Israel kills seven who took shelter in Gaza school, local officials say
At least seven people were killed and 12 others wounded in an Israeli attack on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza, the civilian emergency service in Gaza City said Saturday.
According to doctors, the dead include a woman and her child.
major events
mohammed bazi
As Syrians celebrated the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime on Sunday, three foreign powers – Israel, Turkey and the US – launched airstrikes across the country. All three described the bombings as an effort to protect their interests after a surprise offensive by rebel fighters led to Assad’s sudden ouster from power — and the withdrawal of his two main foreign patrons, Russia and Iran.
In the tense hours after Assad fled Moscow, thousands of political prisoners were freed from the Baathist regime’s prisons and torture centers. Syrians tore down statues and pictures of Assad and his father Hafez, who took power in 1970 and turned Syria into a police state. All told, father and son ruled Syria for 54 years. But millions of Syrians barely had time to come to terms with the fact that the Assad family rule had finally ended before it became clear that other outside actors would be working to shape Syria’s future. ..
The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, says he will not hinder the UN nuclear watchdog’s access to and inspections of its sites.
“We have not created and will not create any obstacles to the agency’s oversight and access,” Eslami says, as quoted by the Times of Israel.
He further added, “We work within the framework of security measures, and the agency also works as per the rules – no more, no less.”
jim powell
The fall of Assad in Syria, protests in Georgia, the Franklin Fire in Malibu and the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris: the last seven days World’s leading photojournalist,
“We must respect the will of the Syrian people, and we wish them the best,” Lebanon’s acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati said, at a meeting with Pope Francis and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to Lebanon’s national news agency. “
“We also look forward to relations between the two countries based on mutual respect and the interests of both peoples.”
The UN special envoy on Saturday urged foreign powers to work to avoid the collapse of vital Syrian institutions.
UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen has met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, supporting a “credible and inclusive” political process when forming Syria’s next government.
“We need to ensure that state institutions do not collapse and that we get humanitarian aid as quickly as possible,” Pedersen said.
“If we can achieve this, maybe there is a new opportunity for the Syrian people.”
Blinken said the United Nations “plays a vital role” in humanitarian aid and the protection of minorities in Syria.
The Israeli Air Force conducted drone strikes this morning against multiple primed rocket launchers in southern Lebanon, The Times of Israel reports.
The IDF claims that the Lebanese rockets were pointed towards Israel, in violation of the ceasefire agreement between the two countries.
No political comeback for Assad: The expert claims that the ousted Syrian leader will spend the rest of his days idly somewhere in Russia.
“Bashar and his family are clearly secular, even though they identify with the Alawite sect, so in that sense Russia has always been more attractive than Iran,” said David Lesch, a Syria expert at Trinity University in Texas. opportunity.
“In Assad’s mind, Russia and Vladimir Putin can better protect his family from extradition or any other efforts by the international community to bring them to justice,” Lesch said.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, Raed al-Saleh has addressed the families of victims and survivors of the former Syrian regime in front of the Palace of Justice in Damascus.
In a video posted on Twitter, al-Saleh promised to hold Assad accountable for his “violations”.
“Today, I promise you, not from somewhere else, but from in front of the Palace of Justice, that I will work with all legal institutions to hold the head of the regime accountable after all these violations,” he said.
Bethan McKernan
Thousands of Syrians have taken to the streets across Syria to celebrate their new freedom, five days after rebels ousted the 54-year-long Bashar al-Assad regime.
Thousands of people gathered at the Umayyad Mosque in the center of Damascus’s Old City, one of the Islamic world’s holiest religious sites, on Sunday for the first Friday prayers since Assad left the country, marking the country’s “independence”. Has been named. Day.”…
William Christou
A month ago, during a meeting in Beirut, a senior Western diplomat was expressing his frustration: When will international sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad be lifted? Although the dictator had few friends, it seemed that the brutal murder and torture of hundreds of thousands of protesters had finally succeeded in crushing Syria’s 13-year revolution.
It is time to face the facts, the diplomat said. Assad had won the war and the world needed to move on.
As diplomats spoke in Beirut, rebels in Syria were planning. A year ago, men from the Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in northwest Syria sent a message to rebels in the south: Get ready…
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Israel’s latest attacks have targeted military targets in Damascus and its countryside.
Israeli airstrikes on Friday targeted “a missile base on the top of Mount Qasyun in Damascus” and an airport in southern Sweda province and “defense and research laboratories in Masyaf” in Hama province, the war monitoring group said.
“Israeli strikes destroyed military facilities”, including “a scientific institute” in Barzeh in northern Damascus, and targeted a “military airport” in a rural area of the capital, it said.
The group said the strikes also targeted “Scud ballistic missile warehouses” and launchers in the Qalmun area, as well as “rockets, depots and tunnels under the mountain.”
Israel has repeatedly attacked Syrian military targets since Assad’s defeat.
Jordan to host Syria talks after Damascus erupts in celebration
Hello, we are resuming our live coverage of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
Today, Jordan will welcome diplomats from the US, the EU and Turkey and Arab countries to discuss the developing situation in Syria, 24 hours after a large part of the country’s population celebrated the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will join envoys appointed to discuss Syria in the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
Syrians called the day “Friday of Victory” as fireworks lit up the Damascus sky. Assad had ruled the country with an iron fist for more than fifty years, when his dictatorship ended after rebels stormed the capital, sparking a 14-year war that took more than 500,000 lives and millions more. Displaced.
A delegation from the Gulf emirate will visit Syria on Sunday to meet transitional government officials and discuss aid and the reopening of its embassy, a Qatari diplomat said.
Qatar, unlike other Arab countries, never restored diplomatic relations with Assad after his separation in 2011.
We’ll bring you updates from those talks in Jordan as well as all the latest developments in the Middle East