Syria war monitor says tens of thousands flee Homs as militants advance

Syria war monitor says tens of thousands flee Homs as militants advance
Displaced Syrians drive through Khan Shaykhun town as they evacuate northward to flee confrontation areas in the Hama governorate on December 5, 2024. (AFP/File)
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Updated 06 December 2024
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Syria war monitor says tens of thousands flee Homs as militants advance

Syria war monitor says tens of thousands flee Homs as militants advance

BEIRUT: Tens of thousands of members of President Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority community were fleeing Syria’s third city Homs Thursday, for fear that Islamist-led militants would keep up their advance, a war monitor said.

Homs lies just 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hama, which the militants captured on Thursday.

Analysts said they expected the fighters led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) to push on toward the city, a key link between Damascus and the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast.

Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported “the mass exodus of Alawites from Homs neighborhoods, with tens of thousands heading toward the Syrian coast, fearing the militant advance.”

Khaled, who lives on the city’s outskirts told AFP that “the road leading to (coastal) Tartus province was glowing... due to the lights of hundreds of cars on their way out.”

In April 2014, at least 100 people, mostly civilians, were killed in twin attacks in Homs that targeted a majority Alawite neighborhood.

The attacks were claimed by the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda which now HTS leader Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani previously led.

Jolani announced his group had cut ties with the jihadists in 2016, and Al-Nusra was dissolved the following year, to be replaced by the key component of HTS.

Haidar, 37, who lives in an Alawite-majority neighborhood, told AFP by telephone that “fear is the umbrella that covers Homs now.”

“I’ve never seen this scene in my life. We are extremely afraid, we don’t know what is happening from one hour to the next,” he said.

He has managed to send his parents to Tartus, but has not found a car to take him and his wife “due to the high demand.”

“When we find a car, we’ll leave as fast as possible for Tartus.”

The province, which hosts a naval base operated by Assad ally Russia, has remained safe though 13 years of war.


Turkiye detains nine people over ski resort hotel fire that killed 76

Turkiye detains nine people over ski resort hotel fire that killed 76
Updated 6 sec ago
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Turkiye detains nine people over ski resort hotel fire that killed 76

Turkiye detains nine people over ski resort hotel fire that killed 76
  • The fire occurred at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in the Bolu mountains
ANKARA: Turkiye has detained nine people, including the owner of the hotel, in connection with a deadly fire that claimed the lives of 76 people and injured dozens at a ski resort in western Turkiye, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said early Wednesday.
Yerlikaya also reported that the bodies of 45 victims had been handed over to their families, while DNA tests were being conducted to identify the remaining bodies at the forensic institute.
The fire occurred at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in the Bolu mountains.
The hotel, where the fire broke out, expressed deep sorrow in a statement on Wednesday and pledged full cooperation with the investigation.
“We are cooperating with authorities to shed light on all aspects of this incident,” the statement said. “We are deeply saddened by the losses and want you to know that we share this pain with all our hearts.”
The 12-story hotel, which had 238 registered guests, was consumed by flames after the fire started on the restaurant floor around 3:30 a.m. Survivors described scenes of panic as they fled through smoke-filled corridors and jumped from windows to escape.
Authorities are facing growing criticism over the hotel’s safety measures, as survivors reported that no fire alarms went off during the incident. Guests said they had to navigate the smoke-filled corridors in complete darkness.
President Tayyip Erdogan declared Wednesday a day of national mourning following the tragedy, which occurred during the peak of the winter tourism season, with many families from Istanbul and Ankara traveling to the Bolu mountains for skiing.

Turkiye arrests leader of far-right party on charges of inciting violence through social media

Turkiye arrests leader of far-right party on charges of inciting violence through social media
Updated 22 January 2025
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Turkiye arrests leader of far-right party on charges of inciting violence through social media

Turkiye arrests leader of far-right party on charges of inciting violence through social media
  • Ozdag, a 63-year-old former academic, is an outspoken critic of Turkiye’s refugee policies and has called for the repatriation of millions of Syrian refugees

ANKARA, Turkiye: Turkish authorities on Tuesday arrested the leader of a far-right opposition party on charges of inciting violence through a series of anti-refugee posts on social media, his party said.
Umit Ozdag, the leader of Turkiye’s anti-immigrant Victory Party, was detained by police on Monday as part of an investigation into allegations that he insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a speech he delivered a day earlier.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s office, however, released Ozdag from custody on charges of insulting the president but subsequently ordered his arrest on charges of “inciting hatred and hostility among the public,” the party said.
Prosecutors presented 11 of the politician’s posts on the social platform X as evidence against him, the party said. The prosecutor’s office also held Ozdag responsible for anti-Syrian refugee rioting that erupted in the central Turkish province of Kayseri last year, during which hundreds of homes and businesses were attacked.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul who is seen as a possible candidate to challenge Erdogan in the next elections, criticized Ozdag’s arrest, saying on X that “Everyone knows that this is political meddling in the judiciary.”
Imamoglu, who is a member of Turkiye’s main opposition party, was convicted of insulting members of Turkiye’s electoral board in 2022 and faces a two-year ban from politics if his conviction is upheld by a court of appeals.
Ozdag, a 63-year-old former academic, is an outspoken critic of Turkiye’s refugee policies and has called for the repatriation of millions of Syrian refugees.
The politician was being taken to Silivri prison on the outskirts of Istanbul, according to his party.
Mehmet Ali Sehirlioglu, the party’s spokesman, would temporarily assume leadership of the Victory Party.

 


Yemen Red Sea port capacity down sharply after hostilities, UN says

Julien Harneis, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen. (X @julienmh)
Julien Harneis, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen. (X @julienmh)
Updated 22 January 2025
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Yemen Red Sea port capacity down sharply after hostilities, UN says

Julien Harneis, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen. (X @julienmh)
  • Houthis have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip

GENEVA: Operations at a Red Sea port in Yemen used for aid imports have fallen to about a quarter of its capacity, a UN official said on Tuesday, adding it was not certain that a Gaza ceasefire would end attacks between the Iran-backed Houthis and Israel.
Houthis have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This has prompted Israel to strike port and energy facilities, including the Red Sea port of Hodeidah.
“(The) impact of airstrikes on Hodeidah Harbor, particularly in the last weeks, is very important,” Julien Harneis, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen told a UN meeting in Geneva on Tuesday via videolink.
Four of the port’s five tugboats needed to escort the large ships bringing imports had sunk, while the fifth was damaged, he said, without attributing blame.
“The civilian crews who man them are obviously very hesitant. The capacity of the harbor is down to about a quarter,” he added, saying the port was used to transit a significant portion of imported aid.
Since a Gaza ceasefire agreement last week, Yemen’s Houthis have said they will limit their attacks on commercial vessels to Israel-linked ships, provided the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented.
“We are hopeful that sanity will prevail and people will be focused on solutions and peace, but we are nonetheless prepared as a humanitarian community for various degradations,” said Harneis, adding that the agency had contingency plans.
The Iran-aligned Houthis have controlled most of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, since seizing power during 2014 and early 2015.

 


Suspected settlers attacked Palestinian villages hours before Trump rescinded Biden sanctions

Suspected settlers attacked Palestinian villages hours before Trump rescinded Biden sanctions
Updated 22 January 2025
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Suspected settlers attacked Palestinian villages hours before Trump rescinded Biden sanctions

Suspected settlers attacked Palestinian villages hours before Trump rescinded Biden sanctions
  • Even before taking office, Trump appears to have pressed Netanyahu to accept a Gaza ceasefire agreement with Hamas that strongly resembled one the Biden administration had been pushing for months
  • On Tuesday, the charred shells of cars lay on the side of the road in Jinsafut and residents surveyed the damage to a burned storage space

JINSAFUT, West Bank: Shortly after suspected Jewish settlers stormed Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank late Monday, setting cars and property ablaze, US President Donald Trump canceled sanctions against Israelis accused of violence in the territory.
The reversal of the Biden administration’s sanctions, which were meant to punish radical settlers, could set the tone for a presidency that is expected to be more tolerant of Israel’s expansion of settlements and of violence toward Palestinians. In Trump’s previous term he lavished support on Israel, and he has once again surrounded himself with aides who back the settlers.
Settler leaders rushed to praise Trump’s decision on the sanctions, which were first imposed nearly a year ago as violence surged during the war in Gaza. The sanctions were later expanded to include other Israelis seen as violent or radical.
Finance Minister and settler firebrand Bezalel Smotrich called it a just decision, saying the sanctions were a “severe and blatant foreign intervention.” In a post on social media platform X, he went on to praise Trump’s “unwavering and uncompromising support for the state of Israel.”
The West Bank’s 3 million Palestinians already live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority administering cities and towns. Smotrich and other hard-line settler leaders want Israel to annex the West Bank and rebuild settlements in Gaza, territories that Israel seized during the 1967 Mideast war.
Palestinians want both territories for a future state and have long viewed the settlements as a major obstacle to peace, while the international community overwhelmingly considers them illegal. There are more than 500,000 settlers in the West Bank who have Israeli citizenship.
Late Monday, dozens of masked men who are widely believed to be settlers marauded through at least two Palestinian villages and attacked homes and businesses, according to officials in Jinsafut and Al-Funduq, which are roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated 12 people who were beaten by the men. It gave no details on their condition. Israel’s military said the men hurled rocks at soldiers who had arrived to disperse them, and that it had launched an investigation.
Violence has surged in the West Bank during the Gaza war, so it was not clear if the attack had any link to the inauguration. On Tuesday, meanwhile, Israel launched a deadly raid on the Jenin refugee camp.
Jalal Bashir, the head of Jinsafut’s village council, said that the men attacked three houses, a nursery and a carpentry shop located on the village’s main road. Louay Tayem, head of the local council in Al-Funduq, said dozens of men had fired shots, thrown stones, burned cars, and attacked homes and shops.
“The settlers were masked and had incendiary materials,” said Bashir. “Their numbers were large and unprecedented.”
On Tuesday, the charred shells of cars lay on the side of the road in Jinsafut and residents surveyed the damage to a burned storage space.
Growing impunity, even after Biden’s sanctions
Biden’s executive order against the settlers marked a rare break with America’s closest Middle East ally, and signaled his frustration with what critics say is Israel’s leniency in dealing with violent settlers.
Rights groups say that impunity has deepened since Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz exempted settlers from what is known as administrative detention — Israel’s practice of detaining individuals on security grounds without charge or trial — which is routinely used against Palestinians.
Katz, who freed all Israelis held in administrative detention just last week, said those behind Monday’s attack should be held accountable in Israel’s more transparent criminal justice system.
Palestinian residents, meanwhile, are tried in Israeli military courts.
Biden’s sanctions were aimed at settlers who were involved in acts of violence, as well as threats against and attempts to destroy or seize Palestinian property. They later were broadened to include other groups, including Tzav 9, an activist organization that was accused of disrupting the flow of aid into Gaza by trying to block trucks heading into the territory.
Reut Ben-Chaim, a mother of eight who founded the group and was then slapped with sanctions that crippled her wellness company and prohibited her access to credit cards or banking apps, welcomed Trump’s step.
“We have heard in the last few days that the Trump administration is going to be the most pro-Israel there has been,” she told The Associated Press. “These actions, such as the removal of the sanctions … these are actions that already mark the way forward.”
Support for Israel could clash with wider ambitions
Trump has long boasted of his support for Israel, but he has also pledged to end wars in the Middle East that could require exerting some pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Even before taking office, Trump appears to have pressed Netanyahu to accept a Gaza ceasefire agreement with Hamas that strongly resembled one the Biden administration had been pushing for months.

During his first term, Trump moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights — which it captured from Syria in the 1967 war — and presented a Mideast peace plan that was seen as overwhelmingly favorable to Israel.
He also let settlement construction in the West Bank surge unchecked.
But he seemed at the time to have tapped the brakes on Netanyahu’s plans to annex large parts of the West Bank, something Israel’s far-right settlers have demanded for years. Netanyahu said he temporarily shelved the idea as part of the agreement with the UAE.
 

 


Four wounded in Tel Aviv stabbing attack, attacker killed

Members of Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on January 21, 2025. (AFP)
Members of Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on January 21, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 22 January 2025
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Four wounded in Tel Aviv stabbing attack, attacker killed

Members of Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on January 21, 2025. (AFP)
  • This was the second stabbing attack in Tel Aviv in four days, after another assailant seriously wounded a person on Saturday before being shot by an armed civilian

TEL AVIV: Four people were wounded in a stabbing attack on Tuesday in Tel Aviv while the attacker was killed, Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom said.
The police said an initial investigation “revealed that a terrorist armed with a knife stabbed three civilians on Nahalat Binyamin Street and one civilian on Gruzenberg Street.”
Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv said it had received three stabbing victims, including one in “a serious condition with a knife wound to the neck” who was taken into surgery.
The Nahalat Binyamin street and surrounding neighborhood of Tel Aviv are popular for their restaurants and nightlife.
The area was cordoned off by the police, while an AFP journalist saw the dead body of a man on the street.
This was the second stabbing attack in Tel Aviv in four days, after another assailant seriously wounded a person on Saturday before being shot by an armed civilian.