad to ‘get rid’ of Iranian forces
Israel calls on Syria’s Assad to ‘get rid’ of Iranian forces
- Israel Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman: “I will take this opportunity to send a message to Assad: Get rid of the Iranians.”
- Israel and Iran have long fought each other through proxies, and with the new exchange each seemed to be sending a warning that a direct clash between them could swiftly escalate.
Hezbollah leader calls on government to work harder to end Israel’s attacks on Lebanon
- Naim Kassem's comments came as the Israeli military said it carried out more than 50 strikes in Lebanon this month
- He said the priority should be for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, an end to Israeli strikes in the country and the release of Lebanese held in Israel
BEIRUT: The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group called on the government Monday to work harder to end Israel’s attacks in the country a day after an Israeli airstrike hit a suburb of Beirut.
Naim Kassem said in a televised speech that Hezbollah implemented the ceasefire deal that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war in late November. But despite that, Israel is continuing with near-daily airstrikes.
Kassem’s comments came as the Israeli military said it carried out more than 50 strikes in Lebanon this month saying they came after Hezbollah violated the US-brokered ceasefire.
On Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck Beirut’s southern suburbs after issuing a warning about an hour earlier, marking the third Israeli strike on the area since a ceasefire took effect in late November. The Israeli military said it struck a precision-guided missiles facility.
“The resistance complied 100 percent with the (ceasefire) deal and I tell state officials that it’s your duty to guarantee protection,” Kassem said, adding that Lebanese officials should contact sponsors of the ceasefire so that they pressure Israel to cease its attacks.
“Put pressure on America and make it understand that Lebanon cannot rise if the aggression doesn’t stop,” Kassem said, pointing to Lebanese officials. He added that the US has interests in Lebanon and “stability achieves these interests.”
Kassem said the priority should be for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, an end to Israeli strikes in the country and the release of Lebanese held in Israel since the war that ended on Nov. 27.
Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel by its Hamas allies ignited the Israel-Hamas war. Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and abducted 251 others during the 2023 attack.
The Israel-Hezbollah conflict exploded into all-out war last September when Israel carried out waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant group’s senior leaders. The fighting killed over 4,000 people.
The Lebanese government said earlier this month that 190 people have been killed and 485 injured in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect.
Why Darfur is now the center of Sudan’s power struggle and humanitarian crisis
- In Al-Fasher, women are dying in childbirth, children collapse from thirst, and supplies have all but vanished
- Two decades after the world pledged “never again” in Darfur, survivors of latest violence say history is repeating itself
LONDON: A haze of red dust hangs over the cracked roads of Al-Fasher. Children stumble through the rubble-strewn outskirts, barefoot and silent, their faces taut with exhaustion. A woman collapses beside a water container, her two toddlers clinging to her scarf.
Nearby, a man holds a torn piece of cardboard with the word “Zamzam” scrawled in charcoal — a word that no longer means refuge. The camp it refers to, once one of the largest displacement sites in Sudan’s North Darfur, has been ravaged by violence.
On April 11, armed groups reportedly linked to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched a deadly assault on the city of Al-Fasher, Zamzam, and another displacement camp called Abu Shouk, forcing tens of thousands to flee.
According to preliminary reports from the UN and humanitarian agencies, more than 400 civilians — including women, children, and up to a dozen aid workers — may have been killed in the space of three days, in attacks that also struck the nearby town of Um Kadadah.
The RSF said the camps in question were being used as bases by what it called “mercenary factions.” It also denied targeting civilians and accused its rivals of orchestrating a media campaign, using actors and staged scenes within the camp to falsely incriminate it.
The assault sent shockwaves throughout the region. More than 400,000 people fled, many of them to already overwhelmed towns like Tawila. Others disappeared into the hills of Jebel Marra, carrying only what they could hold. Zamzam is now under RSF control.
“It has been completely overrun — killing, raping, burning, and taking people hostage. No one remains unless they are prisoners,” Altahir Hashim, a human rights advocate who once lived in Zamzam, told Arab News.
Now based in the UK, Hashim monitors desperate voice messages sent by survivors still in hiding. “Every morning I hear names of the dead, pleas for food, calls for medicine,” he said. “But no one is listening.”
For many in Darfur, the violence echoes a familiar pattern — and a painful reminder of promises unkept. This April marked 20 years since the UN Security Council referred atrocities in the region to the International Criminal Court.
But for those displaced today, the anniversary feels hollow. “The killers are still free. The victims are still forgotten,” said Hashim, referring to the genocide perpetrated by the RSF’s forerunner, the Janjaweed. “We are reliving what the world said would never happen again.
IN NUMBERS
- 13m Displaced persons in Sudan, including 4m who have fled abroad.
- 150k Estimated death toll since the conflict began on April 15, 2023.
- 30m People in need of humanitarian assistance.
“The people arriving in Al-Fasher have nothing. No shoes, no food, no blankets. Famine was already creeping through Zamzam before the attack — now it’s an open wound.”
Although the Sudanese Armed Forces have recently made headway against their RSF rivals, retaking the capital, Khartoum, in March, the center of the conflict has shifted elsewhere since erupting suddenly on April 15, 2023.
Al-Fasher itself has become the last major stronghold of the Sudanese state in Darfur region. Here, tens of thousands of newly displaced civilians crowd into schools, mosques, and courtyards.
The city, once a lifeline for aid distribution across the wider region, is now itself under siege. Forces reportedly affiliated to the RSF surround it, choking off humanitarian access and isolating the population within.
Dr. Ibrahim Abdullah Khatir, director general of North Darfur’s Ministry of Health, is among the few officials still coordinating medical efforts in the city. He described conditions as “beyond collapse.”
Khatir told Arab News: “Even pregnant women needing cesarean sections are being turned away.”
He added: “We have received reports of mothers dying in labor because there are no doctors, no medicine, no way out.”
Fuel has all but vanished from the city. Diesel prices have quintupled, halting the trucks that once delivered drinking water to outer neighborhoods. The city’s main water stations are out of service.
“Children are collapsing from dehydration,” Khatir said. “And now, our staff can’t even get to the clinics.”
Al-Fasher was never untouched by conflict, but it was a place where aid agencies could still operate and displaced people could seek help. Now, with RSF fighters reportedly deploying drones and artillery in surrounding areas, even that fragile space is crumbling.
Survivors describe the flight from Zamzam as a gauntlet of fear. Amina, a mother of four, arrived in Al-Fasher after walking for three days.
“We hid in dry riverbeds and behind trees,” she said. “My youngest is sick now — he hasn’t eaten properly in a week. There is no milk, no clean water. We are waiting for help that hasn’t come.”
Others, like 14-year-old Abdulrahman, came alone. “I lost my parents in the crowd. I don’t know if they made it,” he said, huddled beneath a tarp shared with strangers. “I just walked with people who were running.”
The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, has warned that more than 825,000 children around Al-Fasher are at daily risk of death due to malnutrition and a lack of clean water.
Humanitarian organizations are mobilizing aid — including 1,800 metric tons of food and 9,000 non-food kits — but with road access cut off and security deteriorating, deliveries have stalled. Several agencies say their staff remain trapped inside the city with no safe evacuation routes.
Medecins Sans Frontieres suspended operations in Zamzam earlier this year due to insecurity. Other groups have pulled back or reduced staff due to threats and attacks.
One international aid worker in Al-Fasher, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arab News: “We’ve gone from emergency mode to survival mode. There’s nothing left to distribute. And no guarantee we’re even safe.”
The violence has once again drawn attention to Darfur’s long and bloody history of displacement, exclusion, and impunity.
In the early 2000s, the region was the site of mass killings and systematic ethnic targeting. Today, many Darfuris say the same patterns are playing out again.
“This isn’t just war,” Hashim said. “This is designed to erase entire communities. To remove them, not just physically, but from the map of Sudan.”
Fatima, a local nurse working in a makeshift clinic near Al-Fasher’s central mosque, said she sees the emotional toll every day. “We don’t have proper medicine, so we clean wounds with salt water. But it’s the look in people’s eyes that haunts me. They are afraid to hope.”
Despite urgent appeals from the UN and Sudan’s humanitarian coordinator, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, little progress has been made to secure humanitarian corridors or even a temporary ceasefire to allow aid in.
“Time is running out,” Dr. Khatir said. “We are out of water. Out of food. Out of medicine. And soon, out of time.”
Al-Fasher holds more than just strategic value; it is the historical and cultural heart of Darfur. For many here, it represents the last place left to defend human dignity.
“If Al-Fasher is lost,” Dr. Khatir said, “then the hope for Darfur is lost too.”
Syria FM says wants to ‘strengthen relations’ with China
- Foreign ministry statement said that Shaibani met with the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, at UN headquarters in New York
DAMASCUS: Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani expressed on Monday his government’s willingness to build a “strategic partnership” with China, a key backer of ousted ruler Bashar Assad.
A foreign ministry statement said that Shaibani met with the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, at UN headquarters in New York, where he had been representing Syria at a session of the Security Council.
In the meeting with Beijing’s envoy, Shaibani said Syria’s new government was seeking to “strengthen relations with China” and that the two countries “will work together to build a long-term strategic partnership in the near future,” according to the statement.
This was not the first high-level meeting between the two governments since militants toppled Assad in December, capping years of civil war. In late February, interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa met with the Chinese ambassador to Damascus.
Fighter jet slips off the hangar deck of a US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, one minor injury
- Crew members who were in the pilot seat of the Super Hornet and on the small towing tractor jumped out before the jet and the tug went into the Red Sea
WASHINGTON: An F/A-18 fighter jet slipped off the hanger deck of an aircraft carrier deployed to the Middle East, as sailors were towing the aircraft into place in the hangar bay of the USS Harry S. Truman on Monday, the Navy said.
The crew members who were in the pilot seat of the Super Hornet and on the small towing tractor jumped out before the jet and the tug went into the Red Sea. One sailor sustained a minor injury, the Navy said.
“The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” the Navy said in a statement. The jet was part of Strike Fighter Squadron 136.
Fighter jets are routinely towed around the hangar deck to park them where they are needed for any flight operations or other work. It is unclear whether there will be an effort to recover the jet, which costs about $60 million. The incident is under investigation.
The Truman has been deployed to the Middle East for months and recently has been involved in stepped-up military operations against the Houthis. US Central Command has said that the military has conducted daily strikes, which have been done by fighter jets, bombers, ships and drones.
The Truman’s deployment has already been extended once by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth by about a month.
Israeli army flattens Rafah ruins
- Gazans fear a plan to herd the population into confinement in a giant camp on the barren ground
CAIRO: Israel’s army is flattening the remaining ruins of the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, residents say, in what they fear is a part of a plan to herd the population into confinement in a giant camp on the barren ground.
No food or medical supplies have reached the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip in nearly two months, since Israel imposed what has since become its longest ever total blockade of the territory, following the collapse of a six-week ceasefire.
Israel relaunched its ground campaign in mid-March and has since seized swaths of land and ordered residents out of what it says are “buffer zones” around Gaza’s edges, including all of Rafah, which comprises around 20 percent of the Strip.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Saturday that the military was setting up a new “humanitarian zone” in Rafah, to which civilians would be moved after security checks to keep out Hamas fighters. Private companies would distribute aid.
Residents said massive explosions could now be heard unceasingly from the dead zone where Rafah had once stood as a city of 300,000 people.
“Explosions never stop, day and night, whenever the ground shakes, we know they are destroying more homes in Rafah. Rafah is gone,” Tamer, a Gaza City man displaced in Deir Al-Balah, further north, told Reuters by text message.
He said he was getting phone calls from friends as far away as across the border in Egypt whose children were being kept awake by the explosions.
Abu Mohammed, another displaced man in Gaza, stated by text: “We are terrified that they could force us into Rafah, which is going to be like a cage of a concentration camp, completely sealed off from the world.”
Israel imposed its total blockade on Gaza on March 2.
UN agencies say Gazans are on the precipice of mass hunger and disease, with conditions now at their worst since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023.
Gaza health officials said on Monday that at least 23 people had been killed in the latest Israeli strikes across the Strip.
At least 10, some of them children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Jabalia in the north and six were killed in an airstrike on a cafe in the south.
Footage circulating on social media showed some victims critically injured as they sat around a table at the cafe.
Talks have so far failed to extend the ceasefire, during which Hamas released 38 hostages and Israel released hundreds of prisoners and detainees.
Fifty-nine Israeli hostages are still held in Gaza, fewer than half of them believed to be alive. Hamas says it would free them only under a deal that ended the war; Israel says it will agree only to temporary pauses in fighting unless Hamas is completely disarmed, which the fighters reject.
On Friday, the World Food Programme said it had run out of food stocks in Gaza after the longest closure the Gaza Strip had ever faced.
Some residents toured the streets looking for weeds that grow naturally on the ground.
Others picked up dry leaves from trees.
Desperate enough, fishermen turned to catching turtles, skinning them, and selling their meat.
“I went to the doctor the other day, and he said I had some stones in my kidney and I needed surgery that would cost me around $300. I told him I would rather use a painkiller and use the money to buy food for my children,” one Gaza City woman said.
“There is no meat, no cooking gas, no flour, and no life. This is Gaza in simple but painful terms.”
Since October 2023, Israel’s offensive on the enclave has killed more than 51,400, according to Palestinian health officials.
