AMMAN/ISTANBUL: Turkiye closed its main border crossings into northwest Syria on Tuesday after Turkish troops came under fire from Syrians angered by violence against their compatriots in Turkiye, a Syrian opposition source and residents said.
In Turkiye, police detained 474 people involved in attacks targeting the Syrian community across the country overnight, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, in spreading unrest that began late on Sunday.
Properties and vehicles owned by Syrians were vandalized and set on fire in the central city of Kayseri, stoked by social media reports that a Syrian man had sexually abused a female child relative. Yerlikaya said the incident was being investigated.
The violence spread to the provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Konya, Bursa and an Istanbul district, Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency said in a statement. There were social media reports of some injuries among Syrians.
Subsequently, hundreds of angry Syrians took to the streets in several towns in the rebel-held northwest Syria, an area where Turkiye maintains thousands of troops and has carved out a sphere of influence that has stopped Syrian President Bashar Assad from regaining control.
Late on Monday, Turkiye responded to the unrest by closing until further notice the Bab al Hawa border crossing, a main trade and passenger conduit for more than 3 million inhabitants, along with Bab al Salam and other smaller crossings, a border official told Reuters.
The Syrian border city of Afrin was the scene of the most violent clashes, with at least four people killed in an exchange of fire between armed protesters and Turkish troops. Elsewhere, there were skirmishes and armed clashes, with civilians hurling stones at Turkish convoys in several towns, and tearing down the Turkish flag on some offices.
Several Turkish officials described the unrest in Syria as “provocations,” with the Foreign Ministry saying: “It is wrong to use the sad events that took place in Kayseri ... as the basis for some provocations beyond our borders.”
In a speech on Tuesday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan blamed the “chaos plan” on groups associated with terrorist organizations, and vowed to reveal the “dirty hands” behind the recent incidents.
“We know who is playing in these games staged with the remnants of the terrorist organization. Neither us, nor our Syrian brothers, will fall into this sly trap...we will not give in to racist vandalism,” Erdogan said following the cabinet meeting.
Erdogan said more than 670,000 people have returned to areas in northern Syria, where Turkiye has been operating to create safe zones over the past decade.
He added, the refugee issue will be solved humanely and morally in line with the economic realities of Turkiye, which is hosting more than 3 million Syrian war refugees.
Erdogan said last Friday a meeting with Assad was possible to help restore bilateral relations. Turkiye severed ties with Syria after the 2011 Syrian civil war and supported rebels looking to oust Assad.
Turkiye closes Syria border after violence flares in both countries
https://arab.news/4nc9d
Turkiye closes Syria border after violence flares in both countries
- Turkiye responded to the unrest by closing the Bab al Hawa border crossing
- Erdogan said a meeting with Assad was possible to help restore bilateral relations
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.
