Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad says he had no plans to go away the nation after the autumn of Damascus every week in the past however the Russian army evacuated him from their base in western Syria after it got here below assault.
“I didn’t depart the nation as a part of a plan because it was reported earlier,” Assad stated. The feedback posted to his Facebook on Monday are the primary by Assad since he was overthrown on Dec. 8 by jihadi-led Syrian rebels, who are actually working to ascertain safety and begin a political transition.
Israel has been pounding what it says are army websites in Syria after the dramatic collapse of Assad’s rule, wiping out air defenses and many of the arsenal of the Syrian military. Israeli troops have additionally seized a border buffer zone, sparking condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire and presumably exploiting the chaos in Syria for a land seize.
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UK will ship a delegation to satisfy with Syria’s new insurgent leaders
LONDON — The British authorities says it’s sending a delegation to Syria to satisfy with the rebels who toppled President Bashar Assad, in addition to to satisfy civil society teams.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy advised reporters that the U.Okay. would help an “inclusive transitional political course of that’s Syrian-led and Syrian-owned.”
Britain, together with the U.S. and different nations, classifies Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — the principle insurgent group and a former al-Qaida affiliate — as a terrorist group. U.Okay. officers have recommended they could rethink that designation, however haven’t given a timeline. They say British officers can nonetheless speak to HST within the meantime.
The U.Okay. stated Sunday pledged 50 million kilos ($63 million) in funding to supply meals, shelter, medical care and different emergency companies for susceptible Syrians as a part of efforts to stabilize the nation.
US says it struck the Islamic State group in Syria, killing 12 individuals
WASHINGTON — U.S. forces performed one other spherical of airstrikes towards Islamic State group targets in Syria on Monday, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder advised reporters.
The strikes focused IS camps and operatives in Syria, killing 12 individuals, U.S. Central Command stated in a press release posted to X.
The strikes are geared toward “stopping the terrorist group from conducting exterior operations and to make sure that ISIS doesn’t search alternatives to reconstitute in central Syria,” Central Command stated.
The U.S. has saved troops in Syria for the final decade, and Syrian authorities’s sudden collapse after a insurgent offensive has raised fears of an IS resurgence.
Trump says he had ‘an excellent speak’ with Israel’s Netanyahu
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump stated Monday that he “had an excellent speak” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I gave warning that if these hostages aren’t residence by that date all hell’s going to interrupt out,” Trump stated, repeating his risk on social media about releasing the Israeli captives in Gaza by the point he takes workplace subsequent month.
Appearing earlier than the information media at his Florida property on Monday, Trump deflected a query about conversations he might have had with Russia Vladimir Putin since profitable the election in November. Instead, he stated he would speak about Netanyahu.
“It was a recap name greater than the rest,” Trump added. He didn’t say when he spoke with Netanyahu.
UN envoy to Syria meets with insurgent leaders and visits infamous jail
DAMASCUS — The U.N. envoy to Syria was in Damascus on Monday, holding conferences with the nation’s new insurgent leaders and assembly with households whose family members disappeared into an infamous jail through the rule of ousted President Bashar Assad.
Geir Pedersen reaffirmed the U.N.’s dedication to supporting the Syrian individuals within the wake of Assad’s sudden overthrow by jihadi-led rebels.
Pedersen met with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the chief of the principle rebel group, and Mohammed Bashir, Syria’s interim prime minister who beforehand led the federal government in rebel-held territory.
The post-Assad transition has been surprisingly easy. Reports of reprisals, revenge killings and sectarian violence have been minimal. Still, Syria is residence to a number of ethnic and non secular communities, and plenty of of them concern the chance that Sunni Islamist extremists will take over.
Pedersen additionally toured the chilly concrete halls of Saydnaya Prison, lengthy known as “the slaughterhouse” below Assad’s rule.
“Hopefully, what we see right here is now a closed chapter in Syria’s historical past,” Pedersen stated in a press release, after talking with individuals whose relations had been detained or went lacking.
Tens of hundreds of individuals got here to the jail final week on the lookout for their relations, however just a few dozen detainees had been discovered inside. One relative requested Pedersen on Monday if the U.N. may carry particular gear to assist seek for chambers hidden beneath the jail.
Netanyahu’s testimony in his corruption trial will resume Wednesday
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t testify Tuesday in his ongoing corruption trial, after his legal professionals requested his testimony be cancelled.
He testified in courtroom Sunday and he’s anticipated to return on Wednesday. Netanyahu took the stand for the primary time in his long-running corruption trial final week, changing into the one sitting Israeli chief to take the stand as a prison defendant.
Netanyahu will reply to costs of fraud, breach of belief and accepting bribes in three separate circumstances. Netanyahu, 75, denies wrongdoing, saying the costs are a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media and a biased authorized system out to topple his prolonged rule.
The testimony is ready to happen six hours a day, three days every week for a number of weeks, and can take up a big chunk of Netanyahu’s working hours as he faces Israel’s ongoing battle in Gaza in addition to developments in Syria and Lebanon.
Israeli army says it intercepted a projectile from Yemen
JERUSALEM — The Israeli army stated it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen that had triggered sirens throughout the Tel Aviv metropolitan space on Monday afternoon.
The missile was intercepted outdoors Israel’s borders, the army stated. However, shrapnel fell on the roof of a house within the east Jerusalem, which the army stated was probably from one of many Israeli interceptor missiles. There had been no reviews of casualties or main injury, in response to Israel’s emergency companies.
The Iranian-backed Yemeni rebels, often known as the Houthis, claimed accountability for firing a hypersonic ballistic missile towards Tel Aviv.
The Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel for the reason that begin of the battle in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, however practically all of these weapons have been intercepted.
In July, an Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis struck Tel Aviv, killing one particular person and wounding 10 others. Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas of Yemen, together with the port metropolis of Hodeidah.
The Houthis have additionally been attacking transport within the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden — assaults they are saying gained’t cease till there’s a ceasefire in Gaza.
Assad says he wished to maintain combating in Syria however his Russian allies evacuated him
DAMASCUS, Syria — Ousted Syrian chief Bashar Assad says he had no plans to go away the nation after the autumn of Damascus every week in the past however the Russian army evacuated him after their base in western Syria got here below assault.
The feedback are the primary by Assad since he was overthrown by rebel teams.
Assad stated in a press release on his Facebook web page that he left Damascus on the morning of Dec. 8, hours after insurgents stormed the capital. He stated he left in coordination with Russian allies to the Russian base within the coastal province of Latakia, the place he deliberate to maintain combating.
Assad stated that after the Russian base got here below assault by drones, the Russians determined to maneuver him on the evening of Dec. 8 to Russia. “I didn’t depart the nation as a part of a plan because it was reported earlier,” Assad stated.
“At no level throughout these occasions did I take into account stepping down or in search of refuge nor was such proposal made by any particular person or occasion,” Assad stated within the English textual content of his assertion. “The solely plan of action was to proceed combating towards the terrorist onslaught.”
Death toll from Israel-Hamas battle tops 45,000
Health officers within the Gaza Strip say the demise toll from the 14-month battle between Israel and Hamas militants has reached 45,028 individuals.
The Gaza Health Ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. It stated greater than half of the fatalities had been girls and kids. The Israeli army says it has killed greater than 17,000 militants, with out offering proof.
The Health Ministry additionally stated 106,962 have been wounded for the reason that begin of the battle.
Turkey condemns Israeli plan to broaden settlements within the occupied Golan Heights
ANKARA, Turkey — A Turkish Foreign Ministry assertion stated Monday the choice marked a “new stage in Israel’s purpose of increasing its borders via occupation,” including that Ankara was involved that the transfer would hurt efforts to ascertain peace and stability in Syria.
“The worldwide neighborhood should present the required response to Israel and be certain that the unlawful actions of (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s authorities come to an finish,” the assertion learn.
Qatar additionally condemned the choice, calling it “a brand new episode in a collection of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and a blatant violation of worldwide regulation.”
The Israeli authorities authorized Netanyahu’s plan on Sunday with the goal to encourage inhabitants progress within the space.
Israel captured the Golan Heights within the 1967 Mideast battle and annexed it, although the worldwide neighborhood apart from the U.S. regards it as occupied. Israeli figures present the distant territory is residence to about 50,000 individuals, about half of them Jewish Israelis and the opposite half Arab Druze, a lot of whom nonetheless take into account themselves Syrians.
Mourners in Gaza collect for funeral of Al Jazeera journalist
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — In central Gaza’s Nuseirat city refugee camp, mourners carried Monday the physique of Ahmad Baker Al-Louh, 39, a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera, from the hospital via the streets. His blue bulletproof vest rested atop him.
Al-Louh was killed the day earlier than in a strike on a degree for Gaza’s civil protection company and Al Jazeera stated had been overlaying rescue operations of a household wounded in an earlier bombing when he was killed.
Sunday’s strike additionally killed three civil protection staff, together with the native head of the company, in response to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The civil protection is Gaza’s important rescue company and operates below the Hamas-run authorities.
Israeli strike kills 10 in Gaza City
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The 10 included a household of 4, Palestinian medics stated Monday, because the Israel-Hamas battle raged on for the 14th month within the Gaza Strip.
The strike late Sunday hit a home in Gaza City’s jap Shijaiyah neighborhood, in response to the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency service. Rescuers recovered the our bodies of 10 individuals from below the rubble, together with these of two mother and father and their two kids, it stated.
US Embassy advises Americans to go away Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria — The U.S. Embassy in Damascus suggested Americans to go away Syria, saying the safety state of affairs there continues to be risky and unpredictable with armed battle and “terrorism all through the nation.”
The embassy, which has been closed since 2012, posted a press release on X, warning U.S. residents who had been unable to go away the nation to organize “contingency plans for emergency conditions.” It didn’t give additional particulars.
The assertion additionally stated that the U.S. authorities is unable to supply any routine or emergency consular companies to U.S. residents and those that want “emergency help to depart ought to contact the U.S. Embassy within the nation they plan to enter.”
Sleeper cells of the Islamic State group have claimed accountability for lethal assaults over the previous months in numerous elements of Syria. Despite their defeat in March 2019, the extremists nonetheless pose a risk within the war-torn nation.
War monitor says Israel targets missile warehouses
DAMASCUS, Syria — The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based battle monitor, reported early Monday that Israeli airstrikes pounded missile warehouses and different former Syrian military websites alongside Syria’s coast within the “most violent strikes within the Syrian coast area for the reason that starting of the (Israeli) strikes in 2012.”
The Israeli army declined to touch upon the strikes.
The observatory stated that “violent explosions” had been heard within the coastal metropolis of Tartous “because of the successive strikes and the flying of ground-to-ground missiles from the warehouses.”
