US envoy Tom Barrack clarifies Syria comments, denies they were threat to Lebanon

US Ambassador to Turkiye and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview in Damascus, Syria this week. (AP)
US Ambassador to Turkiye and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview in Damascus, Syria this week. (AP)
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Updated 12 July 2025
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US envoy Tom Barrack clarifies Syria comments, denies they were threat to Lebanon

US envoy Tom Barrack clarifies Syria comments, denies they were threat to Lebanon
  • Reports cited Barrack warning that Lebanon risked “going back to Bilad Al-Sham”
  • Syrian government also moved to quash speculation that it was planning escalatory steps against Lebanon

LONDON: US Special Envoy Tom Barrack has sought to clarify remarks made during his recent visit to the region, saying that his comments praising Syria’s progress were not intended as a threat to neighboring Lebanon.

“My comments yesterday praised Syria’s impressive strides, not a threat to Lebanon,” Barrack posted on X on Saturday.

“I observed the reality that Syria is moving at light speed to seize the historic opportunity presented by @POTUS’ lifting of sanctions: Investment from Turkiye and the Gulf, diplomatic outreach to neighboring countries and a clear vision for the future. I can assure that Syria’s leaders only want coexistence and mutual prosperity with Lebanon, and the US is committed to supporting that relationship between two equal and sovereign neighbors enjoying peace and prosperity,” he added.

The clarification comes after reports in Lebanese media, including from MTV Lebanon, cited Barrack as warning that Lebanon risked “going back to Bilad Al-Sham” if it failed to act quickly on regional realignment.

The term Bilad Al-Sham, historically referring to Greater Syria, encompasses present-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine under the Ottoman Empire; a sensitive concept in Lebanon given fears over sovereignty and outside interference.

Barrack’s comments were widely interpreted by some local outlets as a warning that Lebanon could fall under renewed Syrian influence if it failed to align with shifting regional dynamics.

Meanwhile on Saturday, the Syrian government also moved to quash speculation that it was planning escalatory steps against Lebanon over the issue of Syrian detainees held in Lebanese prisons.

A Syrian Ministry of Information official said that the detainee issue remains “a top priority” and that Damascus is committed to resolving it “swiftly through official channels between the two countries.”

Earlier reports had cited unnamed sources close to the Syrian government suggesting that diplomatic and economic retaliation was under consideration in response to what Damascus saw as Lebanon’s neglect of the detainees’ plight.

However, the Information Ministry source denied this, saying there were no such plans and reaffirming Syria’s commitment to bilateral resolution.

In an interview with Arab News on Friday, Barrack had made remarks reflecting growing US concern over Lebanon’s political inertia and the evolving role of Hezbollah.

“If Lebanon doesn’t hurry up and get in line, everyone around them will,” Barrack warned, pointing to a broader regional shift sparked by the lifting of US sanctions on Syria.

He framed the moment as pivotal for Lebanon, with pressure mounting for a new political order.

Addressing questions about Hezbollah’s future, Barrack said the group consists of “two parts,” an Iran-backed militant faction designated as a terrorist organization, and a political wing operating in Lebanon’s parliament.

He added that any disarmament process “must be led by the Lebanese government, with the full agreement of Hezbollah itself.”

Barrack said: “That process has to start with the Council of Ministers. They have to authorize the mandate. And Hezbollah, the political party, has to agree to that. But what Hezbollah is saying is, ‘OK, we understand one Lebanon has to happen.’ Why? Because one Syria is starting to happen.”

On Syria, Barrack described the lifting of sanctions on May 13 as a “strategic fresh start” for the war-ravaged nation and said that the US was not intending to pursue “nation-building or federalism.”

He called the Middle East a “difficult zip code at an amazingly historic time,” and told Arab News that the Trump administration’s new approach was designed to offer “a new slice of hope” to the Syrian people.

“President (Trump)’s message is peace and prosperity,” he said. “Sanctions gave the people hope. That’s really all that happened at that moment.”


Israel launches attack on Houthis in Yemen’s Sanaa

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Israel launches attack on Houthis in Yemen’s Sanaa

Israel launches attack on Houthis in Yemen’s Sanaa
SANAA: The Israeli military attacked the Houthi-controlled capital of Yemen on Thursday, four days after a deadly round of bombings against the Iran-backed group, both Israel and the militant group said.
Israeli forces “struck a Houthi terrorist regime military target in the area of Sanaa,” the military said in a statement.
The Houthi news channel Al-Massirah earlier posted on X: “Israeli aggression on the capital Sanaa.”
Israel has been targeting the rebel group in retaliation for its missile and drone attacks which the Houthis say are in support of the Palestinians.
Israeli strikes on Monday killed 10 people and wounded more than 90 in Sanaa, according to the Houthi authorities in the city.
The Israeli military said after those strikes that it had targeted what it said were Houthi military sites, including the presidential palace, in response to attacks against Israel.
On Wednesday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for another missile attack on Israel, which Israel said it had intercepted.
The Houthis have frequently launched attacks against Israel since the start of the Gaza war and have targeted shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden they claim is linked to Israel.
The Houthis control large parts of Yemen, which has been gripped by war since 2014, and is part of Iran’s anti-Israel alliance alongside militant groups across much of the Middle East.

Rubio says US open to ‘direct engagement’ with Iran as Europeans restore sanctions

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio participates in a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio participates in a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC.
Updated 10 min 3 sec ago
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Rubio says US open to ‘direct engagement’ with Iran as Europeans restore sanctions

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio participates in a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC.
  • France, Britain and Germany earlier Thursday triggered a mechanism to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran for failing to comply with commitments over nuclear program

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that Washington sought direct talks with Iran on ending its nuclear program after European powers moved to restore sanctions on Tehran.

Rubio welcomed the Europeans’ “snapback” of sanctions, long pushed by President Donald Trump, but said: “At the same time, the United States remains available for direct engagement with Iran — in furtherance of a peaceful, enduring resolution to the Iran nuclear issue.”

“Snapback does not contradict our earnest readiness for diplomacy, it only enhances it,” Rubio said in a statement.

“I urge Iranian leaders to take the immediate steps necessary to ensure that their nation will never obtain a nuclear weapon; to walk the path of peace; and to, by extension, advance prosperity for the Iranian people.”

France, Britain and Germany earlier Thursday triggered a mechanism to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran for failing to comply with commitments over its nuclear program — a step that was a top goal for Trump in his first term and which caused major friction between the United States and Europe.

Trump in his second term has swung sharply in different directions on Iran, insisting he sought a negotiated settlement but then ordering US air strikes on nuclear sites in support of an Israeli military campaign.


52 Gazan students to arrive in Ireland for university study

52 Gazan students to arrive in Ireland for university study
Updated 32 min 15 sec ago
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52 Gazan students to arrive in Ireland for university study

52 Gazan students to arrive in Ireland for university study
  • First group of 26 people arrive Thursday to take up scholarships offered by education institutions
  • Irish foreign minister Simon Harris says students will be sent for medical screening and treatment

DUBLIN: Fifty-two students from Gaza will arrive in Ireland this week to take up scholarships offered by education institutions, Irish foreign minister Simon Harris said Thursday.

“I welcome the arrival of these Palestinian young people to Ireland, and wish them every success with their studies here,” Harris said in a statement sent to AFP.

According to the statement the first group of 26 people will arrive on Thursday, with the remaining students arriving between Friday and Sunday.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Gaza, Ireland has supported more than 200 people to leave Gaza and travel to the EU member, said Dublin.

“As exit from Gaza is dependent on receipt of permission from the relevant local authorities, both in Israel and neighboring jurisdictions, such assistance often rests outside the control of the (Irish) government,” said the statement.

Dublin worked with its embassies the region and the relevant authorities to ensure that the group could travel to Ireland, it said.

“Our first and immediate priority will be to transfer them to a medical facility for screening, for treatment,” Harris told the RTE public broadcaster.

“We’ll also be trying to address serious issues that will have arisen as a result of malnutrition,” Harris told RTE.

“This is a small, practical step that the Irish people can take to show solidarity and help young people in Palestine,” he said.

Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas militants that sparked the war in Gaza.

Polls since the start of the war have shown overwhelming pro-Palestinian sympathy in Ireland.

In May 2024, Dublin joined several other European countries in recognizing Palestine as a “sovereign and independent state.”


Israel steps up bombardment of Gaza City killing 16 people

Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City towards the southern areas of the Gaza Strip on Thursday as Israel ramps up its operations
Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City towards the southern areas of the Gaza Strip on Thursday as Israel ramps up its operations
Updated 28 August 2025
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Israel steps up bombardment of Gaza City killing 16 people

Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City towards the southern areas of the Gaza Strip on Thursday as Israel ramps up its operations
  • Gunfire kills four and wounds dozens at aid distribution point in the south
  • Families flee their homes in Gaza City, heading to the coast as Israeli bombardment intensifies

CAIRO: Israeli forces killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday and wounded dozens in the south of the enclave, local health officials said, as residents reported intensified military bombardment in the suburbs of Gaza City.

The military is preparing to take Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban center, despite international calls on Israel to reconsider this over fears that the operation would cause significant casualties and displace the roughly one million Palestinians sheltering there.

In Gaza City, residents said families were fleeing their homes, with most heading toward the coast, as Israel forces bombarded the eastern suburbs of Shejaia, Zeitoun, and Sabra. Thursday’s deaths took to 71 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.

Israel officials describe Gaza City as the last stronghold of Hamas, which ignited the war with its deadly October 2023 attack on Israel. The Islamist militant group has since been decimated by Israel’s assault on Gaza.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it was continuing to operate throughout Gaza targeting what it described as “terrorist organizations” and infrastructure.

The military had killed three militants in the past day, it said, without saying how they had identified the individuals.

A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters that 31 “weapon-wounded” patients, most with gunshot wounds, were admitted to the Red Cross Field Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Four of them were declared dead on arrival.

“Patients said they were injured while trying to reach food distribution sites,” the spokesperson said, adding that since the food distribution sites began operations on May 27, the hospital had treated over 5,000 “weapon-wounded patients.”

Dozens of Palestinians were admitted to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis with gunshot wounds, according to a doctor there who said the military had opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians that had gathered near an aid distribution site.

Mohammad Saqer, the head of nursing, told Reuters most of the patients had been admitted with gunshot wounds to the upper parts of the body and that many were in critical condition.

The patients had reported they were shot as they sought to collect food from a distribution site in Rafah, he said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

The war broke out when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise, cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have since been released through diplomatic negotiations, though 50 remain, of whom 20 are said to be alive.

Israel has not responded publicly to Hamas’ acceptance of a proposal for a ceasefire that would allow for the return of some of the hostages. Israeli officials have, however, insisted that it would only accept a deal that sees all of the hostages released and Hamas’ surrender.

Israel’s military campaign, which it says is directed toward Gaza’s rulers Hamas, has devastated the territory and displaced most of the roughly two million Palestinians there.

More than 62,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed by the Israeli military, according to local health officials, who have not said how many combatants have been killed in the fighting.

With the enclave in the grips of a humanitarian crisis, the Gaza health ministry said on Thursday that four more people, including two children, had died of malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, raising deaths from such causes to 317 people, including 121 children, since the war started.

Israel disputes the health ministry’s fatality figures and on Wednesday asked a global hunger monitor to retract an assessment that found that Gaza City and surrounding areas are suffering from famine.


UN experts decry ‘enforced disappearances’ at Gaza aid sites

UN experts decry ‘enforced disappearances’ at Gaza aid sites
Updated 28 August 2025
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UN experts decry ‘enforced disappearances’ at Gaza aid sites

UN experts decry ‘enforced disappearances’ at Gaza aid sites
  • UN rights experts voiced alarm Thursday at reports of “enforced disappearances” of starving Palestinians seeking food at distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)
  • The seven independent experts said in a joint statement they had received reports that a number of individuals, including one child, had been “forcibly disappeared“

GENEVA: UN rights experts voiced alarm Thursday at reports of “enforced disappearances” of starving Palestinians seeking food at distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), urging Israel to end the “heinous crime.”

The seven independent experts said in a joint statement they had received reports that a number of individuals, including one child, had been “forcibly disappeared” after going to aid distribution sites in Rafah, southern Gaza.

“Reports of enforced disappearances targeting starving civilians seeking their basic right to food is not only shocking, but amounts to torture,” said the experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations itself.

“Using food as a tool to conduct targeted and mass disappearances needs to end now.”

Israel’s military was reportedly “directly involved in the enforced disappearances of people seeking aid,” said the statement signed by the five members of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, along with Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on rights in the Palestinian territories, and her counterpart on the right to food, Michael Fakhri.

Israel’s military was “refusing to provide information on the fate and whereabouts of persons they have deprived of their liberty,” in violation of international law, the statement said.

“The failure to acknowledge deprivation of liberty by state agents and refusal to acknowledge detention constitute an enforced disappearance.”

The UN declared a famine in Gaza governorate last week, blaming “systematic obstruction” of humanitarian deliveries by Israel. Israel, which has accused Hamas of looting aid supplied by the UN, imposed a total blockade on Gaza between March and May.

Once it began easing restrictions, the GHF, a private organization supported by Israel and the United States, was established to distribute food aid, effectively sidelining UN agencies.

The experts pointed to how “aerial bombardment and daily gunfire at and around the crowded facilities have resulted in mass casualties.”

“The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is obligated to provide secure distribution sites and has contracted private military security companies to that end,” they said.

The UN human rights office said last week it had documented that 1,857 Palestinians had been killed while seeking aid since late May, including 1,021 near GHF sites.

Now, the experts warned, “the distribution points pose additional risks for devastated individuals of being forcibly disappeared.”

The experts urged Israeli authorities to “put an end to the heinous crime against an already vulnerable population.”

They demanded that the authorities “clarify the fate and whereabouts of disappeared persons and investigate the enforced disappearances thoroughly and impartially and punish perpetrators.”