Syrian militants topple Assad who flees to Russia

Update Syrian militants topple Assad who flees to Russia
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Islamist-led militants toppled Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive. (SANA via AP)
Update Armed men pose for pictures near a military vehicle belonging to the Syrian forces and seized by anti government forces, on fire after it was hit by government forces, in the Hama governorate, on December 7, 2024. (AFP)
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Armed men pose for pictures near a military vehicle belonging to the Syrian forces and seized by anti government forces, on fire after it was hit by government forces, in the Hama governorate, on December 7, 2024. (AFP)
Update Anti government forces ride past a Syrian military vehicle overturned on the road, after militants took control of the central Hama governorate, on December 7, 2024. (AFP)
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Anti government forces ride past a Syrian military vehicle overturned on the road, after militants took control of the central Hama governorate, on December 7, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 09 December 2024
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Syrian militants topple Assad who flees to Russia

Syrian militants topple Assad who flees to Russia
  • The Syrian militant coalition said it was working to complete the transfer of power to a transitional governing body with executive powers

MOSCOW: Syrian militants seized the capital Damascus unopposed on Sunday after a lightning advance that sent President Bashar Assad fleeing to Russia after a 13-year civil war and six decades of his family’s autocratic rule.
In one of the biggest turning points for the Middle East in generations, the fall of Assad’s government wiped out a bastion from which Iran and Russia exercised influence across the Arab world. Moscow gave him and his family asylum, Russian state media said.
His sudden overthrow, at the hands of a revolt partly backed by Turkiye, limits Iran’s ability to spread weapons to its allies and could cost Russia its Mediterranean naval base. It may pave the way for millions of refugees scattered for more than a decade in camps across Turkiye, Lebanon and Jordan to finally return home.
For Syrians, it brought a sudden unexpected end to a war in deep freeze for years, with hundreds of thousands dead, cities pounded to dust and an economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
“How many people were displaced across the world? How many people lived in tents? How many drowned in the seas?” the top militant commander Abu Mohammed Al-Golani told a huge crowd at the medieval Umayyad Mosque in central Damascus, referring to refugees who died trying to reach Europe.
“A new history, my brothers, is being written in the entire region after this great victory,” he said, adding that with hard work Syria would be “a beacon for the Islamic nation.”
The Assad police state — known since his father seized power in the 1960s as one of the harshest in the Middle East with hundreds of thousands of political prisoners — melted away overnight.
Bewildered and elated inmates poured out of jails after militants blasted away locks on their cells. Reunited families wept and wailed in joy. Newly freed prisoners were filmed at dawn running through the Damascus streets holding up the fingers of both hands to show how many years they had been in prison.
“We toppled the regime!” a voice shouted as one prisoner yelled and skipped with delight.

Defaced Assad images 
As the sun set in Damascus without Assad for the first time, the roads leading into the city were mostly empty, apart from motorcycles carrying armed men and militant vehicles caked with mud as camouflage.
Some men could be seen looting a shopping center on the road between the capital and the Lebanese border, stuffing goods into plastic bags or into pick-up trucks. The myriad checkpoints lining the road to Damascus were empty. Posters of Assad had been torn at his eyes. A burning Syrian military truck was parked diagonally on the road out of the city.
A thick column of black smoke billowed out from the Mazzeh neighborhood, where Israeli strikes earlier had targeted Syrian state security branches, according to two security sources.
Intermittent gunfire rang out in apparent celebration.
Shops and restaurants closed early in line with a curfew imposed by the militants. Just before it came into effect, people could be seen briskly walking home with stacks of bread.
Earlier, the militants said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments. Thousands of people in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting “Freedom.”
People were seen walking inside the Al-Rawda Presidential Palace, with some leaving carrying furniture from inside. A motorcycle was parked on the intricately-laid parquet floor of a gilded hall.
The Syrian militant coalition said it was working to complete the transfer of power to a transitional governing body with 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.
Mohammad Ghazi Al-Jalali, prime minister under Assad, called for free elections and said he had been in contact with Golani to discuss the transitional period.
Golani, whose group was once Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda but has softened its image to reassure members of minority sects and foreign countries, said there was no room for turning back.
US President Joe Biden, in a televised address, cheered Assad’s fall but acknowledged that it was also a moment of risk and uncertainty. He pledged to support Syria’s neighbors.
Jubilant supporters of the revolt crowded Syrian embassies in various cities around the world, lowering red, white and black Assad-era flags and replacing them with the green, white and black flag flown of his opponents.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Assad’s fall was thanks to blows Israel had dealt to Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, once the lynchpin of Assad’s security forces.
“The barbaric state has fallen,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.
When the celebrations fade, Syria’s new leaders face the daunting task of trying to deliver stability to a diverse country that will need billions of dollars in aid.
During the civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against Assad, his forces and their Russian allies bombed cities to rubble. The refugee crisis across the Middle East was one of the biggest of modern times and sent a caused a political reckoning in Europe when a million people arrived in 2015.
In recent years Turkiye had backed the militants in a small redoubt in the northwest and along its border. The United States, which still has 900 soldiers on the ground, backed a Kurdish-led alliance that fought Daesh terrorists from 2014-2017.
The biggest strategic losers were Russia and Iran, which had intervened in the war’s early years to rescue Assad, helping him recapture most territory and all major cities. The front lines were frozen four years ago under a deal Russia and Iran reached with Turkiye.
But Moscow’s focus on its war in Ukraine and the blows to Iran’s allies following the war in Gaza — particularly the decimation of Hezbollah by Israel over the past two months — left Assad with scant support at the end.
Even after Assad had fled, Israel continued to strike targets associated with his government and its Iranian-backed allies, including one in Damascus where Israel had previously accused Iran of developing missiles. Netanyahu said the toppling of Assad could make it easier for Israel to reach a ceasefire deal to free hostages in Gaza.


Hard-line Israeli minister Ben-Gvir threatens to quit over Gaza deal

Hard-line Israeli minister Ben-Gvir threatens to quit over Gaza deal
Updated 28 sec ago
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Hard-line Israeli minister Ben-Gvir threatens to quit over Gaza deal

Hard-line Israeli minister Ben-Gvir threatens to quit over Gaza deal
  • Itamar Ben-Gvir: ‘The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal’
  • Ben-Gvir urged Bezalel Smotrich to join him in a last-ditch attempt to prevent a ceasefire deal
JERUSALEM: Israel’s hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Thursday he would resign from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if it ratifies the ceasefire deal in Gaza, which he has strongly opposed.
Israeli media outlets reported earlier that the cabinet was expected to vote to ratify the agreement on Friday, but there has been no confirmation from the prime minister’s office.
“The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal,” Ben-Gvir said in a televised statement, saying it would “erase the achievements of the war” by releasing hundreds of Palestinian militants and withdrawing from strategic areas in Gaza, leaving Hamas undeafeated.
“If this irresponsible deal is approved and implemented, we the members of Jewish Power will submit letters of resignation to the prime minister,” he said.
Ben-Gvir, whose departure would not bring down Netanyahu’s government, this week urged Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him in a last-ditch attempt to prevent a ceasefire deal, which he described as a dangerous capitulation to Hamas.
Smotrich has described the deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners as a catastrophe for Israel but has not threatened the quit the government.
Earlier on Thursday, Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party repeated its opposition, threatening to quit the government if it did not go back to war to defeat Hamas after the first six-week phase of the ceasefire was completed.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd see no immediate return to Red Sea

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd see no immediate return to Red Sea
Updated 3 min 24 sec ago
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Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd see no immediate return to Red Sea

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd see no immediate return to Red Sea
  • Both companies said they would closely monitor the situation

FRANKFURT: Two of the world’s top shipping companies, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, said on Thursday they did not see an immediate return to the Red Sea after the ceasefire between Hamas and
Israel was announced.
Both companies said they would closely monitor the situation in the Middle East and return to the Red Sea once it was safe.
“The agreement has only just been reached. We will closely analyze the latest developments and their impact on the security situation in the Red Sea,” said a Hapag-Lloyd spokesperson.
“It is still too early to speculate about timing,” a Maersk spokesperson said.
Hapag-Lloyd had already flagged in June that a ceasefire would not mean an immediate resume of passage through the Suez Canal, as attacks from Yemen-based Houthi militants could still be possible.
Rearranging the schedule would take between four and six weeks, a company spokesperson said at the time.
Disruptions in the Middle East have caused shipping companies to divert their vessels toward longer routes, often forcing their container ships around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, pushing freight rates higher, and disrupting global ocean shipping.
Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea since November 2023, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
They have sunk two vessels, seized another, and killed at least four seafarers.
The attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa for more than a year.
Maritime security officials said on Thursday they were expecting Houthis to announce a halt in attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
The experts pointed to an email, seen by Reuters, from the group postponing a planned security briefing that had been due to take place in the coming days as a possible signal.
“British, American and Israeli strikes have succeeded in significantly limiting the attacks by Houthis, who are looking for a pretext to announce a ceasefire,” Dimitris Maniatis, the CEO of maritime security company Marisks, said regarding the briefing postponement.
Another maritime security official said that an announcement was largely expected, and there were indications that some companies were preparing to resume Red Sea journeys.
However, it was still too early to say that traffic would be restored.
“The first sign that business returns to normal will be seen in the insurance market, as insurance fees will start decreasing,” the official said.
A second maritime official said a halt in attacks was widely expected but could not confirm it.
In the email seen by Reuters, the Houthis said that the security webinar, aimed at shipping and maritime companies and the first such invitation they had issued, had been postponed to Feb. 10 due to the many questions and suggestions received from participants.
“This will ensure that the event is more comprehensive and beneficial for all attendees,” they said in the email on Wednesday.


Lebanese president seeks Israel’s commitment to Gaza deal, warns against violations

Lebanese president seeks Israel’s commitment to Gaza deal, warns against violations
Updated 47 min 58 sec ago
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Lebanese president seeks Israel’s commitment to Gaza deal, warns against violations

Lebanese president seeks Israel’s commitment to Gaza deal, warns against violations
  • French president, UN chief set to visit Beirut as Aoun rallies support
  • PM-designate Salam calls for dialogue with Hezbollah, Amal as consultations end

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun hoped on Thursday “for the ceasefire in Gaza to end the tragic reality and prompt Israel to seriously abide by the clauses of the agreement, which requires the follow-up of the sponsoring states and the UN.”
Israel had always evaded its commitments and ignored international resolutions, he said.
“The hostilities taking place in the south (of Lebanon), as well as the violations of the ceasefire agreement, prove so.”
Aoun’s comments came as Israel’s violations of Lebanese airspace reached Beirut and its forces continued to bulldoze the neighborhoods of Taybeh and Aita Al-Shaab.
Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International said its media staff “came under Israeli fire while accompanying an ambulance team inside a house in Mays Al-Jabal, with no casualties reported.”
Aoun, who was elected president a week ago, received invitations to visit Qatar and Jordan. He also took a phone call from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who invited him to visit the Kingdom. Aoun said it would be his “first visit abroad.”
Qatar’s Ambassador to Lebanon Saud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani delivered an official invitation from his nation’s leader, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, for Aoun to visit Doha.
In the letter, the sheikh said he hoped that Aoun’s tenure would “witness a new stage where security, stability and prosperity will prevail in the country.”
In a speech delivered from the presidential palace, the ambassador expressed his country’s “continuous support for Lebanon in all the political, economic and military fields.”
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi delivered an invitation from King Abdullah II for Aoun to visit Jordan. He also expressed Jordan’s “commitment to supporting Lebanon, its security, stability and full sovereignty” and urged Israel to “honor the ceasefire agreement and stop its violations against Lebanon.”
Safadi also met Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam.
“We believe that the new leadership in Lebanon can go forward and we affirm that we will continue to support the Lebanese army,” he said.
“We look with our partners worldwide into providing what the army needs in terms of fundamental capabilities so it could carry out its role.”
Safadi said that the mediators announced the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip “clearly and decisively” and that “the whole world knows the importance of respecting and implementing this agreement.”
“We call for full compliance,” he said. “We also urge the opening of all crossings and an international effort to deliver sufficient humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to make a working visit to Beirut on Friday, becoming the second head of state to visit the country, following Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is also expected to travel to Beirut to congratulate Aoun.
The Elysee Palace said Macron’s visit “underscores France’s unwavering commitment to Lebanon’s stability, unity and development” and that his presence would strengthen the ceasefire monitoring mechanisms, mainly focusing on UNIFIL’s peacekeeping operations.
In domestic developments, Aoun held talks with acting Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri, who offered his first public assessment since Lebanon’s recent period of turmoil.
He reported “improving monetary conditions and increased foreign currency reserves following the presidential election” and emphasized the central bank’s policy of maintaining the value of the Lebanese pound “without market intervention.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Aoun received Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation Jose Manuel Albares Bueno.
Meanwhile, Salam entered the final day of non-binding parliamentary consultations regarding government formation and the ministerial statement that will outline his administration’s agenda.
The process has unfolded amid growing international and Arab support for Lebanon’s new leadership.
A meeting between Salam and Berri is expected to take place on Friday.
Both Berri’s parliamentary bloc and Hezbollah’s representatives have boycotted the consultations, protesting against Salam’s appointment ahead of their preferred candidate, Najib Mikati.
If it takes place, the meeting between Berri and Salam is intended to ease Hezbollah’s concerns.
It will also seek to assure the party it has not lost its internal cohesion following the speeches of the president and prime minister.
Salam is expected to present his vision for forming the next government to Berri and the president after consulting with all parliamentary blocs, including independent and Change lawmakers.
MP Jihad Al-Samad met Salam on Thursday and quoted him as saying that “given the ongoing disagreement, there are only two solutions: either an agreement or an agreement.”
Other lawmakers who attended the talks said the parliamentary consultations concluded on the second day with the “assertation that the government’s ministerial statement must be a reflection of the president’s oath speech.”
They said the consultations also emphasized the importance of “establishing a government capable of protecting Lebanon, overseeing rapid reconstruction and ensuring the return of the displaced people to the south.”
“It must be a government composed of qualified people, free from political calculations, with all its components, including new faces who aspire to trust and plan to restore depositors’ funds,” they said.
“Additionally, the government should consist of national competencies, separate parliamentary seats from ministerial posts and ensure the transparency and integrity of the judiciary to attract investments back to the country.”
At the end of the first day of the parliamentary consultations, the parliamentary blocs expressed their desire to form “a government of specialists representing all the parliamentary blocs.”


Netanyahu says ‘last minute crisis’ with Hamas holding up approval of Gaza truce and hostage deal

Netanyahu says ‘last minute crisis’ with Hamas holding up approval of Gaza truce and hostage deal
Updated 16 January 2025
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Netanyahu says ‘last minute crisis’ with Hamas holding up approval of Gaza truce and hostage deal

Netanyahu says ‘last minute crisis’ with Hamas holding up approval of Gaza truce and hostage deal
  • Netanyahu accuses Hamas of reneging on parts of ceasefire deal to gain concessions
  • Hamas official says group “committed to ceasefire agreement” announced by mediators

TEL AVIV: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a “last minute crisis” with Hamas was holding up Israeli approval of a long-awaited agreement to pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of hostages. Israeli airstrikes meanwhile killed dozens of people across the war-ravaged territory.
Netanyahu’s office said his Cabinet won’t meet to approve the agreement until Hamas backs down, accusing it of reneging on parts of the agreement in an attempt to gain further concessions.
Izzat Al-Rashq, a senior Hamas official, said the militant group “is committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators.”
US President Joe Biden and key mediator Qatar announced the deal on Wednesday, which is aimed at releasing scores of hostages held in Gaza and winding down a 15-month war that has destabilized the Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.
Netanyahu’s office had earlier accused Hamas of backtracking on an earlier understanding that he said would give Israel a veto over which prisoners convicted of murder would be released in exchange for hostages.
Netanyahu has faced great domestic pressure to bring home the scores of hostages, but his far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he makes too many concessions.
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have meanwhile killed at least 48 people over the past day, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. In previous conflicts, both sides have stepped up military operations in the final hours before ceasefires as a way to project strength.
Around half of the dead were women and children, Zaher Al-Wahedi, head of the ministry’s registration department, told The Associated Press. He said the toll could rise as hospitals update their records.
A phased withdrawal and hostage release with potential pitfalls
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel in a surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, and the Israeli military believes around a third and up to half of them are dead.
Under the deal reached Wednesday, 33 hostages are set to be released over the next six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israeli forces will pull back from many areas, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would be able to return to what’s left of their homes, and there would be a surge of humanitarian assistance.
The remainder of the hostages, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second — and much more difficult — phase that will be negotiated during the first. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal, while Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it dismantles the group and to maintain open-ended security control over the territory.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 46,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry. it does not say how many of the dead were militants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced some 90 percent of its population of 2.3 million people, according to the United Nations.
Israel says final details still being worked out
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US are expected to meet in Cairo on Thursday for talks on implementing the agreement. They have spent the past year holding indirect talks with Israel and Hamas that finally resulted in a deal after repeated setbacks.
President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy joined the talks in the final weeks, and both the outgoing administration and Trump’s team are taking credit for the breakthrough.
Many longer-term questions about postwar Gaza remain, including who will rule the territory or oversee the daunting task of reconstruction after a brutal conflict that has destabilized the broader Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.
Israel has come under heavy international criticism, including from its closest ally, the United States, over the civilian toll in Gaza. It also blames Hamas for the civilian casualties, accusing it of using schools, hospitals and residential areas for military purposes.
The International Court of Justice is investigating allegations brought by South Africa that Israel has committed genocide. The International Criminal Court, a separate body also based in The Hague, has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas commander for war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the war.
Israel and the United States have condemned the actions taken by both courts.
Hamas, a militant group that does not accept Israel’s existence, has come under overwhelming pressure from Israeli military operations, including the invasion of Gaza’s largest cities and towns and the takeover of the border between Gaza and Egypt. Its top leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, who was believed to have helped mastermind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, have been killed.
But its fighters have regrouped in some of the hardest-hit areas after the withdrawal of Israeli forces, raising the prospect of a prolonged insurgency if the war continues.


Yemen’s Houthis to continue attacks if Gaza ceasefire breached

Yemen’s Houthis to continue attacks if Gaza ceasefire breached
Updated 16 January 2025
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Yemen’s Houthis to continue attacks if Gaza ceasefire breached

Yemen’s Houthis to continue attacks if Gaza ceasefire breached
  • The Houthis' attacks since Nov. 2023 forced some ships to take the long route around southern Africa rather than the Suez Canal
  • The armed group has also launched missiles and drones toward Israel

CAIRO: The leader of Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, said on Thursday his group will monitor the implementation of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas aimed at ending the 15-month war in Gaza and continue its attacks if it is breached.
The Houthis, who had on an almost weekly basis targeted ships using ballistic missiles and drones in waters near Yemen’s shores to show their solidarity with the Palestinians, had long said they would cease these operations if the conflict ended.
The attacks, which started in Nov. 2023, have disrupted international commerce, forcing some ships to take the long route around southern Africa rather than the Suez Canal, leading to an increase in insurance rates, delivery costs and time that stoked fears of a new bout of global inflation.
The Houthis, who control most parts of Yemen including the capital Sanaa since seizing power in late 2014, have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least four seafarers.
The armed group has also launched missiles and drones toward Israel, hundreds of kilometers to the north. Israel responded by striking Houthi areas on several occasions, including last week when Israeli warplanes bombed two ports and a power station.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month Israel was only at the beginning of its campaign against the Houthis.
The United States alongside Britain launched in Dec. 2023 a multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea and have repeatedly conducted air strikes on Houthi strongholds targeting weapons storage facilities.
The EU later in February launched its own Red Sea mission, known as Aspides, to help deter intensified Houthi attacks and help protect the key maritime trade route.
The Houthis appear to be the latest standing component of Iran’s anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias, known as the Axis of Resistance, which also includes Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Shiite armed groups in Iraq.
Israel has dealt serious blows to Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, killing their top leaders and reducing their arsenals. In the aftermath, the decades-long regime of Bashar Assad in Syria was also toppled.