LATAKIA: A Russian cargo plane departed from Russia’s air base in the Syrian port city of Latakia for Libya on Saturday, a Syrian security official stationed outside the facility said, following rebels’ overthrow of President Bashar Assad last weekend.
The official told Reuters that additional Russian departures from the Hmeimim air base in Syria’s coastal Latakia province were expected in the coming days.
Increased activity has been observed at the air base throughout the day. In addition to the departing cargo plane, an Ilyushin II-76 cargo plane and an Alligator helicopter were seen landing at the base.
Helicopters were also seen flying within the base, and a SU-34 jet landed for refueling. A Zeppelin hovered overhead, and two trucks carrying Russian flags were seen traveling within the base.
On Friday, satellite images showed Russia moving military equipment at Hmeimim air base, with two Antonov AN-124 cargo planes visible.
Russia, a longstanding ally of Assad, granted the ousted Syrian leader asylum last weekend after helping him to flee his country as the rebels approached Damascus.
Moscow has said it hopes to maintain its two bases in Syria — the Hmeimim air base at Latakia and a naval base in Tartous — in order to keep up efforts against what it called international terrorism.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Thursday
contacts
with the political committee of Syria’s Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham were “proceeding in constructive fashion.”
Russian cargo plane departs Syria for Libya, more flights expected, official says
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Russian cargo plane departs Syria for Libya, more flights expected, official says
Seven Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school, civil emergency says
- The dead include a woman and her baby, according to medics
The dead include a woman and her baby, according to medics.
Turkiye to reopen embassy in Syria as diplomats gather for talks
- Move comes as Middle Eastern and Western diplomats gathered in Jordan for high-level talks on Syria
DAMASCUS: Turkiye was set to reopen its embassy in Damascus on Saturday, nearly a week after president Bashar Assad was toppled by forces backed by Ankara, and 12 years after the diplomatic outpost was shuttered early in Syria’s civil war.
The move came as Middle Eastern and Western diplomats gathered in Jordan for high-level talks on Syria, and a day after nationwide celebrations at Assad’s ouster.
Ankara has been a major player in Syria’s conflict, holding considerable sway in the northwest and financing armed groups there, and maintaining a working relationship with the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the offensive that brought down Assad.
Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the new charge d’affaires, Burhan Koroglu, left for Syria on Friday, with the embassy expected to be “operational” the following day.
Fidan also said Ankara had urged Assad backers Russia and Iran not to intervene as the Islamist-led militants mounted their lightning advance last week.
“The most important thing was to talk to the Russians and Iranians to ensure that they didn’t enter the equation militarily... They understood,” Fidan told private television network NTV.
Turkish diplomats joined counterparts from the European Union, the United States and the Arab world on Saturday for talks in the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
A day before the meetings in Jordan, Syrians had celebrated what they called the “Friday of victory,” with fireworks heralding the fall of the Assad dynasty.
Celebrations continued into the night on the first Friday — the Muslim day of rest and prayer — since Assad was ousted.
Umayyad Square in Damascus was jammed with vehicles, people and waving flags as fireworks shot into the air, AFPTV footage showed.
Crowds also gathered in the squares and streets of other Syrian cities, including Homs, Hama and Idlib.
Syria war monitor reports Israeli strikes on military sites
Beirut: A Syria war monitor said Israel launched strikes early Saturday targeting military sites in Damascus and its countryside, in the latest such raids since rebels brought down Bashar Assad almost a week ago.
“Israeli strikes destroyed a scientific institute” and other related military facilities in Barzeh, in northern Damascus, and targeted a “military airport” in the capital’s countryside, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Strikes also targeted “Scud ballistic missile warehouses” and launchers in the Qalamun area, as well as “rockets, depots and tunnels under the mountain,” according to the Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria.
The Observatory said several rounds of bombardment targeted “military sites of the former regime forces, as part of destroying what is left of the future Syrian army’s capabilities.”
Israel air strikes on Friday targeted “a missile base at the top of Damascus’s Mount Qasyun,” the group said, as well as an airport in southern Sweida province and “defense and research labs in Masyaf,” in Hama province.
Since Assad’s fall, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Syrian military sites, targeting everything from chemical weapons stores to air defenses.
In a move that has drawn international condemnation, Israel also seized a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone on the Syrian Golan Heights just hours after the rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, took Damascus.
On Thursday, UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed concern over “extensive violations” of Syrian sovereignty and the Israeli strikes in the country, his spokesman said.
Iran will not impede IAEA access, head of its atomic organization says
- IAEA reported that Iran had multiplied the pace of its enrichment to up to 60 percent purity, close to the 90 percent of weapons-grade
Iran will not impede UN nuclear watchdog’s access and inspection of its sites, the head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Saturday.
According to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier this week, Iran has agreed to tougher monitoring by the agency at its Fordow site after it greatly accelerated uranium enrichment to close to weapons grade there.
Last week, the IAEA reported that Iran had multiplied the pace of its enrichment to up to 60 percent purity, close to the 90 percent of weapons-grade, at Fordow.
“We have not created and will not create any obstacles for the agency’s inspections and access,” Atomic Energy Organization head Mohammad Eslami was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
“We operate within the framework of safeguards, and the agency also acts according to regulations— no more, no less,” he added.
US general discusses Syria, other regional issues in Israel visit
- Washington has urged Israel to be in close consultation with the US over events unfolding in Syria
- Israeli military said its jets conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria and destroyed the bulk of its strategic weapons stockpiles
WASHINGTON: A top US military officer visited Israel from Wednesday to Friday, meeting with Israeli defense officials and discussing the situation in Syria, among other regional topics, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
Army General Michael Kurilla, CENTCOM’s commander, met Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, along with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, CENTCOM said.
Washington has urged Israel to be in close consultation with the US over events unfolding in Syria, where days earlier Syrian rebels led by rebel leader Abu Mohammed Al-Golani brought an end to more than 50 years of rule by the Assad family, as ousted President Bashar Assad fled the country.
The world has been watching to see if Syria’s new rulers can stabilize the country in which more than a decade of civil war killed hundreds of thousands and sparked a refugee crisis.
Following the collapse of Assad’s regime, the Israeli military said its jets conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria and destroyed the bulk of its strategic weapons stockpiles.
Katz has ordered Israeli troops to prepare to stay over the winter on Mount Hermon, a strategic location overlooking Damascus, adding to signs that Israel is planning a prolonged military presence in Syria.
“The leaders discussed a range of regional security issues, to include the ongoing situation in Syria, and preparedness against other strategic and regional threats,” the CENTCOM statement said.
CENTCOM said Kurilla also visited Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon in recent days.
While Israel welcomed the removal of Assad, an ally of arch rival Iran, it is suspicious of the rebel groups that toppled him, many of which have origins linked to Islamist groups.
In Lebanon, Kurilla visited Beirut to monitor withdrawal of the first Israeli troops under a ceasefire reached last month for a war that killed thousands and displaced over a million.
Israel is separately waging a war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, where its military assault over the last 14 months has killed tens of thousands and led to genocide and war crimes accusations that it denies.
Israel’s assault on Gaza followed an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed 1,200.
