Residents of Israeli settlement ‘Trump Heights’ welcome Donald’s return to US presidency

Residents of Israeli settlement ‘Trump Heights’ welcome Donald’s return to US presidency
Trump Heights was named after US-elect President Donald Trump after he became the first and only foreign leader to recognize Israel’s control of the Golan heights during his first term. (Reuters)
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Updated 08 November 2024
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Residents of Israeli settlement ‘Trump Heights’ welcome Donald’s return to US presidency

Residents of Israeli settlement ‘Trump Heights’ welcome Donald’s return to US presidency
  • During his first term, Donald Trump became the first and only foreign leader to recognize Israel’s control of the Golan Heights
  • Trump’s election has inspired hope in the community that it will attract more members and also more funding for security improvements

RAMAT TRUMP, Golan Heights: Israeli residents of “Trump Heights” are welcoming the election of their namesake, hoping Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency will breathe new life into this tiny, remote settlement in the central Golan Heights.
During his first term, Trump became the first and only foreign leader to recognize Israel’s control of the Golan, which it seized from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel thanked him by rebranding this outpost after him.
But a large-scale influx of new residents never materialized after that 2019 ceremony, and just a couple dozen families live in Trump Heights, or “Ramat Trump” in Hebrew. Job opportunities are limited, and Israel’s more than yearlong war against Hezbollah militants in nearby Lebanon has added to the sense of isolation.
Trump’s election has inspired hope in the community that it will attract more members and also more funding for security improvements.
“Maybe it can raise more awareness and maybe some support to help here and help our kids here,” said Yarden Freimann, Trump Heights’ community manager.
Ori Kallner, head of the Golan’s regional council, showed off dozens of plots of land, replete with new asphalt roads, lampposts and utility lines, that residents have prepared for future housing developments.
“President Trump’s return to the White House definitely puts the town in the headlines,” he said.
Hanging on while war rages nearby
Kallner stood next to a metal statue of an eagle and a menorah, symbolizing the United States and Israel, as Israeli warplanes flew overhead. Two explosions from rockets fired from Lebanon punched the hills nearby, and just across the border in Lebanon, plumes of smoke rose into the air from Israeli airstrikes.
An enormous sign with the settlement’s name in Hebrew and English gleamed in the sun, while two large sunbaked metal flags of Israel and the United States were faded almost beyond recognition.
Surrounded by ashen ruins of villages fled by Syrians in the 1967 war, the town is perched above the Hula Valley, where Israel has amassed tanks, artillery and troops for its fight in Lebanon. Most towns in the valley have been evacuated. Trump Heights sends its kids to a makeshift daycare in a nearby settlement after the government shuttered all schools in the region in the wake of the Oct. 1 invasion of Lebanon.
“We find ourselves hanging by our fingernails to be in our own community, not be evacuated, and on the other hand, we cannot work, we cannot send our kids to any kind of an education system,” said Freimann.
Trump Heights is only about 12 kilometers from Lebanon and Syria. Alerts for incoming fire gives residents about 30 seconds’ head start to get to a bomb shelter.
Trump broke with other leaders on the Golan Heights
Israel annexed the Golan, a strategic plateau overlooking northern Israel, in 1981 in a move that is not internationally recognized.
That changed in March 2019 when Trump, without notice, tweeted that the US would “fully recognize” Israel’s control of the territory. His announcement drew widespread condemnation from the international community, which considers the Golan to be occupied Syrian territory and Israel’s settlements to be illegal. The Biden administration left the decision intact, but the US remains the lone country to recognize the Israeli annexation.
Kallner said he hopes Trump will now persuade European countries to recognize Israeli sovereignty there.
According to Israeli figures, the Golan is home to about 50,000 people — roughly half of them Jewish Israelis and the other half Arab Druze, many of whom still consider themselves Syrians under occupation.
Israel has encouraged and promoted settlements in the Golan, and the Druze residents operate farms and a tourism and restaurant sector popular with Israelis. But the area has struggled to develop because of its remoteness, several hours from Israel’s economic center in Tel Aviv.
That economic hardship has only worsened during the war as the hospitality sector cratered. On July 28, a rocket killed 12 Druze children on a soccer field in the city of Majdal Shams, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) away. Israel invaded Lebanon months later.
In June 2019, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led an inauguration ceremony for Trump Heights. The US ambassador at the time, David Friedman, noted that the ceremony came days after Trump’s birthday and said: “I can’t think of a more appropriate and a more beautiful birthday present.”
As president, Trump was close with Netanyahu
The Golan recognition was among a series of diplomatic gifts that Trump delivered to Israel during his first term. They included recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the American embassy to the contested city, and a series of diplomatic agreements with Arab countries known as the Abraham Accords.
He has vowed to bring peace to the tumultuous region during his second term, but has not said how.
Netanyahu enjoyed a close relationship with Trump during his first term but ran afoul of the former president when he congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 victory. The Israeli prime minister announced Tuesday that he was one of the first foreign leaders to call the president-elect and congratulate him on his victory. An official in his office, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal communications, said aides were upbeat and giddy.
“Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback!” the Israeli leader said in a statement. “Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America.”
At Trump Heights, Kallner was optimistic too: “The Golan community is strong and resilient, and people that want to come and live here are from the same material. I believe we will overcome these challenging times and won’t stop growing.”


Israel army says deploying in Syria buffer zone

Israel army says deploying in Syria buffer zone
Updated 25 min 25 sec ago
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Israel army says deploying in Syria buffer zone

Israel army says deploying in Syria buffer zone
  • Israeli forces ‘will continue to operate as long as necessary in order to preserve the buffer zone and defend Israel’

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Sunday it had deployed forces to a demilitarized buffer zone in southwest Syria abutting the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights after Damascus fell to militant forces.
Israel had already said the day before, as the Islamist-led militants swiftly advanced across Syria, that its soldiers had entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone to assist peacekeepers in repelling an attack.
On Sunday, the army announced a troop deployment there, citing “the possible entry of armed individuals into the buffer zone.”
“Following the recent events in Syria... the IDF (army) has deployed forces in the buffer zone and in several other places necessary for its defense, to ensure the safety of the communities of the Golan Heights and the citizens of Israel,” a military statement said.
Israeli forces “will continue to operate as long as necessary in order to preserve the buffer zone and defend Israel,” it added.
The statement stressed that the Israeli military “is not interfering with the internal events in Syria.”
Since the militant coalition, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, began its renewed offensive against the forces of President Bashar Assad on November 27, Syrian government forces have left positions near the Israeli-held Golan, according to a war monitor.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Saturday that army forces had withdrawn from positions in Quneitra province, which includes part of the Golan Heights.
Most of the plateau has been occupied since 1967 by Israel, which later annexed it in a move not recognized by most of the international community.
In 1974 the buffer zone was established, separating the Israeli-held and Syrian territories, with UN peacekeepers stationed there since.
A UN Peacekeeping spokesperson said on Saturday that UNDOF personnel had observed “unidentified armed individuals in the area of separation, including approximately 20 who went into one of the mission’s positions in the northern part of the area of separation.”
The Israeli army said it was “assisting the UN forces in repelling the attack.”
The UN spokesperson said that “peacekeepers continue to carry out their mandated activities on the Golan.”
On Sunday, Lebanese media outlets reported an Israeli strike on Quneitra targeting an arms depot. The Israeli military declined to comment.
In a separate statement, the Israeli military said schools in the northern Golan Heights, in an area covering four Druze towns, would move to online teaching, also declaring a “closed military zone” in agricultural lands in the area.
Early in Syria’s war, which began in 2011 following the repression of anti-government protests, militant forces and jihadist groups had taken over parts of Quneitra province.
In August 2014, Islamist militants attacked UNDOF and took more than 40 Fijian peacekeepers hostage, holding them captive for almost two weeks.


Nations call for stability, end of fighting in Syria

Nations call for stability, end of fighting in Syria
Updated 13 sec ago
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Nations call for stability, end of fighting in Syria

Nations call for stability, end of fighting in Syria
  • Jordan adds that bolstering the state of security in the region ‘is being worked on’
  • China’s foreign ministry said it hopes Syria ‘returns to stability as soon as possible’

CAIRO: Nations have called for stability and an end of fighting in Syria after president Bashar Assad fled Damascus and militants took control of the capital, ending his 24-year rule.

Jordan affirms the importance of preserving the unity and security of Syria in light of the fast-developing recent events, the government said on Sunday.

Jordan added that bolstering the state of security in the region “is being worked on”, according to Petra News Agency.

Jordan underscored its dedication to safeguarding Syria’s security, stability, and territorial integrity, and further emphasized the urgency of restoring the functionality of Syria’s national institutions, Petra reported.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Sunday that international and regional actors should ensure a smooth transition from the Assad government of after Islamist-led militants took Damascus.

“We have to work very hard... with Syrian people, not just Turkiye, but also regional actors, the international actors, to make sure that there is a good and smooth transition period, no more harm to the civilian people,” Fidan said at the Doha Forum in Qatar.

France meanwhile welcomed news of the fall of Assad and called for fighting to end and a peaceful political transition in the country.

“Now is the time for unity in Syria,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Spain will support a peaceful solution for Syria that provides stability for the region, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said following the reported fall of the Assad regime.

Madrid wants “any solution for the future of Syria to be a peaceful one... that benefits the Syrian people and in some way brings new stability to the Middle East and not more instability”, Albares told Spanish public television.

“We have to take steps to ensure that it’s the Syrian people who decide how they are governed and by whom in future and, of course, that Syria’s territorial integrity is maintained,” he said.

China’s foreign ministry said Sunday it hopes Syria “returns to stability as soon as possible.”

Beijing “is closely following the development of the situation in Syria and hopes that Syria returns to stability as soon as possible”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The UAE diplomatic advisor to the president said that non-state actors should not be allowed the opportunity to exploit political vacuums, shortly after Syrian opposition fighters declared the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in Damascus.

“Unfolding events in Syria are also a clear indication of political failure and the destructive nature of conflict and chaos,” Anwar Gargash told the Manama Dialogue security forum in the Bahraini capital in the first official comments from the UAE on the matter.

Gargash also urged Syrians to collaborate to avert tumult: “We hope that the Syrians will work together, that we don’t just see another episode of impending chaos.”

UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen underscored the clear desire expressed by millions of Syrians that stable and inclusive transitional arrangements are put in place, according to a statement published on Sunday.

The diplomat urged all Syrians to prioritize dialogue, unity, and respect for international humanitarian law and human rights as they seek to rebuild their society, adding he stands ready to support the Syrian people in their journey toward a stable and inclusive future.

with wires


Bashar Assad flees Syria as militants enter Damascus

Bashar Assad flees Syria as militants enter Damascus
Updated 57 min 14 sec ago
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Bashar Assad flees Syria as militants enter Damascus

Bashar Assad flees Syria as militants enter Damascus
  • Prime Minister Mohammed Jalali: Syria should hold free elections to allow its people to decide leadership
  • Opposition fighters and citizens called on to preserve state institutions of ‘the free Syrian state’

AMMAN/BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, two senior army officers said, as militants announced they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.

Thousands in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting “Freedom,” witnesses said.

“We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains and announcing the end of the era of injustice in Sednaya prison,” said the militants.

Sednaya is a large military prison on the outskirts Damascus where the Syrian government detained thousands.

A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by militants, according to data from the Flightradar website.

The aircraft initially flew toward Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.

Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.

Syrian foreign ministry says will continue to serve citizens abroad

Syria’s foreign ministry said Sunday that it would continue to serve citizens abroad after rebels seized the capital Damascus.

The ministry “and its diplomatic missions abroad will remain committed to serving” and assisting all citizens, its website said, as several other ministries and public institutions called on employees to return to work, reassuring Syrians services would continue.

Syrian PM calls for free elections, confirms contact with opposition commander

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Jalali said on Sunday that Syria should hold free elections to allow its people to decide their leadership.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya, Jalali also said he had been in contact with opposition commander Abu Mohammed Golani to discuss managing the current transitional period, marking a notable development in efforts to shape Syria’s political future.

Statement read over state TV

Syrian state television earlier aired a video statement by a group of men saying that President Bashar Assad has been overthrown and all detainees in jails have been set free.

The man who read the statement said the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus, an opposition group, is calling on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve state institutions of “the free Syrian state.”

“Long live the free Syrian state that is to all Syrians in all” their sects and ethnic groups, the men said.

Official institutions in Damascus to remain under the prime minister

The leader of Syrian militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani, ordered forces Sunday not to approach official institutions in Damascus, saying they would remain under the prime minister until they are “officially” handed over.

“To all military forces in the city of Damascus, it is strictly forbidden to approach public institutions, which will remain under the supervision of the former prime minister until they are officially handed over,” Jolani said in a statement on Telegram, using his real name Ahmed Al-Sharaa instead of his nom de guerre, and adding: “It is forbidden to shoot into the air.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Jalali said Sunday he was ready to “cooperate” with any leadership chosen by the people.

In a speech broadcast on his Facebook account, premier Jalali said “this country can be a normal country that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world.”
“But this issue is up to any leadership chosen by the Syrian people. We are ready to cooperate with it (that leadership) and offer all possible facilities,” he added.
Jalali said he was “ready for any handover procedures.”

Transfer of power to a transitional governing body

The Syrian opposition coalition said it is continuing work to complete the transfer of power in Syria to a transitional governing body with full executive powers.
“The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people,” it added in a statement

Just hours earlier, militants announced they had gained full control of the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting, leaving Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread.

Intense sounds of shooting were heard in the center of the Damascus, two residents said on Sunday, although it was not immediately clear what the source of the shooting was.

In rural areas southwest of the capital, local youths and former militants took advantage of the loss of authority to come to the streets in acts of defiance against the Assad family’s authoritarian rule.

Thousands of Homs residents poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar Assad.”

Militants fired into the air in celebration, and youths tore down posters of the Syrian president, whose territorial control has collapsed in a dizzying week-long retreat by the military.

The fall of Homs gives the insurgents control over Syria’s strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing Damascus from the coastal region that is the stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and air base.

Homs’ capture is also a powerful symbol of the militant movement’s dramatic comeback in the 13-year-old conflict. Swathes of Homs were destroyed by gruelling siege warfare between the militants and the army years ago. The fighting ground down the insurgents, who were forced out.

Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham commander Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, the main militant leader, called the capture of Homs a historic moment and urged fighters not to harm “those who drop their arms.”

Militants freed thousands of detainees from the city prison. Security forces left in haste after burning their documents.

Syrian militant commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a statement early Sunday that operations were ongoing to “completely liberate” the countryside around Damascus and militant forces were looking toward the capital.

Existential threat to region

The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkiye and Russia issued a joint statement saying the crisis was a dangerous development and calling for a political solution.

But there was no indication they agreed on any concrete steps, with the situation inside Syria changing by the hour.

Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against Assad’s rule, dragged in big outside powers, created space for jihadist militants to plot attacks around the world and sent millions of refugees into neighboring states.

Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the strongest militant group, is the former Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria regarded by the US and others as a terrorist organization, and many Syrians remain fearful it will impose draconian Islamist rule.

Golani has tried to reassure minorities that he will not interfere with them and the international community that he opposes Islamist attacks abroad. In Aleppo, which the militants captured a week ago, there have not been reports of reprisals.

When asked on Saturday whether he believed Golani, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov replied, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group withdrew from the Syrian city of Qusayr on the border with Lebanon before militant forces seized it, Syrian army sources said on Sunday.

At least 150 armored vehicles carrying hundreds of Hezbollah fighters left the city, long a point on the route for arms transfers and fighters moving in and out of Syria, the sources said. Israel hit one of the convoys as it was departing, one source said.

Allies’ role in supporting Assad

Assad long relied on allies to subdue the militants. Russian warplanes conducted bombing while Iran sent allied forces including Hezbollah and Iraqi militia to reinforce the Syrian military and storm insurgent strongholds.

But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah has suffered big losses in its own gruelling war with Israel, significantly limiting its ability or that of Iran to bolster Assad.

US President-elect Donald Trump has said the US should not be involved in the conflict and should “let it play out.”


Whereabouts of Syria’s Assad unknown with army officers saying he boarded flight

Whereabouts of Syria’s Assad unknown with army officers saying he boarded flight
Updated 08 December 2024
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Whereabouts of Syria’s Assad unknown with army officers saying he boarded flight

Whereabouts of Syria’s Assad unknown with army officers saying he boarded flight
  • Assad has not spoken in public since the sudden rebel advance a week ag
  • The aircraft initially flew toward Syria’s coastal region then made an abrupt U-turn and for a few minutes before disappearing off the map

AMMAN: Syria’s Bashar Assad boarded a plane in Damascus for an unknown destination early on Sunday, two senior army officers said, as rebels seized the city and ousted him from power after 24 years as president.
Assad has not spoken in public since the sudden rebel advance a week ago, when insurgents seized northern Aleppo in a surprise attack before marching into a succession of cities as frontlines crumbled.
His whereabouts now — and those of his wife Asma and their two children — remain unknown.
A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the Flightradar website.
The aircraft initially flew toward Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.
Reuters could not immediately ascertain who was on board.
Two Syrian sources said there was a very high probability that Assad may have been killed if he was on the plane, as it took a surprise U-turn and disappeared off the map according to data from the Flightradar website.
“It disappeared off the radar, possibly the transponder was switched off, but I believe the bigger probability is that the aircraft was taken down...,” said one Syrian source without elaborating.
The plane departed Damascus soon after rebels had taken the central city of Homs, cutting the capital off from the coast where Assad’s Russian ally has air and naval bases.
The only trackable flight departing Syria visible after midnight on Flightradar24, a flight tracking site, left Homs for the UAE, but that was hours after rebels had captured the city.
As the rebel advance gathered steam over the past week, there was speculation that he may seek refuge in Moscow or with his other main ally Iran.
Syrian state media said on Saturday he was still in Damascus. They have not commented on his whereabouts since.
He was visiting Moscow just before the rebel offensive and Iranian news agencies published a photograph of him on Saturday that they said showed him meeting a top Iranian official in Damascus.


Israel shells north Gaza hospital, disrupting service, doctors say

Israel shells north Gaza hospital, disrupting service, doctors say
Updated 23 min 32 sec ago
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Israel shells north Gaza hospital, disrupting service, doctors say

Israel shells north Gaza hospital, disrupting service, doctors say
  • The hospital is treating 112 wounded people, including six in the intensive care unit

CAIRO: Palestinian health officials said on Sunday that Israeli forces had shelled the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, damaging electricity and oxygen pumps and disrupting urgent surgeries.
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the hospital, one of only three barely operational on the northern edge of the enclave, said the facility was hit by around 100 tank shells and bombs, wounding several of the medical staff and patients.
“The situation is extremely dangerous. We have patients in the intensive care unit and others awaiting surgeries. Access to the operating rooms is only possible after restoring electricity and oxygen supply,” Abu Safiya said in a statement.
The hospital is treating 112 wounded people, including six in the intensive care unit, he said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military about Abu Safiya’s account.
The health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza said a doctor was killed with his family in an Israeli airstrike near the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Saturday night.
Residents said the military blew up clusters of houses in the northern Gaza areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces have operated since October.
Broad Israeli airstrikes killed at least six Palestinians in the central and southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, medics said.
Palestinians say Israel’s operations on the northern edge of the enclave are part of a plan to clear people out through forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli military denies this, saying it is fighting Hamas.
The war in Gaza has been raging for over 14 months, with much of the enclave laid to waste and more than 44,000 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza health authorities, as Israeli forces continue their drive to wipe out Hamas and rescue hostages taken by the militant group.
The deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades began when Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct.7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza.