Middle East latest: Syrians celebrate Assad’s fall as US seeks a peaceful political transition

Thousands of Syrians gathered in Damascus’ main square and a historic mosque for the first Muslim Friday prayers since former President Bashar Assad was overthrown, a major symbolic moment for the country’s dramatic change of power. The rebels are now working to establish security and start a political transition after seizing the capital on Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Friday, pressing ahead with efforts to unify Middle East nations in support of a peaceful political transition in Syria. It’s part of Blinken’s 12th trip to the Mideast since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year in Gaza but his first after Assad was ousted.

The U.S. is also making a renewed push for an ceasefire in Gaza, where the war has plunged more than 2 million Palestinians into a severe humanitarian crisis.

Israel’s war against Hamas has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The October 2023 attack by Hamas in southern Israel that sparked the war killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

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Here’s the latest:

Dutch court rejects lawsuit from rights groups seeking to halt arms sales to Israel

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch court on Friday rejected a bid from human rights groups to block weapons exports to Israel and trading with the occupied territories, after finding there were sufficient checks already in place to comply with international law.

The ten organizations told The Hague District Court last month that they thought the Netherlands was in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, drawn up following World War II, by continuing to sell weapons to Israel more than a year into the conflict in Gaza.

“The government uses my own tax money, that I pay, to kill my own family. I’ve lost 18 members of my own family,” Ahmed Abofoul, a legal adviser for the pro-Palestinian organization Al-Haq, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit, told the court during a hearing in November.

The court ruling said that “it is not up to the interim relief judge to order the state to reconsider government policy. That is primarily a political responsibility.”

Lawyers for the government argued it wasn’t up to a judge to decide foreign policy for the Netherlands.

The activist groups pointed to several emergency orders from another court, the International Court of Justice, as confirming the obligation to stop weapons sales. In January, the top U.N. court said it was plausible Palestinians were being deprived of some rights protected under the Genocide Convention.

The coalition said it will review the court’s ruling and is considering an appeal.

Israel attacks a hospital in northern Gaza, wounding 3 medical staff amid a night of ‘relentless’ bombardment

CAIRO — Israeli attacks in and around a hospital in northern Gaza wounded three medical staff overnight into Friday and caused damage to the isolated medical facility, according to its director.

Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said Israeli quadcopter drones carrying explosives deliberately targeted the emergency and reception area of Kamal Adwan Hospital, where one doctor was wounded for a third time.

Abu Safiya said “relentless” drone and artillery strikes throughout the night exploded “alarmingly close” to the hospital, heavily damaging nearby buildings and destroying most of the water tanks on the hospital’s roof and blowing out doors and windows.

Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya has been hit multiple times over the past two months since Israel launched a fierce military operation against Hamas in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes.

“We demand international protection for the hospital and its staff,” Abu Safiya said in a statement released via the U.K.-based aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians, “as well as the entry of delegations with surgical expertise, medical supplies, and essential medications to ensure we can adequately serve the people we are treating.”

Abu Safiya said there were 72 wounded patients at the hospital, one of the few medical facilities left in northern Gaza. He said he expected Israeli forces would allow a World Health Organization aid convoy to bring supplies to the hospital on Friday or Saturday, as well as a team of doctors from Indonesia.

Israel has allowed almost no humanitarian or medical aid to enter the three besieged communities in northern Gaza — Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and the urban Jabaliya refugee camp — and ordered tens of thousands to flee to nearby Gaza City.

Israeli officials have said the three communities are mostly deserted, but the United Nations humanitarian office said Tuesday it believes around 65,000 to 75,000 people are still there, with little access to food, water, electricity or health care. Experts have warned that the north may be experiencing famine.

Blinken makes unannounced stop in Iraq amid push to stabilize post-Assad Syria

BAGHDAD — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced stop in Iraq on Friday on his latest visit to the Middle East aimed at stabilizing the situation in Syria to prevent further regional turmoil.

Blinken met in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani as part of the hastily arranged trip, his 12th to the region since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year but his first since the weekend ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad.

Blinken has already been to Jordan and Turkey on his current tour and will return to Jordan for urgent meetings on Saturday with Arab foreign ministers to try to unify support for an inclusive post-Assad transition that does not allow the Islamic State group to take advantage of the political vacuum in Syria and secures suspected chemical weapons stocks.

In Baghdad, Blinken “will underscore U.S. commitment to the U.S.-Iraq strategic partnership and to Iraq’s security, stability, and sovereignty,” the State Department said.

“He will also discuss regional security opportunities and challenges, as well as enduring U.S. support for engagement with all communities in Syria to establish an inclusive transition,” it said in a statement.

His trip comes as the Biden administration winds down with just over a month left before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has been highly critical of Biden’s approach to the Middle East and skeptical of the U.S. military presence in both Iraq and Syria.

The U.S. and Iraq agreed in September to wrap up U.S.-led military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq next year, although Assad’s ouster and the potential for the group taking advantage of a political vacuum in Syria could complicate the timing of the withdrawal, according to American officials.

Bahrain says it is willing to provide support for Syria in international organizations

DAMASCUS — The kingdom of Bahrain sent a message Friday to Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the insurgency that toppled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

It said Bahrain is “fully prepared to consult with you continuously and to provide support in regional and international organizations to achieve what is in the interest of the brotherly Syrian people.”

It added, “We look forward to Syria regaining its authentic role in the Arab League.” Bahrain is the current head of the Arab summit.

Syria was readmitted to the Arab League last year after 12 years of ostracization. It is still unclear how the international community will deal officially with the new interim government in Syria.

Israel’s defense minister asks troops to prepare to remain through the winter on Syria’s Mount Hermon

JERUSALEM – Israel’s defense minister told troops to prepare to remain through the winter months on the peak of Mount Hermon, Syria’s highest point, located in a swath of southern Syria that Israeli troops moved into after the fall of Damascus to insurgents.

The comments by Defense Minister Israel Katz signaled that the military will extend its occupation of the zone along the border, which Israel says it seized to create a buffer zone.

In a statement Friday, Katz said that holding the peak was of major importance for Israel’s security and that it would be necessary to build facilities there to sustain troops through the winter.

The summit of Mount Hermon, the highest peak on the eastern Mediterranean coast at 2,814 meters (9,232 feet), gives a commanding view over the plains of southern Syria. It also positions Israeli troops about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the center of Damascus. The mount is divided between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Lebanon and Syria. Only the United States recognizes Israel’s control of the Golan Heights.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israeli troops would remain in the zone until another force across the border in Syria could guarantee security. Israeli troops moved into the zone -– set as a demilitarized area inside Syrian territory under truce deals that ended the 1973 Mideast war — after the regime of Bashar al-Assad fell last weekend.

Blinken says there’s ‘broad agreement’ between US and Turkey on Syria’s future

ANKARA, Turkey — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday there was “broad agreement” between Turkey and the United States on what they would like to see in Syria following the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

“There’s broad agreement on what we would like to see going forward, starting with the interim government in Syria, one that is inclusive and non-sectarian and one that protects the rights of minorities and women” and does not “pose any kind of threat to any of Syria’s neighbors,” Blinken said in joint statements with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

The insurgent groups that toppled Assad in Syria have not made clear their policy or stance on Israel, whose military in recent days has bombed sites all over the country, saying it is trying to prevent weapons from falling into extremist hands.

Blinken also said it was crucial to keep the Islamic State group under control.

“We also discussed the imperative of continuing the efforts to keep ISIS down. Our countries worked very hard and gave a lot over many years to ensure the elimination of the territorial caliphate of ISIS to ensure that that threat doesn’t rear its head again,” Blinken said.

The Turkish foreign minister said the two discussed ways of establishing prosperity in Syria and ending terrorism in the country.

“Our priority is establishing stability in Syria as soon as possible, preventing terrorism from gaining ground, and ensuring that IS and the PKK aren’t dominant,” Fidan said, in a reference to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party.

Blinken said: “We’re very focused on Syria, very focused on the opportunity that now is before us and before the Syrian people to move from out from under the shackles of Bashar al-Assad to a different and better future for the Syrian people, one that the Syrian people decide for themselves.”

Blinken and Fidan said they had also discussed a ceasefire for Gaza.

“We’ve seen in the last couple of weeks more encouraging signs that (a ceasefire) is possible,” Blinken said.

Blinken, who is making his 12th trip to the Mideast since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year but first since the weekend ouster of Assad, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Thursday.

The outgoing Biden administration is particularly concerned that a power vacuum in Syria could exacerbate already heightened tensions in the region, which is already wracked by multiple conflicts, and create conditions for the Islamic State group to regain territory and influence.

Later Friday, Blinken is to return to Jordan for meetings on Saturday with Arab foreign ministers and senior officials from the European Union, the Arab League and the United Nations.

Turkey to reopen its embassy in Syria

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey has appointed a temporary charge d’affaires to reopen its embassy in Syria, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported.

The Turkish Embassy in Damascus had suspended operations in 2012 due to the escalating security problems during the Syrian civil war and embassy staff and their families were recalled to Turkey.

The Anadolu Agency said late Thursday that Turkey appointed Burhan Koroglu, its ambassador in Mauritania, to the post.

2 UN aid convoys violently attacked in Gaza, US food agency says

UNITED NATIONS- – Two U.N. aid convoys were violently attacked in Gaza, making it virtually impossible for humanitarian agencies to operate without putting staff and civilians at risk, the U.N. food agency says.

On Wednesday, a 70-truck convoy from Kerem Shalom was waiting for personnel to safeguard the food and other aid destined for central Gaza when there were reported attacks by Israeli forces in the nearby humanitarian zone, the U.N. World Food Program said Thursday.

More than 50 people are now estimated to have died in the attacks, including civilians and local security personnel who had been expected to ensure the convoy’s safety, WFP said.

The Rome-based agency said the convoy was forced to proceed from Kerem Shalom to central Gaza without any security arrangements, using the Philadelphi corridor, an Israeli-controlled route that had been recently approved and successfully utilized twice.

On the way, WFP said, conflict and insecurity led to a loss of communication with the convoy for more than 12 hours. ”Eventually, the trucks were found but all food and aid supplies were looted,” the U.N. agency said.

In a second incident, Israeli soldiers approached a WFP convoy moving out of the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza, fired warning shots, conducted extensive security checks, and temporarily detained drivers and staff, the agency said.

“As the trucks were delayed, four out of the five trucks were lost to violent armed looting,” WFP said.

UN chief urges Israel to stop attacks on Syria

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief has a message for Israel: Stop the attacks on Syria.

Secretary-General António Guterres is particularly concerned about several hundred Israeli airstrikes on several Syrian locations and stresses “the urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday.

The Israeli military said Tuesday it carried out more than 350 strikes in Syria over the previous 48 hours, hitting “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country to stop them from falling into the hands of extremists.

Israel also acknowledged pushing into a buffer zone inside Syria following last week’s overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The buffer zone was established after Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1973 war.

Dujarric said Guterres condemns all actions violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries that remain in force. And the U.N. chief calls on the parties to uphold the agreement and end “all unauthorized presence in the area of separation” and refrain from any action undermining the ceasefire and stability in the Golan Heights, the spokesman said.

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