BEIRUT: Airstrikes from unidentified drones killed three pro-Iran fighters in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor near the Iraqi border, a Britain-based war monitor said on Wednesday.
The drones late on Tuesday targeted trucks of the Iraqi paramilitary network Hashd Al-Shaabi after they had crossed the border into the Syrian border district of Albu Kamal, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Three were killed and several severely wounded, the monitoring group said.
A source within the Hashd in Iraq however said that “the strikes destroyed four vehicles, but no one was killed.”
“The site targeted was near a border post of the factions on the Iraqi-Syrian border,” the source said. The Fatah alliance, the political wing of the Hashd, condemned an “abject attack” on its forces on the frontier.
It called on Iraq’s government and parliament to “determine the countries responsible” and confront them.
Iran-backed groups, including the Hashd, are present near the Iraqi border in Syria’s far east.
The strikes on Albu Kamal come after a drone attack late on Saturday against the Irbil international airport, which includes an airbase of the US-led coalition that has been fighting Daesh.
There were no casualties in the attack on the base in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Attacks of this kind, normally targeting US troops or US interests in Iraq, have become common in recent months.
Although no one claims responsibility for them, Washington blames pro-Iranian forces in Iraq.
The US has twice conducted deadly strikes against the Hashd in eastern Syria since President Joe Biden took office, in February and June this year.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian territory, targeting regime positions as well as allied pro-Iran forces since the start of the decade-old Syrian war.
Meanwhile, the sole survivor of the jihadist cell that killed 130 people in Paris six years ago on Wednesday claimed France “knew the risks” of attacking jihadist targets in Syria, as he spoke out again one week into the trial into France’s worst postwar atrocity.
“We attacked France, targeted its population, civilians, but there was nothing personal,” said Salah Abdeslam.
“(President) Francois Hollande knew the risks he was taking in attacking the Islamic State (Daesh) in Syria,” he said, referring to the decision of the French president at the time to authorize strikes against the jihadist extremist group in Syria.
His calm statements contrasted sharply with outbursts he made during the first few days of the trial that opened last week, where 19 others are also accused in the biggest trial in modern French legal history.
This was the first time in the trial Abdeslam addressed the court with the judges’ permission.
Many in the audience, including families of the dead and the roughly 350 people physically injured, cried or hugged one another as Abdeslam spoke, the day of his 32nd birthday.
He insisted that he and his co-accused were not “terrorists, jihadists, extremists” but “Muslims” — “It’s about authentic Islam,” he said.
“They say often that I’m being provocative, but it’s not true, I want to be sincere,” Abdeslam said. “My goal is not to hurt anyone.”
Abdeslam was one of 10 jihadists deployed to sow terror in Paris on the night of Nov. 13, 2015, using suicide bombings and mass shootings.
The group struck first at the Stade de France stadium north of Paris, where three men blew themselves up.
Shortly afterward, another team attacked bars and restaurants in the heart of the capital while three others stormed the Bataclan concert hall.
Nine attackers blew themselves up or were shot dead by police.
Abdeslam, who dumped his defective explosives vest in a public bin, was captured four months later after a shootout with police in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek, where he grew up.
The marathon trial will last until May 2022, with 145 days of scheduled hearings involving about 330 lawyers and 300 victims.
Drone strikes in Syria kill three, severely wound several pro-Iran fighters: Monitor
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Drone strikes in Syria kill three, severely wound several pro-Iran fighters: Monitor
- Trucks of Iraqi paramilitary network Hashd Al-Shaabi were hit after they crossed border into Syrian district of Abu Kamal
Israel attacks on Gaza reproductive centers ‘genocidal’: UN probe
The UN Commission of Inquiry said Israel had “intentionally attacked and destroyed” the Palestinian territory’s main fertility center, and had simultaneously imposed a siege and blocked aid including medication for ensuring safe pregnancies, deliveries and neonatal care.
“Israel categorically rejects the unfounded allegations,” its mission in Geneva said in a statement.
The commission found that Israeli authorities “have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza as a group through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive health care,” it said in a statement.
It said this amounted to “two categories of genocidal acts” during Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched after the attacks by Hamas militants on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The United Nations’ genocide convention defines that crime as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
Of its five categories, the inquiry said the two implicating Israel were “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction” and “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”
“These violations have not only caused severe immediate physical and mental harm and suffering to women and girls, but irreversible long-term effects on the mental health and reproductive and fertility prospects of Palestinians as a group,” the commission’s chair Navi Pillay said in a statement.
The three-person Independent International Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged international law violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Pillay, a former UN rights chief, served as a judge on the International Criminal Court and presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Israel accused the commission of advancing a “predetermined and biased political agenda... in a shameless attempt to incriminate the Israel Defense Forces.”
The report said maternity hospitals and wards had been systematically destroyed in Gaza, along with the Al-Basma IVF Center, the territory’s main in-vitro fertility clinic.
It said Al-Basma was shelled in December 2023, reportedly destroying around 4,000 embryos at a clinic that served 2,000 to 3,000 patients a month.
The commission found that the Israeli Security Forces intentionally attacked and destroyed the clinic, including all the reproductive material stored for the future conception of Palestinians.
The commission found no credible evidence that the building was used for military purposes.
It concluded that the destruction “was a measure intended to prevent births among Palestinians in Gaza, which is a genocidal act.”
Furthermore, the report said the wider harm to pregnant, lactating and new mothers in Gaza was on an “unprecedented scale,” with an irreversible impact on the reproductive prospects of Gazans.
Such underlying acts “amount to crimes against humanity” and deliberately trying to destroy the Palestinians as a group, the commission concluded.
The report came after the commission conducted public hearings in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday, hearing from victims and witnesses of sexual violence.
It concluded that Israel had targeted civilian women and girls directly, “acts that constitute the crime against humanity of murder and the war crime of wilful killing.”
Women and girls have also died from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth due to the conditions imposed by the Israeli authorities impacting access to reproductive health care, “acts that amount to the crime against humanity of extermination,” it added.
The commission added that forced public stripping and nudity, sexual harassment including threats of rape, as well as sexual assault, comprise part of the Israeli Security Forces’ “standard operating procedures” toward Palestinians.
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Egypt appreciates Trump’s decision not to displace Gazans
- Donald Trump had proposed a US takeover of Gaza, after earlier suggesting that Palestinians in the enclave should be permanently displaced
- Earlier in March, Arab leaders adopted a $53 billion Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would avoid displacing Palestinians
“Nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza,” Trump said on Wednesday, in response to a question during a meeting in the White House with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.
“This position reflects an understanding of the need to prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the importance of finding fair, sustainable solutions to the Palestinian issue,” the Egyptian foreign ministry added.
Trump had proposed a US takeover of Gaza, where Israel’s military assault in the last 17 months has killed tens of thousands, after earlier suggesting that Palestinians in the enclave should be permanently displaced.
Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a cross-border raid into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering the devastating war in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas on Wednesday welcomed Trump’s apparent retreat from his proposal for the displacement of Gazans, urging him to refrain from aligning with the vision of the “extreme Zionist right.”
Earlier in March, Arab leaders adopted a $53 billion Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would avoid displacing Palestinians to counter Trump’s vision of a “Middle East Riviera.”
Canada eases sanctions on Syrian Arab Republic, names ambassador
- Easing of sanctions would help prevent Syria from falling into chaos and instability, said Canada’s special envoy Omar Alghabra
- Liberated from the Assad regime last December after 13 years of war, Syria is now led by former rebel leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa
OTTAWA: Canada announced plans Wednesday to ease its financial sanctions against Syria and to appoint an ambassador, as the Damascus interim government seeks international support.
Canada’s special envoy for Syria, Omar Alghabra, said: “Canada can play a meaningful role in enabling Syrians to build an inclusive country that respects all of its citizens.
“We also can help prevent Syria from falling into chaos and instability.”
A statement from Canada’s foreign ministry said sanctions would be eased “to allow funds to be sent through certain banks in the country, such as Syria’s Central Bank.”
Canada’s ambassador to Lebanon, Stefanie McCollum, will now take on a parallel role as a non-resident ambassador to neighboring Syria.
Previously, Canada — along with many other world powers — had strict sanctions in place to punish the now-ousted government of Bashar Assad.
“These sanctions had been used as a tool against the Assad regime and easing them will help to enable the stable and sustainable delivery of aid, support local redevelopment efforts, and contribute to a swift recovery for Syria,” the Canadian statement said.
Assad fled Syria late last year and opposition forces overthrew his administration in early December. An interim government under former jihadist leader President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is now in place.
Many capitals welcomed Assad’s fall, but gave only a cautious welcome to the victorious rebels.
Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) Islamist group has its roots in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda.
The new government has vowed to protect Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, but security forces have reportedly killed hundreds of Alawite civilians in recent days.
In the statement announcing sanctions relief, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joy and Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen expressed concern over the killings.
“We utterly condemn these atrocities and call on the interim authorities to take all necessary measures to end the violence,” they said.
“Civilians must be protected, the dignity and human rights of all religious and ethnic groups must be upheld, and perpetrators must be held accountable.”
Syria’s interim President Sharaa forms national security council
CAIRO: Syrian Arab Republic’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa issued a decree on Wednesday to form the country’s national security council, according to a statement by the Syrian president’s office.
The council will take decisions related to the country’s national security and challenges facing the state.
‘Nobody is expelling any Palestinians’ from Gaza, says US President Trump
- Comment seems to contradict his previous plan for the US to take over the territory, relocate the Palestinian population and turn it into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’
- Arab foreign ministers say they will continue to consult with Trump’s Middle East envoy about a $53bn Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that “nobody is expelling any Palestinians” from Gaza.
His comment, in response to a question from a reporter, came during a meeting on Wednesday with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin at the White House.
It seemed to contradict the president’s previously suggested plan for the US to take ownership of Gaza, relocate the Palestinian population, and turn the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
His proposal, voiced in February during the early stages of a fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, drew widespread international condemnation and rejection, amid concern that it reinforced long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes.
Egypt, Jordan and Gulf Arab states warned that any such plan could destabilize the entire region. In response, Arab states adopted a $53 billion Egyptian plan for the reconstruction of Gaza that would avoid any displacement of Palestinians.
Arab foreign ministers said on Wednesday they would continue to consult with Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, about the Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza as an alternative to the US president’s proposed takeover of the territory.
“The Arab foreign ministers discussed the Gaza reconstruction plan, which was approved during the Arab League Summit held in Cairo on March 4, 2025. They also agreed with the US envoy to continue consultations and coordination on the plan as a foundation for the reconstruction efforts,” Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The talks will serve as a “basis for the reconstruction efforts” in Gaza, the ministers said in a joint statement following a meeting in Doha.
