Israeli denies its forces have gone past Syria buffer zone , as airstrikes hit Syrian bases

Israeli denies its forces have gone past Syria buffer zone , as airstrikes hit Syrian bases
Israeli soldiers operate in a location given as Southern Syria, in this screengrab from a video obtained by Reuters on December 9, 2024.
Short Url
Updated 10 December 2024
Follow

Israeli denies its forces have gone past Syria buffer zone , as airstrikes hit Syrian bases

Israeli denies its forces have gone past Syria buffer zone , as airstrikes hit Syrian bases
  • Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported around 250 Israeli air strikes
  • Israeli airstrikes pounded Syrian military targets overnight, sources say

DAMASCUS/NEW YORK: Israel denied on Tuesday that its forces had penetrated into Syrian territory beyond the buffer zone with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, after Syrian sources said the incursion had extended to within 25 km of the capital Damascus.
Israeli troops moved into the buffer zone established following the 1973 Middle East war as the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad collapsed at the weekend in the face of rebel forces advancing from the north.
Israel’s move, accompanied by a series of heavy airstrikes, saw special forces seize abandoned outposts on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, a strategic point that overlooks the Syrian capital in what Israeli officials called a
limited and temporary measure to ensure the security of their borders.
Israel’s military operation into Syria comes two days after the lightning overthrow of President Bashar Assad by a rebel alliance left Syrians, regional countries and world powers nervous about what comes next.
A Syrian security source said Israeli troops reached Qatana, which is 10 km into Syrian territory east of a demilitarised zone separating Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria.
Israel has said it will not become involved in conflict in Syria and that its seizure of the buffer zone was a defensive move.
Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have condemned the incursion. Saudi Arabia said the move would “ruin Syria’s chances of restoring security.”
Regional security sources and officers within the now fallen Syrian army said heavy Israeli airstrikes continued against military installations and air bases across Syria overnight, destroying dozens of helicopters and jets, as well as Republican Guard assets in and around Damascus.
The rough tally of 200 raids had left nothing of the Syrian army’s assets, they said.
Israel said its airstrikes would carry on for days but told the UN Security Council that it was not intervening in Syria’s conflict. It said it had taken “limited and temporary measures” solely to protect its security.
The United Nations Security Council met behind closed doors late on Monday, and diplomats said they were still in shock at how quickly Assad’s overthrow unfolded over 12 days, after a 13-year civil war that was locked in stalemate for years.
“Everyone was taken by surprise, everyone, including the members of the council. So we have to wait and see and watch ... and evaluate how the situation will develop,” Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters after the body met.
Russia played a major role in supporting Assad’s government and helping it fight the rebels. The Syrian leader fled Damascus for Moscow on Sunday, ending more than 50 years of brutal rule by his family.
With the mood in Damascus still celebratory, Assad’s prime minister, Mohammed Jalali, on Monday agreed to hand power to the rebel-led Salvation Government, an administration based in rebel-held territory in northwest Syria.

Hollowed out
The main rebel commander Ahmed Al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, met with Jalali and Vice President Faisal Mekdad to discuss the transitional government, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters. Jalali said the handover could take days to carry out.
Al Jazeera television reported the transitional authority would be headed by Mohamed Al-Bashir, who has headed the Salvation Government.
The steamroller advance of the militia alliance headed by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, was a generational turning point for the Middle East.
The civil war that began in 2011 killed hundreds of thousands, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble, countryside depopulated and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
But the rebel alliance has not communicated plans for Syria’s future, and there is no template for such a transition in the fractious region.
Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Monday, partly on concerns that instability in Syria, which is not a major oil producer, could raise regional tensions, analysts said. “This is an incredible moment for the Syrian people,” Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said in New York. “We’re really focused right now on trying to see where the situation goes. Can there be a governing authority in Syria that respects the rights and dignities of the Syrian population?“
The US was seeking ways to engage with Syrian rebel groups and is reaching out to partners in the region such as Turkiye to start informal diplomacy, Washington said.
Qatari diplomats spoke with HTS on Monday, an official briefed on the developments told Reuters, as regional states race to open contact with the group.
There were tentative signs of a return to order. Syria’s banks will reopen on Tuesday, and the oil ministry called on all employees in the sector to head to work on Tuesday, adding that protection would be provided to ensure their safety.
Reuters reporters saw four mini-buses arriving at the Central Bank of Syria, with employees disembarking and walking into the building for their first day of work since Assad’s fall.
“It’s a new shift, it’s a new day, a new year, a new life,” said Sumayra Al-Mukli.
Golani has vowed to rebuild Syria, and HTS has spent years trying to soften its image to reassure foreign nations and minority groups within Syria.
But fears of reprisals remained. HTS said it will not hesitate to hold security and army officers involved in torturing the Syrian people accountable, describing them as criminals and murderers.
“We will release a list that includes the names of the most senior officials involved in the torturing of the Syrian people,” Golani said in a statement. “Rewards will be offered to those who will provide information about senior army and security officers involved in war crimes.”
HTS is designated as a terrorist organization by many states and the UN, and its governing credentials are uncertain.
“Syrians are looking forward to establishing a state of freedom, equality, rule of law, democracy, and we will join efforts to rebuild our country, to rebuild what was destroyed, and to rebuild the future, better future of Syria,” Syria’s UN Ambassador Koussay Aldahhak told reporters.


Israeli security official says military readying to withdraw from Lebanon

Israeli security official says military readying to withdraw from Lebanon
Updated 14 February 2025
Follow

Israeli security official says military readying to withdraw from Lebanon

Israeli security official says military readying to withdraw from Lebanon
  • Hezbollah was also expected to vacate its positions in the south, near the Israeli border, during that timeframe

Jerusalem: The Israeli military is prepared to withdraw from Lebanese territory and hand over areas to the Lebanese army “within the timeline” set by a US-French-mediated ceasefire agreement, a senior Israeli security official said.
Under the ceasefire that took effect November 27, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period, later extended until February 18.
Hezbollah was also expected to vacate its positions in the south, near the Israeli border, during that timeframe.
“We are still deployed in accordance with the US monitored agreement and we are working closely with the US to make sure that handing over responsibility to the Lebanese army will happen within the timeline,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with protocols, said on Thursday.
His comments came as Israeli fighter jets overnight hit what the army said were Hezbollah military sites “containing weapons and launchers, which pose a direct threat to the Israeli home front.”
Lebanese media reported that Israeli aircraft had targeted sites near the town of Yater. Warplanes were also seen flying over southern Lebanese villages and towns.
Lebanon’s parliamentary speaker Nabih Berrih said on Thursday the United States had informed him that, while Israel would withdraw on February 18, “it will remain in five locations.”
Lebanon rejected this, he said in a statement.
The Israeli official did not comment on whether the withdrawal also applied to the five locations mentioned by Berrih. The official, said however that the military withdrawal was in motion and “the next step of the agreement stipulates that we will withdraw to Blue Line handing over in orderly fashion to the Lebanese army in the area where we pull out from.”
The Israeli military, however, was continuing to monitor Hezbollah’s movements, he said, adding: “We have seen several clear incidents where Hezbollah was trying to breach the agreement such as infiltrating south in civilian clothes, trying to restore or remove munitions and also smuggling arms in the Bekka valley.”
The UN as well as Hezbollah have also accused Israel of committing violations during the ceasefire.
Hezbollah and Israel clashed for more than a year, including in two months of all-out war, before the November 27 agreement came into effect.
The Iran-backed Lebanese armed group said its hostilities with Israel were in solidarity with Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, where Israel fought a deadly war for more than a year before international mediators brokered a fragile truce in January.


Turkiye’s Erdogan says US making “wrong calculations” in Mideast

Turkiye’s Erdogan says US making “wrong calculations” in Mideast
Updated 14 February 2025
Follow

Turkiye’s Erdogan says US making “wrong calculations” in Mideast

Turkiye’s Erdogan says US making “wrong calculations” in Mideast
  • Erdogan said he expected Trump to realize his election campaign promises of taking steps for peace, rather than create new conflicts

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the administration of US President Donald Trump was making “wrong calculations” regarding the Middle East, adding that heeding “Zionist lies” would only exacerbate conflicts.
Turkiye has rejected Trump’s plan to remove the more than 2 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, claim US control of it and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” It has also said Israel’s assault on Gaza amounted to a genocide, while calling for international measures against its government.
“Unfortunately, the United States is making a wrong calculation about our region. One should not be engaged in an approach that disregards the region’s history, values, and accumulation,” he said, according to a transcript of comments to journalists on a return flight from Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
Erdogan said he expected Trump to realize his election campaign promises of taking steps for peace, rather than create new conflicts.
He said he saw no real signs of a ceasefire in Gaza despite a truce agreement between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, and added the Muslim world had still not been able to take a collective step on the issue.


Lebanon marks 20 years since Rafic Hariri killed as power balance shifts

Lebanon marks 20 years since Rafic Hariri killed as power balance shifts
Updated 14 February 2025
Follow

Lebanon marks 20 years since Rafic Hariri killed as power balance shifts

Lebanon marks 20 years since Rafic Hariri killed as power balance shifts
  • A UN-backed court sentenced two Hezbollah members in absentia to life imprisonment for the massive suicide bombing that killed him and 21 others

BEIRUT: Lebanon on Friday marked 20 years since former prime minister Rafic Hariri’s assassination, with seismic political changes underway that have weakened Hezbollah and its backers and could herald a comeback for Hariri’s son Saad.
Rafic Hariri, a towering political figure who oversaw Lebanon’s reconstruction era after the 1975-1990 civil war, had recently resigned as premier when he was killed on February 14, 2005.
In 2022, a UN-backed court sentenced two Hezbollah members in absentia to life imprisonment for the massive suicide bombing that killed him and 21 others, though the group has refused to hand them over.
His son Saad, who served three times as prime minister, is based in the United Arab Emirates but has again returned for the annual commemorations.
This time, he is back in a changed Lebanon.
The commemoration comes days before the deadline for implementing a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, which ended more than a year of hostilities that weakened the group.
Concerns have mounted for the fragile truce after Beirut rejected Israel’s demand to remain in five southern locations after the February 18 deadline.
But Hezbollah still carries weight, with supporters Thursday blocking the airport road after two Iranian planes were barred from landing.
A day earlier, Israel’s army had accused Iran of sending funds to arm the group through the Beirut airport.
On Friday morning, a few thousand Hariri supporters carrying Lebanese flags gathered near his father’s burial site in downtown Beirut.
“For the first time in 20 years, our joy is double: first because the Syrian regime fell... and second because Sheikh Saad is among us,” homemaker Diana Al-Masri, 52, told AFP.
A source close to Hariri said he was due to give a speech addressing developments “in Lebanon and the region,” though he may not resume political activities right away.
“His supporters are calling on him to return to political life,” said the source, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Until early 2022, Hariri was the main Sunni Muslim leader in a country where political power is shared along sectarian lines.
Once enjoying strong support from Saudi Arabia, Hariri’s relationship with the regional heavyweight deteriorated because of his conciliatory attitude toward Hezbollah.
In 2017, Hariri resigned as premier in a shock address from Riyadh, citing Iran’s “grip” on Lebanon through Hezbollah and prompting accusations he was being held against his will.
French President Emmanuel Macron had to intervene to secure his return to Lebanon, where Hariri rescinded his resignation.
He resigned again as prime minister after nationwide protests in 2019 demanding the wholesale overhaul of Lebanon’s political class.
In a tearful 2022 announcement, he said he had suspended his political activities and those of his party, citing “Iranian influence” among other reasons.
The source told AFP that all these reasons had now “vanished.”
For decades, Hezbollah was Lebanon’s dominant political force, but its arsenal and leadership were decimated during its war with Israel, while Syrian ally Bashar Assad’s ouster cut the group’s vital arms supply lines.
’New chance’
In January, former army chief Joseph Aoun was elected president after a more than two-year vacuum.
He was widely seen as the United States and Saudi Arabia’s preferred choice.
This month, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who had been presiding judge at the International Criminal Court, formed a government. On Friday, Salam visited Rafic Hariri’s tomb to pay his respects.
“Lebanon has been given a new chance as Iranian influence is declining and the international community has returned,” the source said.
Riyadh has recently retaken an interest in Lebanese politics after distancing itself for years over Hezbollah’s influence.
“Saudi Arabia seeks a strong, organized Sunni leadership,” said Imad Salamey, head of the International and Political Studies Department at the Lebanese American University.
“If (Saad) Hariri can present himself as that figure, his return would serve both his interests and those of the kingdom.”
His father’s assassination anniversary “will serve as an opportunity to assess his ability to mobilize support and reassert his leadership within the Sunni community,” Salamey added.
Hariri was thrust into the political limelight following his father’s murder, widely attributed to Damascus and Hezbollah at the time, which triggered massive protests that drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon after 29 years of occupation.
Rafic Hariri was a billionaire and the architect of Lebanon’s reconstruction era after the 1975-1990 civil war.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, is desperate to prove it has not lost ground to political rivals.
After the airport protests, authorities said they were working to bring back Lebanese passengers stranded in Iran using two Middle East Airlines planes.
But on Friday a source from the national carrier told AFP that Tehran had denied them permission to land in a tit-for-tat move.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Lebanon’s only airport to transfer weapons from Iran, claims the group and Lebanese officials have denied, with the army reinforcing security measures there in past months.


Fourteen Gaza children flown to Italy for treatment

Fourteen Gaza children flown to Italy for treatment
Updated 14 February 2025
Follow

Fourteen Gaza children flown to Italy for treatment

Fourteen Gaza children flown to Italy for treatment

Rome: Fourteen Palestinian children, many with cancer, have been flown to Italy for medical treatment, the latest among dozens brought from Gaza following the Hamas-Israel war, the foreign ministry said Friday.
The children and their families, a total of 45 people, had on Wednesday crossed the Rafah border from Gaza into Egypt, where they underwent medical checks at the Italian hospital in Cairo, officials said.
They were flown to Italy on an Italian military plane, and greeted at Rome’s Ciampino airport on Thursday evening by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
Treating the children was part of Italy’s efforts to promote peace and dialogue in the region, he said Friday, a “diplomacy made of solidarity, which restores hope to the most fragile and defenseless.”
Some of the children were due to be treated in the capital, the others heading north for treatment in hospitals including in Turin and Milan, a ministry spokesman said.
Two of the children disembarked in Rome were headed for the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu hospital, which treated nine other Palestinian children last year.
All those nine, ranging from one to 15 years old, have been discharged, a hospital spokesman told AFP.
Italy is among several European countries to treat children injured or suffering from disease in Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023.
“Every child we bring to Italy is a sign of hope, a commitment to life and the future,” Defense Secretary Guido Crosetto said.
The first 11 Palestinian children arrived in Italy in January 2024, followed by dozens more in the months that followed, some flown in and some transported on the Italian naval ship Vulcano.


The scent of the mummy. Research discovers ancient Egyptian remains smell nice

The scent of the mummy. Research discovers ancient Egyptian remains smell nice
Updated 14 February 2025
Follow

The scent of the mummy. Research discovers ancient Egyptian remains smell nice

The scent of the mummy. Research discovers ancient Egyptian remains smell nice
  • “Woody,” “spicy” and “sweet” were the top descriptions
  • They studied mummies as old as 5,000 years from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

LONDON: At first whiff, it sounds repulsive: sniff the essence of an ancient corpse.
But researchers who indulged their curiosity in the name of science found that well-preserved Egyptian mummies actually smell pretty good.
“In films and books, terrible things happen to those who smell mummified bodies,” said Cecilia Bembibre, director of research at University College London’s Institute for Sustainable Heritage. “We were surprised at the pleasantness of them.”
“Woody,” “spicy” and “sweet” were the leading descriptions from what sounded more like a wine tasting than a mummy sniffing exercise. Floral notes were also detected, which could be from pine and juniper resins used in embalming.
The study published Thursday in the Journal of the American Chemical Society used both chemical analysis and a panel of human sniffers to evaluate the odors from nine mummies as old as 5,000 years that had been either in storage or on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The researchers wanted to systematically study the smell of mummies because it has long been a subject of fascination for the public and researchers alike, said Bembibre, one of the report’s authors. Archaeologists, historians, conservators and even fiction writers have devoted pages of their work to the subject — for good reason.
Scent was an important consideration in the mummification process that used oils, waxes and balms to preserve the body and its spirit for the afterlife. The practice was largely reserved for pharaohs and nobility and pleasant smells were associated with purity and deities while bad odors were signs of corruption and decay.
Without sampling the mummies themselves, which would be invasive, researchers from UCL and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia were able to measure whether aromas were coming from the archaeological item, pesticides or other products used to conserve the remains, or from deterioration due to mold, bacteria or microorganisms.
“We were quite worried that we might find notes or hints of decaying bodies, which wasn’t the case,” said Matija Strlič, a chemistry professor at the University of Ljubljana. “We were specifically worried that there might be indications of microbial degradation, but that was not the case, which means that the environment in this museum, is actually quite good in terms of preservation.”
Using technical instruments to measure and quantify air molecules emitted from sarcophagi to determine the state of preservation without touching the mummies was like the Holy Grail, Strlič said.
“It tells us potentially what social class a mummy was from and and therefore reveals a lot of information about the mummified body that is relevant not just to conservators, but to curators and archaeologists as well,” he said. “We believe that this approach is potentially of huge interest to other types of museum collections.”
Barbara Huber, a postdoctoral researcher at Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany who was not involved in the study, said the findings provide crucial data on compounds that could preserve or degrade mummified remains. The information could be used to better protect the ancient bodies for future generations.
“However, the research also underscores a key challenge: the smells detected today are not necessarily those from the time of mummification,” Huber said. “Over thousands of years, evaporation, oxidation, and even storage conditions have significantly altered the original scent profile.”
Huber authored a study two years ago that analyzed residue from a jar that had contained mummified organs of a noblewoman to identify embalming ingredients, their origins and what they revealed about trade routes. She then worked with a perfumer to create an interpretation of the embalming scent, known as “Scent of Eternity,” for an exhibition at the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark.
Researchers of the current study hope to do something similar, using their findings to develop “smellscapes” to artificially recreate the scents they detected and enhance the experience for future museumgoers.
“Museums have been called white cubes, where you are prompted to read, to see, to approach everything from a distance with your eyes,” Bembibre said. “Observing the mummified bodies through a glass case reduces the experience because we don’t get to smell them. We don’t get to know about the mummification process in an experiential way, which is one of the ways that we understand and engage with the world.”