Militants, allies enter Syria’s second city Aleppo in lightning assault

Militants, allies enter Syria’s second city Aleppo in lightning assault
Fighters deploy in Atareb in the western part of Syria’s northern Aleppo province on Nov. 28, 2024, amidst clashes between the Syrian army and fighters of militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham. (AFP)
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Updated 02 December 2024
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Militants, allies enter Syria’s second city Aleppo in lightning assault

Militants, allies enter Syria’s second city Aleppo in lightning assault
  • The violence has killed 242 people, according to a Syrian war monitor
  • The fighters had on Thursday cut the highway linking Aleppo to Syria’s capital Damascus

ALEPPO: Militants and their Turkish-backed allies reached Syria’s second city of Aleppo Friday, as they pressed a lightning offensive against forces of the Iranian and Russian-backed government.
The fighting is some of the deadliest in years, with 255 people killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Most of the dead have been combatants but the toll also includes 24 civilians, most killed in Russian air strikes.
The offensive began on Wednesday, the same day that a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighboring Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
By Friday, the militants and their allies had wrested control of more than 50 towns and villages in the north, according to the Britain-based Observatory, in the government’s biggest loss of territory in years.
They then entered western districts of Aleppo, a city of some two million people that was Syria’s pre-war manufacturing hub.
“Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions... were able to enter the outskirts of the Al-Hamdaniya and New Aleppo neighborhoods... after carrying out twin suicide attacks with two booby-trapped cars,” the war monitor said.
HTS, an Islamist alliance led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria branch, shelled a student residence in the city, killing four civilians, state media reported.
Syrian and Russian warplanes launched intense air strikes on the rebel enclave around Idlib, where the militants are based, carrying out 23 raids, according to the Observatory.
Army reinforcements have arrived in Aleppo, a Syrian security official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
An army statement said troops had repelled the assault on the city and retaken some positions.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said “more than 14,000 people — nearly half are children — have been displaced” by the violence.
Aleppo resident Sarmad, 51, told AFP he could hear “the sounds of missiles and artillery shelling around the clock.”
“We’re scared that war will break out and we’ll be displaced from our homes again,” he said.
Nasser Hamdo, 36, who works in a pastry shop, said he had been glued to the news since hostilities began.
On Thursday, the militants and their allies cut the highway linking Aleppo to the capital Damascus, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) south, the Observatory said.
“We’re worried that roads getting blocked could cause fuel prices to soar and prevent goods from reaching the city,” Hamdo said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday described the situation in Aleppo as “an infringement on the sovereignty of Syria.”
He expressed support for “the government of Syria to quickly restore order in this district.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pledged “continued support for the government, nation and army of Syria,” in a phone call with his Syrian counterpart Bassam Al-Sabbagh, according to a statement.
The Idlib area has been subject to a Turkish- and Russian-brokered truce since 2020. The ceasefire has been repeatedly violated but had largely held.
An AFP correspondent in the rebel enclave saw militants advancing in tanks as intense exchanges of fire took place in an area just seven kilometers (a little over four miles) from Aleppo.
AFP images showed abandoned army tanks and other military vehicles.
The correspondent said the militants and their Turkiye-backed allies took orders from a joint operations command.
Analyst Nick Heras, of the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, said the fighters were “trying to preempt the possibility of a Syrian military campaign in the region of Aleppo.”
According to Heras, the Syrian government and its key backer Russia had been preparing for such a campaign.
Russia intervened in Syria in 2015, turning the tide of the civil war which broke out four years earlier in favor of the government, whose forces at the time had lost control of most of country.
Other interests are also at stake.
As well as Russia, Syrian President Bashar Assad has been propped up by Iran and allied militant groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Iran-backed militias have a heavy presence in the Aleppo region after providing crucial ground support to the army in its recapture of rebel-held areas of the city in 2016.
Heras said anti-government forces are “in a better position to take and seize villages than Russian-backed Syrian government forces, while the Iranians are focused on Lebanon.”
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said government forces “were totally unprepared” for the attack.
“It is strange to see regime forces being dealt such big blows despite Russian air cover and early signs that HTS was going to launch this operation,” Abdel Rahman said.
“Were they depending on Hezbollah, which is now busy in Lebanon?”


Asma Assad: From ‘rose in the desert’ to international pariah

Asma Assad: From ‘rose in the desert’ to international pariah
Updated 4 min 48 sec ago
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Asma Assad: From ‘rose in the desert’ to international pariah

Asma Assad: From ‘rose in the desert’ to international pariah
  • Vogue published gushing profile of Syria’s ex-first lady weeks before Arab Spring
  • She and her husband now in exile in Moscow after fall of regime in Damascus

LONDON: The transformation of Asma Assad from a vaunted English “rose in the desert” to international pariah is the subject of fresh media scrutiny after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

A gushing March 2011 Vogue profile of former President Bashar Assad’s wife, published weeks before the Arab Spring and later deleted, highlights the destruction of her reputation, the Daily Mail reported.

The “Power Issue” profile described the London-born computer science graduate as “on a mission to create a beacon of culture and secularism” in the Middle East.

“The first impression of Asma Assad is movement: A determined swath cut through space with a flash of red soles,” it said.

The “thin, long-limbed beauty with a trained analytic mind who dresses with cunning understatement” reportedly wanted Syria’s youth to spearhead modernization by becoming “active citizens.”

But soon after the profile was published, she and her husband became the public face of a brutal crackdown on popular protests that culminated in Syria’s 13-year civil war, leading to more than 600,000 deaths and the displacement of millions.

Asma Assad turned to London law firm Carter Ruck as the civil war broke out. Newspapers who covered the family’s affairs received threatening letters, but nothing could prevent her and her husband from becoming international pariahs after regime forces carried out a series of chemical weapons attacks against civilians.

Vogue removed the “rose in the desert” profile as a WikiLeaks email hack revealed that she had spent $318,000 on luxury furniture during the first year of the civil war. US estimates put the Assad family’s wealth at $2 billion.

Asma Assad was placed under US sanctions in 2020 and described as one of Syria’s “most notorious war profiteers.”

The former first lady owns at least 18 luxury apartments in Moscow’s skyscraper district, where she is set to begin a new life in exile with her husband.


Hezbollah must focus on Lebanon not wider region, senior politician Bassil says

Hezbollah must focus on Lebanon not wider region, senior politician Bassil says
Updated 46 min 27 sec ago
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Hezbollah must focus on Lebanon not wider region, senior politician Bassil says

Hezbollah must focus on Lebanon not wider region, senior politician Bassil says
  • Parliament meets on Jan. 9 to decide on president
  • Hezbollah weakened after war with Israel

PARIS: Iran-backed Hezbollah needs to focus on domestic issues in Lebanon and not the wider region, senior Lebanese Maronite politician Gebran Bassil said on Tuesday, adding that he was against the head of the army running for the presidency.
A year of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, which culminated in a tentative ceasefire brokered by the United States and France in November, saw more than 4,000 killed, thousands displaced and the powerful Shiite group considerably weakened militarily with many of its leaders dead.
“It’s a process whereby Hezbollah accepts that they are part of the Lebanese state and are not parallel to the state,” Bassil, a Maronite Christian, who is one of Lebanon’s most influential politicians, told Reuters in an interview in Paris.
“We don’t want their end. We want them to be partners in the Lebanese nation, equal to us in abiding by the rules and preserving the sovereignty of Lebanon. We agree with them on defending Lebanon and supporting the Palestinian cause, but politically and diplomatically, not militarily.”
Bassil, who said the group should distance itself from the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance,” is head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), a Christian party founded by former President Michel Aoun, his father-in-law, that has been aligned with Hezbollah.
He was sanctioned by the United States in 2020 for alleged corruption and material support to Hezbollah. He denies the accusations.
He was in Paris meeting French officials. He declined to say whether he met Donald Trump’s regional envoy and fellow Maronite Massad Boulos, who accompanied the US president-elect to France last weekend.
Since the truce, Paris has increased efforts to discuss with the myriad key actors in Lebanon over how to break a political impasse after two years without a president or permanent government.
The presidential post is reserved for Christians, but part of the standoff reflects rivalries among the community as well as crucial political and religious balances in the country.
Authorities finally announced that the parliament would meet on Jan. 9 to elect a new president.
Bassil, who has enough lawmakers to block a Maronite candidate, said he was against the candidacy of Joseph Aoun, the head of the army, who diplomats say both the United States and France consider as a serious candidate.
He said Aoun’s appointment would be against the constitution and that he did not have consensus among all the Lebanese factions.
“We are against him because we don’t see him as being fit for the presidency,” Bassil said. “We need candidates who can bring the Lebanese together,” he said declining to name one.


South Sudan president fires army and police chiefs, central bank governor

South Sudan president fires army and police chiefs, central bank governor
Updated 10 December 2024
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South Sudan president fires army and police chiefs, central bank governor

South Sudan president fires army and police chiefs, central bank governor
  • Security sources with knowledge of the goings-on in the military said the changes could have stemmed from disquiet within the army ranks

NAIROBI: South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has fired the head of the country's military, the police chief and the central bank governor, an announcement made on the state-owned broadcaster SSBC said.
Kiir's announcement late on Monday gave no reasons for the dismissals. It said Kiir had appointed Paul Nang Majok as the army's chief of defence forces, replacing General Santino Wol.
Security sources with knowledge of the goings-on in the military said the changes could have stemmed from disquiet within the army ranks, adding that some soldiers had not been paid wages for about a year.
Army spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang did not immediately respond when contacted for comment.
Michael Makuei, the information minister and government spokesperson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reasons for the changes.
In late November, an attempt to arrest the former head of the intelligence service led to an eruption of heavy gunfire in the capital Juba.
In early October, Kiir had dismissed Akol Koor Kuc, who had led the National Security Service since the country's independence from Sudan in 2011, and appointed a close ally to replace him.
In the latest shake-up, Kiir also replaced James Alic Garang as the central bank governor, returning Johnny Ohisa Damian to the post after firing him in October 2023.
He named Abraham Peter Manyuat as the new Inspector General of Police, replacing Atem Marol Biar.
Abrupt changes to government leadership, especially in the finance ministry and the central bank, have been frequent in recent years and in 2020 alone the central bank governor was replaced twice.
South Sudan's economy has been depressed since a civil war that erupted in 2013, forcing about a quarter of its population to flee to neighbouring countries.
South Sudan has been formally at peace since a 2018 deal ended the five-year conflict responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, but violence between rival communities flares frequently.
It postponed a long-delayed national election until December 2026, reflecting the challenges facing the country's fragile peace process.


Air strike on North Darfur market kills more than 100: Sudan lawyers’ group

Air strike on North Darfur market kills more than 100: Sudan lawyers’ group
Updated 10 December 2024
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Air strike on North Darfur market kills more than 100: Sudan lawyers’ group

Air strike on North Darfur market kills more than 100: Sudan lawyers’ group
  • The air strike hit the town of Kabkabiya, about 180 kilometers west of state capital El-Fasher, which has been under RSF siege since May

Port Sudan: A Sudanese military air strike on a market in a town in North Darfur killed more than 100 people and wounded hundreds on Monday, a pro-democracy lawyers’ group said Tuesday.
“The air strike took place on the town’s weekly market day, where residents from various nearby villages had gathered to shop, resulting in the death of more than 100 people and injury of hundreds, including women and children,” said the Emergency Lawyers, who have been documenting human rights abuses during the 20-month war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The air strike hit the town of Kabkabiya, about 180 kilometers west of state capital El-Fasher, which has been under RSF siege since May.
The lawyers said they “condemn in the strongest terms the horrendous massacres committed by army air strikes” in Kabkabiya.
In a separate incident, a drone that had crashed in central Sudan’s North Kordofan on November 26 exploded on Monday evening, killing six people, including children, and leaving three others seriously injured, the lawyers said.
In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, a series of “indiscriminate airstrikes” also targeted three neighborhoods with barrel bombs, they added.
The attacks are part of “an ongoing escalation campaign, contradicting claims that the air strikes target only military objectives as the raids are deliberately concentrated on densely populated residential areas,” the lawyers said in a statement.
Both the army and the RSF have been accused of targeting civilians and deliberately bombing residential areas.
Tens of thousands have been killed in the war and over 11 million displaced, creating what the United Nations describes as the world’s largest displacement crisis.


Israeli forces kill at least 34 people in Gaza, rescue workers say

Israeli forces kill at least 34 people in Gaza, rescue workers say
Updated 11 min 54 sec ago
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Israeli forces kill at least 34 people in Gaza, rescue workers say

Israeli forces kill at least 34 people in Gaza, rescue workers say

CAIRO: Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 34 Palestinians overnight and on Tuesday, medics said, as Israeli tanks pushed into areas in central and southern parts of the enclave. An Israeli airstrike killed at least 25 people in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have operated since October, and injured dozens of others in a multi-floored building, medics said.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency said most of those killed were from the same family, including women and children. Images posted online, which Reuters couldn’t immediately verify, showed the bodies lined up in a single mass grave in the town. Another airstrike on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least seven people. It wounded several others, medics and the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said, while another killed two people in Rafah south of the enclave.

In Deir Al-Balah near the coast, Israeli naval forces detained six Palestinian fishermen who tried to sail into the Mediterranean Sea earlier on Tuesday, according to residents. Gunmen led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas killed some 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages back to Gaza when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. More than 44,700 Palestinians have been killed in the 14-month-old Israeli military campaign on Gaza that has followed, Gaza health authorities say.

Ceasefire efforts by Arab mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, have failed to find agreement, but recent signs of optimism among Israeli and Palestinian officials have suggested a deal to end the war could be closer. On Monday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas’ increasing isolation after the downfall of Syria’s Bashar Assad could open the door to a deal to return hostages but it was too early to say if efforts would succeed. On Tuesday, a Hamas official declined to disclose the content of negotiations but told Reuters mediators had recently stepped up their efforts, citing the group’s willingness to show the flexibility needed “to end the aggression on our people.”

A Palestinian official with knowledge of the mediation effort said Hamas had asked other Gaza factions to list the names of Israeli and foreign hostages in their custody, whether dead or alive, signalling potential progress in the talks. Hamas wants a deal that ends the war and sees the release of Israeli and foreign hostages held captive in Gaza as well as Palestinians jailed by Israel, while Netanyahu has vowed the war can only end once Hamas is eradicated.