JERUSALEM: Under a heavy police presence, tens of thousands of Muslims attended the first Friday prayers of Ramadan in east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a gathering weighed down by the war in Gaza.
Old men leaning on canes, veiled women and smartly dressed children flowed through the gates of the Israeli-annexed Old City for the midday prayer, which unfolded peacefully, though some younger men were turned away by police conducting security checks.
“It’s random. They decide who they let in, who they don’t let in, and you don’t know why,” said Amjad Ghalib, a 44-year-old carpenter from the Mount of Olives who described relief at being granted access.
“I have to be honest, we are afraid,” he said, a prayer mat resting on his shoulder.
“It’s the first year I see so many forces (police), and their eyes, their look... Two years ago I could argue with them, but now... they’re giving us no chance.”
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is Islam’s third holiest site and Judaism’s most sacred, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The site has been a flashpoint for violence during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in past years, and thousands of police officers were deployed on Friday, some of them heavily armed.
“There are so many soldiers. Wherever you go, you find them. They make it difficult,” said Ezzat Khouis, a 75-year-old tour guide, referring to the police.
“Why do they do this?... This is not good for us, not good for the future, for the peace and for the people to live together.”
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 31,490 people, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Violence in the occupied West Bank has flared to levels unseen in nearly two decades, according to the health ministry in Ramallah.
Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 430 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, the ministry says.
For security reasons, Palestinians trying to access Al-Aqsa from the West Bank were expected to face some restrictions this year, police said in a statement earlier this week.
Only men aged 55 and over and women older than 50 would be allowed to enter the mosque compound from the territory, government spokesperson Ofir Gendelman said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said that, despite the restrictions, worshippers would be allowed to enter the mosque “in similar numbers” to past years.
But those assurances meant little to some young men who were denied entry to the Old City on Friday.
“It’s unfair. When they refuse to let in young boys, it hurts me very, very much,” says Fida Absiya, who stood at the entrance to the Old City collecting money for orphans and the less fortunate.
“Since the first day of (the war) we knew that we would have very difficult days,” a man who declined to give his name told AFP.
Other West Bank worshippers were unable to reach Jerusalem, including Umm Al-Abd who attempted to cross at the Qalandia checkpoint to its north.
“In the past, I used to go (to Al-Aqsa) every Friday and I never missed (the prayers),” the 50-year-old woman said.
“Today they did not allow me to enter. I am sad. I will be sad all day.”
‘Difficult’ Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque
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‘Difficult’ Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque
- The site has been a flashpoint for violence during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in past years
- Thousands of police officers were deployed on Friday, some of them heavily armed
Lebanon hopes for neighborly relations in first message to new Syria government
- Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major part propping up Syria’s ousted President Bashar Assad through years of war
- Syria’s new Islamist de-facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa is seeking to establish relations with Arab and Western leaders
DUBAI: Lebanon said on Thursday it was looking forward to having the best neighborly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib passed the message to his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani, in a phone call, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said on X.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major part propping up Syria’s ousted President Bashar Assad through years of war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war with Israel – a redeployment which weakened Syrian government lines.
Under Assad, Hezbollah used Syria to bring in weapons and other military equipment from Iran, through Iraq and Syria and into Lebanon. But on Dec. 6, anti-Assad fighters seized the border with Iraq and cut off that route, and two days later, Islamist militants captured the capital Damascus.
Syria’s new Islamist de-facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa is seeking to establish relations with Arab and Western leaders after toppling Assad.
Iraqi intelligence chief discusses border security with new Syrian administration
BAGHDAD: An Iraqi delegation met with Syria’s new rulers in Damascus on Thursday, an Iraqi government spokesman said, the latest diplomatic outreach more than two weeks after the fall of Bashar Assad’s rule.
The delegation, led by Iraqi intelligence chief Hamid Al-Shatri, “met with the new Syrian administration,” government spokesman Bassem Al-Awadi told state media, adding that the parties discussed “the developments in the Syrian arena, and security and stability needs on the two countries’ shared border.”
Israeli minister’s Al-Aqsa mosque visit sparks condemnation
- Ben Gvir has repeatedly defied the Israeli government’s longstanding ban on Jewish prayer at the site in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem
JERUSALEM: Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Thursday, triggering angry reactions from the Palestinian Authority and Jordan accusing the far-right politician of a deliberate provocation.
Ben Gvir has repeatedly defied the Israeli government’s longstanding ban on Jewish prayer at the site in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, which is revered by both Muslims and Jews and has been a focal point of tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I went up to the site of our temple this morning to pray for the peace of our soldiers, the swift return of all hostages and a total victory, God willing,” Ben Gvir said in a message on social media platform X, referring to the Gaza war and the dozens of Israeli captives held in the Palestinian territory.
He also posted a photo of himself on the holy site, with members of the Israeli security forces and the famed golden Dome of the Rock in the background.
The Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s Old City is Islam’s third-holiest site and a symbol of Palestinian national identity.
Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is also Judaism’s holiest place, revered as the site of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Under the status quo maintained by Israel, which has occupied east Jerusalem and its Old City since 1967, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.
Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their future capital, while Israeli leaders have insisted that the entire city is their “undivided” capital.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it “condemns” Ben Gvir’s latest visit, calling his prayer at the site a “provocation to millions of Palestinians and Muslims.”
Jordan, which administers the mosque compound, similarly condemned what its foreign ministry called Ben Gvir’s “provocative and unacceptable” actions.
The ministry’s statement decried a “violation of the historical and legal status quo.”
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a brief statement that “the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed.”
UN force sounds alarm over Israeli ‘destruction’ in south Lebanon
- Under the ceasefire agreement, UNIFIL peacekeepers and the Lebanese army were to redeploy in south Lebanon, near the Israeli border, as Israeli forces withdrew over 60 days
BEIRUT: The United Nations’ peacekeeping force in Lebanon expressed concern on Thursday at the “continuing” damage done by Israeli forces in the country’s south despite a ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah.
The truce went into effect on November 27, about two months after Israel stepped up its bombing campaign and later sent troops into Lebanon following nearly a year of exchanges of cross-border fire initiated by Hezbollah over the war in Gaza.
The warring sides have since traded accusations of violating the truce.
Under the ceasefire agreement, UNIFIL peacekeepers and the Lebanese army were to redeploy in south Lebanon, near the Israeli border, as Israeli forces withdrew over 60 days.
UNIFIL said in a statement on Thursday that “there is concern at continuing destruction by the IDF (army) in residential areas, agricultural land and road networks in south Lebanon.”
The statement added that “this is in violation of Resolution 1701,” which was adopted by the UN Security Council and ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war of 2006.
The UN force also reiterated its call for “the timely withdrawal” of Israeli troops from Lebanon, and “the full implementation of Resolution 1701.”
The resolution states that Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah exerts control, and also calls for Israeli troops to withdraw from Lebanese territory.
“Any actions that risk the fragile cessation of hostilities must cease,” UNIFIL said.
On Monday the force had urged “accelerated progress” in the Israeli military’s withdrawal.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported on Thursday “extensive” operations by Israeli forces in the south.
It said residents of Qantara fled to a nearby village “following an incursion by Israeli enemy forces into their town.”
On Wednesday the NNA said Israeli aircraft struck the eastern Baalbek region, far from the border.
Syria forces carry out operation against pro-Assad ‘militias’: state media
- Operation had already succeeded in ‘neutralizing a certain number’ of armed men loyal to Assad
DUBAI: The new Syrian military administration announced on Thursday that it was launching a security operation in Tartous province, according to the Syrian state news agency.
The operation aims to maintain security in the region and target remnants of the Assad regime still operating in the area.
The announcement marks a significant move by the new administration as it consolidates its authority in the coastal province.
The operation had already succeeded in “neutralizing a certain number” of armed men loyal to toppled president Bashar Assad, state news agency SANA reported said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor has reported several arrests in connection with Wednesday’s clashes.
Further details about the scope or duration of the operation have not yet been disclosed.
