Baghdad: Iraq unveiled on Sunday a 2,800-year-old stone tablet returned by Italy, as the war-ravaged country works to recover from abroad antiquities looted from its territory.
The tablet — whose text is written in cuneiform, the Babylonian alphabet — bears the insignia of Shalmaneser III, the Assyrian king who ruled the region of Nimrod, in present-day northern Iraq, from 858 to 823 BC.
The circumstances surrounding the tablet’s arrival in Italy remain unclear, but the Italian authorities handed it over to Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid during a visit to Bologna over the past week.
“I would like to thank the Italian officials for their efforts and cooperation in bringing back this piece,” Rashid said during a ceremony Sunday at a Baghdad presidential palace to hand the artefact over to the national museum.
The tablet had arrived in the 1980s in Italy, where it was seized by police, said Laith Majid Hussein, director of Baghdad’s council of antiquities and heritage.
Iraqi Culture Minister Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani said the circumstances behind its discovery were unclear.
“Perhaps (it was found) during archaeological excavations or during work on the Mosul dam,” Iraq’s biggest built in the 1980s, he said.
He underlined the importance of the piece, “whose cuneiform text is complete.”
Modern Iraq’s territory is the cradle of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations, to which humanity owes writing and the first cities.
The country’s antiquities have been the target of looting that increased in the chaos following the US-led invasion of 2003.
“We will continue to work to recover all the archaeological pieces of Iraqi history from abroad,” said the Iraqi president.
“We want to make the national Iraq Museum one of the best museums in the world, and we will work to do so.”
In May, New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg announced the return of two ancient sculptures to Iraq: a limestone Mesopotamian elephant and an alabaster Sumerian bull from the old city of Uruk.
The figurines, stolen during the Gulf War, were smuggled into New York in the late 1990s, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The bull was part of the private collection of Shelby White, a billionaire philanthropist and Met trustee.
Iraq unveils ancient stone tablet returned by Italy
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Iraq unveils ancient stone tablet returned by Italy
- The country’s antiquities have been the target of looting that increased in the chaos following the US-led invasion of 2003
Israeli incursion into Wadi Al-Hujeir raises fears of revived Israeli buffer zone
- UNIFIL says actions that threaten ceasefire must stop
BEIRUT: On Thursday, Israeli forces advanced into the Lebanese border area through Al-Qantara and Aadchit Al-Qusayr, heading toward Wadi Al-Hujeir. The incursion lasted several hours.
Israeli tanks were seen heading into Wadi Al-Hujeir. The incursion, carried out in broad daylight, prompted warnings from the Lebanese army and UNIFIL.
The Lebanese army said: “The Israeli enemy continues its violations of the ceasefire agreement, attacking Lebanon’s sovereignty, its citizens, and destroying southern villages and towns.” UNIFIL, meanwhile, said that “any actions threatening the fragile cessation of hostilities must stop.”
The Israeli incursion into Wadi Al-Hujeir is the first of its kind since Oct. 1, the start of Israel’s ground war in Lebanon, and since the ceasefire came into effect on Nov. 27.
Wadi Al-Hujeir is a rugged valley in Jabal Amel, adjacent to the Israeli border. It lies between the districts of Marjayoun, Bint Jbeil, and Nabatieh. The valley extends from the Litani River in Qaaqaait Al-Jisr below the city of Nabatieh to the town of Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district. Several towns surround it, including Al-Qantara, Aalman, Al-Ghandourieh, Majdal Selm, Qabrikha, Touline, and Taybeh.
A Lebanese security source expressed concern, stating: “This incursion into previously untouched areas, accompanied by extensive combing operations, (is) a significant expansion of the Israeli enemy’s occupation map and recalls the border zone Israel established in the 1970s through firepower and occupation, which it withdrew from entirely in 2000.”
The incursion forced families in Al-Qantara to flee to Al-Ghandourieh, at the western edge of the valley.
The Israeli army also erected earthen berms between Wadi Al-Hujeir and Wadi Saluki to block the valley road.
In response, the Lebanese army closed the road leading to Wadi Al-Hujeir at the Froun intersection in the Qaaqaait Al-Jisr area to ensure the safety of civilians. The municipalities of Majdal Selm, Qabrikha, and Touline advised residents to avoid using the valley road.
During the incursion, Israeli forces shot Lebanese citizen Hussam Fawaz from Tebnine while he was on his way to work at the Indonesian battalion’s headquarters, part of UNIFIL, in Aadchit Al-Qusayr. He was hit in the head while driving his car, abducted by the Israeli forces, and later handed over, wounded, to UNIFIL and the Lebanese Red Cross.
The Lebanese army command stated: “Israeli forces advanced into several points in the areas of Al-Qantara, Aadchit Al-Qusayr, and Wadi Al-Hujeir. The army reinforced its presence in these areas and the army command continues to monitor the situation in coordination with UNIFIL and the quintet committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.”
UNIFIL underlined its role in supporting both countries to ensure the area south of the Litani River is free of any armed personnel, assets or weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and UNIFIL, as well as respect for the Blue Line.
UNIFIL said: “There is concern at continuing destruction by the IDF (Israeli forces) in residential areas, agricultural land, and road networks in south Lebanon. This is in violation of resolution 1701.”
In the afternoon, it was reported that the Israeli forces that infiltrated into Lebanese territory, withdrew toward Wadi Saluki.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army continued using machine guns to strafe the border towns it had infiltrated, especially from Maroun Al-Ras toward Bint Jbeil. It also targeted the Aita Al-Shaab town with artillery shelling.
According to security reports, “the Israeli army was surprised by the scale of tunnels built by Hezbollah in the border area and the number that has been discovered. It is racing against time to uncover the remaining ones, destroy them and bulldoze Hezbollah’s facilities before the end of the 60-day period, half of which has already passed, for a complete withdrawal under the ceasefire agreement.”
The security source stated: “The Israeli army seems to lack confidence in the Lebanese army’s ability to destroy these Hezbollah facilities when it is deployed in the border area. It is determined to carry out this mission before its withdrawal.”
On Thursday, Israeli media reported that the “Israeli army is preparing for the possibility of remaining in southern Lebanon beyond the 60 days outlined in the ceasefire agreement.”
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that the army “has begun establishing infrastructure for military posts along the northern border, with some of them located on the Lebanese side of the border.” It added: “During 30 days, the Israeli army killed 44 Hezbollah members who violated the ceasefire agreement — according to the army — carried out 25 attacks on Lebanese sites and recorded 120 violations of the agreement by the Lebanese side.”
On the Lebanese front, Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said: “The Israeli incursion toward Wadi al-Hujair is a highly dangerous development and a serious threat to the implementation of Resolution 1701.”
He called on the Lebanese state, “the government, army and concerned parties, to review the current performance, which has shown a complete failure to curb Israel’s continued hostilities.”
MP Kassem Hashem, from the Amal Movement bloc, described Israel’s incursion as “an occupation of additional areas of Lebanese territory and an attack on Lebanese sovereignty in light of the ceasefire agreement supervised by international entities with presence and influence.”
He said that “if such violations continue at this level, it is considered an occupation, and Lebanon has the right to defend its sovereignty and national dignity.”
Syria authorities arrest official behind Saydnaya death penalties
- Confirmation by monitor of his detention came a day after deadly clashes erupted in province of Tartus, an Assad stronghold, when gunmen sought to protect him
DAMASCUS: Syria’s new authorities have arrested a military justice official who under ousted president Bashar Assad issued death sentences for detainees in the notorious Saydnaya prison, a war monitor said Thursday.
The confirmation by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights of his detention came a day after deadly clashes erupted in the coastal province of Tartus, an Assad stronghold, when gunmen sought to protect him.
Mohammed Kanjo Hassan is the highest-ranking officer whose arrest has been announced since Assad’s ousting on December 8.
Assad fled for Russia after a militant offensive wrested from his control city after city until Damascus fell, ending his clan’s five-decade rule and sparking celebrations in Syria and beyond.
The offensive caught Assad and his inner circle by surprise and while fleeing the country he took with him only a handful of confidants.
Many others were left behind, including his brother Maher Assad, who according to a Syrian military source fled to Iraq before heading to Russia.
Other collaborators were believed to have taken refuge in their hometowns in Alawite regions that were once a stronghold of the Assad clan.
According to the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Saydnaya Prison, Kanjo Hassan headed Syria’s military field court from 2011 to 2014, the first three years of the war that began with Assad’s crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired democracy protests.
He was later promoted to chief of military justice nationwide, the group’s co-founder Diab Serriya said, adding that he sentenced “thousands of people” to death.
The Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomised the atrocities committed against Assad’s opponents.
The fate of tens of thousands of prisoners and missing people remains one of the most harrowing legacies of his rule.
After 13 years of civil war, Syria’s new leaders from Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) face the monumental task of safeguarding the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country from further collapse.
With its roots in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda, a Sunni Muslim extremist group, HTS has moderated its rhetoric and vowed to ensure protection for minorities, including the Alawite community from which Assad hails.
With 500,000 killed in the war and more than 100,000 still missing, the new authorities have also pledged justice for the victims of abuses under the deposed ruler.
They also face the substantial task of restoring security to a country ravaged by war and where arms have become ubiquitous.
During the offensive that precipitated Assad’s ousting, militants flung open the doors of prisons and detention centers around the country, letting out thousands of people.
In central Damascus, relatives of some of the missing have hung up posters of their loved ones in the hope that with Assad gone, they may one day learn what happened to them.
World powers and international organizations have called for the urgent establishment of mechanisms for accountability.
With the judiciary not yet reorganized since Assad’s toppling, it is unclear how detainees suspected of crimes linked to the former authorities will be tried.
Some members of the Alawite community fear that with Assad gone, they will be at risk of attacks from groups hungry for revenge or driven by sectarian hate.
On Wednesday, angry protests erupted in several areas around Syria, including Assad’s hometown of Qardaha, over a video showing an attack on an Alawite shrine that circulated online.
The Observatory said that one demonstrator was killed and five others wounded “after security forces... opened fire to disperse” a crowd in the central city of Homs.
The transitional authorities appointed by HTS said in a statement that the shrine attack took place early this month, with the interior ministry saying it was carried out by “unknown groups” and that republishing the video served to “stir up strife.”
On Thursday, the information ministry introduced a ban on publishing or distributing “any content or information with a sectarian nature aimed at spreading division and discrimination.”
In one of Wednesday’s protests over the video, large crowds chanted slogans including “Alawite, Sunni, we want peace.”
Assad long presented himself as a protector of minority groups in Sunni-majority Syria, though critics said he played on sectarian divisions to stay in power.
In Homs, where the authorities imposed a nighttime curfew, 42-year-old resident Hadi reported “a vast deployment of HTS men in areas where there were protests.”
“There is a lot of fear,” he said.
In coastal Latakia, protester Ghidak Mayya, 30, said that for now, Alawites were “listening to calls for calm,” but putting too much pressure on the community “risks an explosion.”
Noting the anxieties, Sam Heller of the Century Foundation think tank told AFP that Syria’s new rulers had to balance dealing with sectarian tensions while promising that those responsible for abuses under Assad would be held accountable.
“But they’re obviously also contending with what seems like a real desire on the part of some of their constituents for what they would say is accountability, maybe also revenge, it depends on how you want to characterise it,” he said.
WHO chief says he is safe after Sanaa airport bombardment
- Tedros was in Yemen as part of a mission to seek the release of detained UN staff and assess the health and humanitarian situations in the war-torn country
GENEVA: The head of the World Health Organization, who was at the Sanaa airport in Yemen amid an Israeli bombardment on Thursday, said there was damage to infrastructure but he remained safe.
“One of our plane’s crew members was injured. At least two people were reported killed at the airport,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X.
Other UN staff were also safe but their departure was delayed until repairs could be made, he added.
Tedros was in Yemen as part of a mission to seek the release of detained UN staff and assess the health and humanitarian situations in the war-torn country.
He said the mission “concluded today,” and “we continue to call for the detainees’ immediate release.”
While about to board their flight, he said “the airport came under aerial bombardment.”
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged.”
The Israeli air strikes came a day after the latest attacks on Israel by Iran-backed Houthis.
The Houthi-held capital’s airport was struck by “more than six” attacks with raids also targeting the adjacent Al-Dailami air base, a witness told AFP.
Israeli strikes kill three in Yemen as Netanyahu fires warning
- Two people died and 11 were wounded at the Houthi-held capital’s airport, and one person was killed and three were missing at Ras Issa port, Houthis said
SANAA: Israeli air strikes pummelled Sanaa’s international airport and other targets in Yemen on Thursday, leaving three people dead, a day after the latest attacks on Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was at the airport during the strike, he said, adding that “one of our plane’s crew members was injured.”
The strikes targeting the airport, military facilities and power stations in Houthi areas follow rising hostilities between Israel and the militia.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s strikes would “continue until the job is done.”
“We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil,” he said in a video statement.
His defense minister Israel Katz said Israel would “hunt down all the Houthi leaders... No one will be able to escape us.”
Tedros, who was in Yemen to seek the release of detained UN staff and assess the humanitarian situation in war-torn Yemen, said he and his team were about to board their flight when “the airport came under aerial bombardment.”
He said the air traffic control tower, departure lounge and runway were damaged in the strike.
The Houthi-held capital’s airport was struck by “more than six” attacks with raids also targeting the adjacent Al-Dailami air base, a witness told AFP.
A series of strikes were also fired at a power station in Hodeida, a witness and the Iran-backed Houthis’ official Al-Masirah TV station said.
Two people died and 11 were wounded at the Houthi-held capital’s airport, and one person was killed and three were missing at Ras Issa port, Houthi statements said.
Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam called the strikes, a day after the Houthis fired a missile and two drones at Israel, “a Zionist crime against all the Yemeni people.”
The Israeli military said its “fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime.”
The targets included “military infrastructure” at the airport and power stations in Sanaa and Hodeida, as well as other facilities at Hodeida, Salif and Ras Kanatib ports, an Israeli statement said.
“These military targets were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials,” the statement said.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is fighting Israel in the Gaza Strip, condemned the attack as an “aggression” against its “brothers from Yemen.”
On Saturday, days ahead of Wednesday’s missile and drone strike on Israel, 16 people were wounded by a Houthi attack in Tel Aviv.
The incident prompted a warning from Netanyahu, who said he ordered the destruction of the group’s infrastructure.
The Houthis have fired a series of missiles and drones at Israel since the eruption of war in Gaza in October last year, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Houthis have also waged a months-long campaign against shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Scores of drone and missile attacks on cargo ships have prompted a series of reprisal strikes by US and sometimes British forces.
Israel has also previously struck the Houthis in Yemen, including hitting ports and energy facilities, after Houthi attacks against its territory.
In July, a Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting retaliatory strikes on Hodeida.
Last week, before the latest volley of attacks, Netanyahu said the Houthis would “pay a very heavy price” for their strikes on Israel.
Syria authorities say torched 1 million captagon pills
DAMASCUS: Syria’s new authorities torched a large stockpile of drugs on Wednesday, two security officials told AFP, including one million pills of captagon, whose industrial-scale production flourished under ousted president Bashar Assad.
Captagon is a banned amphetamine-like stimulant that became Syria’s largest export during the country’s more than 13-year civil war, effectively turning it into a narco state under Assad.
“We found a large quantity of captagon, around one million pills,” said a balaclava-wearing member of the security forces, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Osama, and whose khaki uniform bore a “public security” patch.
An AFP journalist saw forces pour fuel over and set fire to a cache of cannabis, the painkiller tramadol, and around 50 bags of pink and yellow captagon pills in a security compound formerly belonging to Assad’s forces in the capital’s Kafr Sousa district.
Captagon has flooded the black market across the region in recent years, with oil-rich Saudi Arabia a major destination.
“The security forces of the new government discovered a drug warehouse as they were inspecting the security quarter,” said another member of the security forces, who identified himself as Hamza.
Authorities destroyed the stocks of alcohol, cannabis, captagon and hashish in order to “protect Syrian society” and “cut off smuggling routes used by Assad family businesses,” he added.
Syria’s new Islamist rulers have yet to spell out their policy on alcohol, which has long been widely available in the country.
Since an Islamist-led rebel alliance toppled Assad on December 8 after a lightning offensive, Syria’s new authorities have said massive quantities of captagon have been found in former government sites around the country, including security branches.
AFP journalists in Syria have seen fighters from Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) set fire to what they said were stashes of captagon found at facilities once operated by Assad’s forces.
Security force member Hamza confirmed Wednesday that “this is not the first initiative of its kind — the security services, in a number of locations, have found other warehouses... and drug manufacturing sites and destroyed them in the appropriate manner.”
Maher Assad, a military commander and the brother of Bashar Assad, is widely accused of being the power behind the lucrative captagon trade.
Experts believe Syria’s former leader used the threat of drug-fueled unrest to put pressure on Arab governments.
A Saudi delegation met Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Damascus on Sunday, a source close to the government told AFP, to discuss the “Syria situation and captagon.”
Jordan in recent years has also cracked down on the smuggling of weapons and drugs including captagon along its 375-kilometer (230-mile) border with Syria.
