UNITED NATIONS: The US, Britain and France on Wednesday opposed a Russian-drafted UN Security Council statement that would have condemned an attack on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria, which Tehran has blamed on Washington’s ally Israel.
Press statements by the 15-member council have to be agreed by consensus. Diplomats said the US, backed by France and Britain, told council colleagues that many of the facts of what happened on Monday in Damascus remained unclear and there was no consensus among council members during a meeting on Tuesday.
“This serves as a clear illustration of the double standards employed by the Western ‘troika’ and their actual, rather than declarative, approach to legality and order in the international context,” Russia’s deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said in a post on X.
The UN Security Council has issued statements in the past condemning attacks on diplomatic premises. The European Union on Wednesday condemned the strike — saying the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises and personnel must be respected — and called on countries to show restraint.
The US says it has not confirmed the status of the building struck in Damascus, but that it would be concerned if it was a diplomatic facility.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, which destroyed a consular building adjacent to the main embassy complex, killing seven members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Iran has accused Israel of violating the founding UN Charter, international law, and also cited several conventions.
The 1961 Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations and 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations define premises as buildings, parts of buildings and land — regardless of ownership — used for the purposes of the diplomatic or consular mission, including the head of the diplomatic mission.
Those conventions state that the diplomatic or consular premises “shall be inviolable.” But they also say the premises should “not be used in any manner incompatible” with the diplomatic and consular functions.
Iran also cited the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents — suggesting those killed were covered by these rules.
UN Security Council fails to condemn strike on Iran in Syria
https://arab.news/j9eyn
UN Security Council fails to condemn strike on Iran in Syria
- The US says it has not confirmed the status of the building struck in Damascus
- Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack
Syria’s foreign minister receives a phone call from his Egyptian counterpart — post on X
Lebanese military enters Chamaa following Israeli withdrawal
- French defense, foreign ministers welcome New Year with UN peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon
BEIRUT: For the first time since the ceasefire agreement went into effect a month and four days ago, a joint patrol of the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL entered the town of Chamaa in the western sector, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The army repositioned itself at various posts at the start of the ground war launched by the Israeli military, which advanced into several towns and villages across the border region. Israeli soldiers remain in some areas despite the ceasefire, continuing to demolish homes and bulldoze roads it claims are Hezbollah facilities.
Israel is carrying out a slow withdrawal from the region despite 35 days having passed since the ceasefire was agreed. The Israeli forces still have 25 days remaining before the final deadline for their complete withdrawal, during which the Lebanese military is set to deploy and work on clearing the area of illegal weapons in implementation of Resolution 1701.
Lebanese engineering teams headed to Chamaa to remove unexploded ordnance and inspect the area before stationing themselves there following the Israeli withdrawal.
Two weeks ago, the Lebanese military entered Khiam, working to open roads and seize weapons and ammunition depots found in the town and surrounding areas. It said that “there will be no weapons other than those of the Lebanese Army.”
Meanwhile, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee reiterated in a social media post a warning to “the residents of southern Lebanon not to return to their homes or move south of a line extending from Mansouri in the west to the town of Shebaa in the east, at a depth ranging between three and nine kilometers, until further notice.”
Adraee claimed that Israel “does not intend to target civilians at this stage, but anyone who decides to return to villages and areas south of this line puts themselves at great risk.”
The restricted area, where residents are barred from returning to, now encompasses 63 towns along the Lebanese-Israeli border.
In a serious incident, Israeli forces shot and wounded Charbel Choufani, a Rmeish resident, as he attempted to reach his farm near the town. Choufani was struck in the shoulder and hospitalized.
Despite the ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces have continued artillery bombardment of border areas, including strikes targeting Shebaa.
Meanwhile France’s Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot conducted their second day of diplomatic visits in southern Lebanon.
The ministers received comprehensive security briefings from Lebanese Army Brig. Gen. Gaby Lawandos, commander of the South Litani Sector, and French UNIFIL contingent representatives in Deir Kifa.
During their visit, the ministers observed joint UNIFIL-Lebanese Army armored patrols and reviewed military capabilities, including reconnaissance, transport, and Cobra battery units.
The ministers, who chose to spend their year-end holiday with French peacekeepers, shared meals with the troops.
Earlier, the French delegation met with Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun and France’s representative to the Five-Party Committee monitoring the ceasefire, Brig. Gen. Guillaume Ponchin.
The ministers will attend a memorial service on Wednesday at the Pine Residence in Beirut, honoring a French peacekeeper who died in a traffic accident near Shamaa on Nov. 15 while on UNIFIL patrol duty.
Syrian lawyers demand free bar association elections
- Petition says bar association "must no longer be subordinate to the whims of any ruler"
BEIRUT: Syrian lawyers launched an online petition demanding free elections for their bar association after the country’s new rulers appointed a council to govern the association, a lawyer told AFP Tuesday.
Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime president Bashar Assad earlier this month, ending more than 50 years of his family’s iron-clad rule.
Lawyer Abdulhay Sayed, who signed the petition, told AFP that Syria’s new rulers “appointed a new council” to govern the bar association with “no visibility for the future.”
The petition, seen by AFP, said: “Today, with the collapse of the deposed regime, the bar association must no longer be subordinate to the whims of any ruler.
“It is imperative that it reclaim its rightful role in public life and empower its members to defend the rights of individuals and safeguard society’s existence, even against the most powerful authorities,” it added.
The petition said its councils should not be replaced by “others lacking electoral legitimacy.”
“This approach would simply substitute one form of authoritarianism for another, perpetuating the suppression of the bar’s vital role in oversight and protection of rights,” the statement said.
“At this critical transitional moment, it is essential to organize free and independent elections for the central bar association and its branches across the provinces without delay,” it said.
The petition was signed by about two dozen lawyers mainly based in the Damascus, Homs and Hama areas.
It “aims to restore the bar association’s historical role and its independence,” Sayed told AFP.
The bar had played a leading role in opposing state repression, particularly in the early 1980s, before being muzzled by authorities that imposed their own appointees.
Syria’s new authorities have suspended the constitution and parliament for a three-month interim period and appointed a transitional government to head the country during that time.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa said organizing national elections could take four years and that rewriting the constitution could take two or three years, in a televised interview last week.
Dozens of patients and wounded evacuated from Gaza for treatment
- The 45 patients left the European Hospital in Khan Younis and crossed into Israel
- Patients will be sent to UAE for treatment
Dozens of patients and the wounded have been evacuated for treatment outside the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where the United Nations says Israel’s attacks on and around hospitals have pushed health care to the brink.
The 45 patients left the European Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis early Tuesday and traveled through the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Israel, Palestinian health officials said. They will receive treatment in the United Arab Emirates.
Among them was a 10-year-old boy, Abdullah Abu Yousef, suffering from kidney failure. He was accompanied by his sister after the Israeli authorities rejected his mother’s application to join him. Israel says it screens escorts for security.
“The boy is sick,” said his mother, Abeer Abu Yousef. “He requires hemodialysis three to four days a week.”
The Health Ministry says several thousand Palestinians in Gaza need medical treatment abroad. Israel has controlled all entry and exit points since capturing the southern city of Rafah in May. Israel’s offensive, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack has gutted the territory’s health care system and forced most of its hospitals to close. Those that remain open are only partially functioning.
US strikes Houthi targets in Yemen capital, coast: CENTCOM
- The attacks began Monday and were carried out by US Navy ships and aircraft that also struck Houthi-controlled coastal regions of Yemen
- US Navy and Air Force aircraft had also destroyed “seven cruise missiles and one-way attack UAVs over the Red Sea”
WASHINGTON: The US military said Tuesday its forces had hit Houthi targets in Yemen’s capital that the Iran-backed militia used to attack American warships and commercial vessels.
The attacks began Monday and were carried out by US Navy ships and aircraft that also struck Houthi-controlled coastal regions of Yemen, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
It also said US Navy and Air Force aircraft had destroyed “seven cruise missiles and one-way attack UAVs over the Red Sea,” using an acronym for unmanned aerial drones.
“There were no injuries or damage to US personnel or equipment in either incident,” it said.
One witness in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa reported several strikes in different locations.
Another reported raids on Sanaa on the Defense Ministry and having heard a powerful explosion.
Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam called the strikes “an American aggression” and “a blatant violation of the sovereignty of an independent state and a blatant support for Israel.”
The Houthis said earlier Tuesday that they had fired two missiles at Israel, hours after the Israeli military said it had intercepted a projectile launched from the country.
The Houthis have been firing missiles and drones at Israel, and at ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
