BEIRUT: A Syrian Arab Republic war monitor said Wednesday that four civilians have been killed in a security operation in the coastal city of Latakia that was launched after a deadly attack on security services.
Latakia province is a former stronghold of the government of ousted president Bashar Assad and the heartland of his family’s Alawite minority.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the operation in the city’s Daatur district killed “four civilians,” including two “guards at a local school” on Tuesday and two construction workers on Wednesday.
State media had said that forces launched the campaign after “militia remnants” supporting Assad killed two personnel in an ambush.
Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia province, said that “during the operation, the criminal cell threw bombs at the security patrols, wounding a number of personnel.”
“Our forces responded immediately to the sources of fire and managed to arrest a number of people involved in these criminal acts, and neutralized a number of others,” Kneifati added in a statement on the interior ministry’s Telegram channel.
The Observatory said “a cautious calm” returned to Daatur “after the arrest of a number of residents and wanted persons.”
Restoring and maintaining security across Syria remains one of the most pressing challenges for the new authorities after Islamist-led rebels overthrew Assad on December 8.
In Sanamayn, in the Daraa province in the south, the Observatory said security forces carried out a “large-scale campaign... searching for wanted men and weapons.”
The operation came a day after clashes in the city between security forces and a group linked to the ousted government’s military security killed three fighters and wounded “three civilians including a child,” the Britain-based Observatory said.
Daraa province’s Telegram channel reported ongoing “military operations to purge the area of armed elements.”
A local security official, Abdul-Razzaq Al-Khatib, was quoted as saying that “military reinforcements” reached the city in the morning, with clashes ongoing in buildings in the southwest.
He said Tuesday’s clashes resulted in an unspecified number of casualties, while gunfire also wounded a member of the security forces at a checkpoint.
Daraa province, the cradle of the 2011 uprising which led to Syria’s civil war, returned to government control in 2018 but has been plagued by unrest in recent years.
Syria has seen clashes and shootings in a number of areas, often blamed on Assad supporters, with the new authorities announcing campaigns targeting “regime remnants” and making arrests.
Latakia initially saw heightened tensions and violence, including reprisals against people seen as linked to the former government, though incidents have decreased somewhat despite occasional attacks on checkpoints, according to the Observatory.
Syria monitor says security forces kill four in former Assad bastion
https://arab.news/95xb6
Syria monitor says security forces kill four in former Assad bastion
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the operation in the city’s Daatur district killed “four civilians,” including two “guards at a local school“
- Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia province, said that “during the operation, the criminal cell threw bombs at the security patrols, wounding a number of personnel“
UN peacekeepers say Israel hit Lebanon base with ‘direct fire’
- UNIFIL said it was ‘concerned by the recent aggressive posture of the Israel Defense Forces involving UNIFIL personnel and assets’
- Included an ‘incident in which a direct fire hit the perimeter of a UNIFIL position south of the village of Kfar Shouba’
UNIFIL sits on the international committee created to supervise the ceasefire agreement that kicked in on November 27 and ended more than two months of all-out war between Israel and the pro-Iranian militant group.
In a statement, UNIFIL said it was “concerned by the recent aggressive posture of the Israel Defense Forces involving UNIFIL personnel and assets.”
That included an “incident in which a direct fire hit the perimeter of a UNIFIL position south of the village of Kfar Shouba,” which it said took place on Tuesday.
The force said it “observed two shots fired from south of the Blue Line,” in reference to the de facto border between Israel and Lebanon.
It was the first time since November 27 that Israel has directly hit a UNIFIL position, it said.
At the height of the fighting last October, the peacekeeping force accused Israel of having hit its positions or peacekeepers at least 20 times.
As well as the “direct hit” on Tuesday, UNIFIL said there were “at least four other incidents involving IDF fire near its positions” and “other aggressive behavior by the IDF toward peacekeepers performing their operational activities.”
It said that on Tuesday that peacekeepers patrolling alongside the Lebanese army “reported being targeted by a laser from a nearby IDF position.”
“UNIFIL protests all such and we continue to remind all actors of their responsibility to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN assets and premises at all times,” the statement read.
According to the terms of the ceasefire, the Israeli military is required to withdraw completely from southern Lebanon while Hezbollah must dismantle its military assets in the region and withdraw north of the Litani river.
Israel has largely completed its withdrawal, though it insisted on keeping its forces at five points inside Lebanon that it considers strategic and has repeatedly launched strikes inside the country.
The ceasefire is based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which requires that UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army be the only armed bodies in southern Lebanon.
Qatar, US sign key agreements during Trump’s visit to Doha
- Two leaders discussed strengthening ties in defense, investment, energy, education and cybersecurity
DOHA: Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and US President Donald Trump oversaw the signing of several major agreements and memorandums of understanding on Wednesday during a state visit to Doha, Qatar News Agency reported.
The leaders witnessed the signing of a joint declaration of cooperation between the two governments, as well as agreements including a Boeing aircraft purchase, a statement of intent on defense cooperation, and letters of offer and acceptance for MQ-9B drones and the FS-LIDS anti-drone system, QNA added.
During official talks, the emir praised the historic nature of the visit and the two leaders discussed strengthening ties in defense, investment, energy, education and cybersecurity.
They also reaffirmed their shared commitment to regional peace and security.
Sheikh Tamim and Trump also touched on preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the 2028 Olympics, which will be hosted in the US.
President Trump thanked the emir for Qatar’s warm hospitality and described Sheikh Tamim as a longtime friend and trusted partner.
He voiced optimism about expanding cooperation and achieving lasting peace in the Middle East.
Senior Qatari ministers and US cabinet officials, including the secretaries of state, defense, treasury, commerce and energy, also attended the talks and signing ceremony.
Gaza rescuers say 80 killed in Israeli strikes amid hostage release talks
- Civil defense official Mohammed Al-Mughayyir told AFP 80 people had been killed by Israeli bombardment since dawn, including 59 in the north
- From the occupied West Bank, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday he favored a “ceasefire at any price” in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Gaza rescuers said at least 80 people were killed in Israeli bombardment across the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to US envoy Steve Witkoff about the release of hostages.
Negotiations for the release of the captives held in Gaza have been ongoing, with the latest talks taking place in the Qatari capital Doha, where US President Donald Trump was visiting on Wednesday.
Netanyahu’s office said the premier had discussed with Witkoff and his negotiating team “the issue of the hostages and the missing.”
Witkoff later said Trump had “a really productive conversation” with the Qatari emir about a Gaza deal, adding that “we are moving along and we have a good plan together.”
Fighting meanwhile raged in Gaza, where civil defense official Mohammed Al-Mughayyir told AFP 80 people had been killed by Israeli bombardment since dawn, including 59 in the north.
AFP footage from the aftermath of a strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza, showed mounds of rubble and twisted metal from collapsed buildings. Palestinians, including young children, picked through the debris in search of belongings.
Footage of mourners in northern Gaza showed women in tears as they kneeled next to bodies wrapped in bloodstained white shrouds.
“It’s a nine-month-old baby. What did he do?” one of them cried out.
Hasan Moqbel, a Palestinian who lost relatives, told AFP: “There are no homes fit for living. I have no shelter, no food, no water. Those who don’t die from air strikes die from hunger, and those who don’t die from hunger die from lack of medicine.”
Israel’s military on Wednesday urged residents in part of a Gaza City neighborhood to evacuate, warning that its forces would “attack the area with intense force.”
From the occupied West Bank, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday he favored a “ceasefire at any price” in Gaza, accusing Netanyahu of wanting to continue the war “for his own reasons.”
Mohammad Awad, an emergency doctor in northern Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital, told AFP that supply shortages meant his department could not properly handle the flow of wounded from the Jabalia strike.
“There are not enough beds, no medicine, and no means for surgical or medical treatment, which leaves doctors unable to save many of the injured who are dying due to lack of care,” he said.
Awad added that “the bodies of the martyrs are lying on the ground in the hospital corridors after the morgue reached full capacity. The situation is catastrophic in every sense of the word.”
Israel imposed an aid blockade on the Gaza Strip on March 2 after talks to prolong a January 19 ceasefire broke down.
The resulting shortages of food and medicine have aggravated an already dire situation in the Palestinian territory, although Israel has dismissed UN warnings that a potential famine looms.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, unimpeded humanitarian access and an immediate cessation of hostilities,” in Gaza.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “ever more dramatic and unjustifiable.”
A US-led initiative for aid distribution under Israeli military security drew international criticism as it appears to sideline the United Nations and existing aid organizations, and would overhaul current humanitarian structures in Gaza.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said the plan would make “aid conditional on forced displacement” and vetting of the population.
It added in a statement that Israel was creating “conditions for the eradication of Palestinian lives in Gaza.”
Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18, with officials later talking of retaining a long-term presence in the Palestinian territory.
Following a short pause in air strikes during the release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander
on Monday, Israel resumed its pounding of Gaza.
Netanyahu said on Monday that the military would enter Gaza “with full force” in the coming days.
He added that his government was working to find countries willing to take in Gaza’s population.
The Israeli government approved plans to expand the offensive earlier this month, and spoke of the “conquest” of Gaza.
Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 2023 attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 52,928 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
Turkiye eyes legal steps after Kurdish militant group PKK disbands
- The pro-Kurdish DEM party urged Ankara on Tuesday to take 'confidence-building steps' such as freeing political prisoners
- Government plans to release to house arrest those who are sick, or women with children, if they are serving sentences of less than five years
ANKARA: After the decision by the Kurdish militant group PKK to disband, Turkiye was eyeing Wednesday a raft of legal and technical measures to ensure its full implementation and finally end a four-decade insurgency.
Monday’s announcement sought to draw a line under a bloody chapter that began in 1984 when the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) took up arms, triggering a conflict that cost more than 40,000 lives.
“What matters most is the implementation,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday, pledging to “meticulously monitor whether the promises are kept.”
The pro-Kurdish DEM party, a key player that facilitated contact between jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan and the political establishment, urged Ankara on Tuesday to take “confidence-building steps” such as freeing political prisoners.
So far, Turkish officials have said little but the government is working on a proposal that could ease prison sentences in general.
The text, which should be submitted to parliament by June at the latest, provides for the conditional release of all those in pre-trial detention for offenses committed before July 31, 2023.
There are also plans to release to house arrest those who are sick, or women with children, if they are serving sentences of less than five years.
There are nearly 10,000 political prisoners in this country. If a peace process is ever to get under way, they must be released as soon as possible
DEM co-chair Tulay Hatimogullari
The moves could affect more than 60,000 people, Turkish media reports say.
But the authorities are reportedly being careful not to frame it as an “amnesty.”
“Sick prisoners should not die in prison... These measures should not be interpreted as a general amnesty, which is not on the agenda,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said.
But DEM co-chair Tulay Hatimogullari said a move to free prisoners was essential.
“There are nearly 10,000 political prisoners in this country... If a peace process is ever to get under way, they must be released as soon as possible,” she said Monday.
For DEM, that must include prisoners like Selahattin Demirtas, the charismatic former leader of a former pro-Kurdish party who has been jailed since 2016.
“With the complete elimination of terror and violence, the door to a new era will open,” Erdogan said Monday.
Some prisoners, such as Demirtas or the philanthropist Osman Kavala, who is serving life on charges of “trying to overthrow the government,” could in theory be quickly freed if Turkiye heeded rulings by the European Court of Human Rights, which has repeatedly demanded their release.
PKK’s fighters and weapons
But before that, Ankara is awaiting concrete proof that the PKK has actually laid down its weapons, Abdulkadir Selvi, a columnist close to the government, wrote in the Hurriyet newspaper.
“The democratic changes will start after the head of the MIT (intelligence services) has submitted his report to President Erdogan,” he wrote.
According to Turkish media reports, the MIT will supervise the weapons handover at locations in Turkiye, Syria and Iraq.
It will register the weapons handed in and the identity of the fighters in coordination with the Syrian and Iraqi authorities.
“Our intelligence service will follow the process meticulously to ensure the promises are kept,” Erdogan said Wednesday.
Most of the PKK’s fighters have spent the past decade in the mountains of northern Iraq.
Those who have committed no crime in Turkiye will be allowed to return without fear of prosecution.
But the PKK’s leaders will be forced into exile in third-party states such as Norway or South Africa, media reports suggest.
Duran Kalkan, a member of the PKK’s executive committee, said Tuesday that renouncing armed struggle “can only be implemented under (Ocalan’s) leadership” and when he is guaranteed “free living and working conditions.”
Experts say prison conditions for Ocalan, 76, will be “eased” but he is unlikely to leave the Imrali prison island where he has been held since 1999, largely because his life would be threatened.
“Naming trustees (to replace deposed mayors) will become an exceptional measure... after the terrorist organization is dissolved,” Erdogan said, suggesting that Kurdish mayors removed from office over alleged ties to the PKK would be reinstated.
In total, 16 opposition mayors from the DEM and the main opposition CHP have been removed since local elections in March 2024.
Algeria buys milling wheat in tender, traders say
- The precise size of the purchase in tonnage terms was not initially clear
- Algeria often buys considerably more than the indicative volume
HAMBURG/PARIS: Algeria’s state grains agency OAIC has bought milling wheat in an international tender which closed on Wednesday, European traders said.
Purchases were initially reported at around $244.50 a metric ton cost and freight (c&f) included, they said.
The precise size of the purchase in tonnage terms was not initially clear. But preliminary trader estimates were of a large purchase of between 600,000 and 700,000 metric tons.
Reports reflect assessments from traders and further estimates of prices and volumes are still possible later.
The tender sought a nominal 50,000 metric tons but Algeria often buys considerably more than the indicative volume. Sellers can supply wheat from a range of approved origins.
The wheat is sought for shipment in two periods from the main supply regions including Europe: July 1-15 and July 16-31. If sourced from South America or Australia, shipment is one month earlier.
Algeria is a vital customer for wheat from the European Union, especially France, but Russian and other Black Sea region exporters have been expanding strongly in the Algerian market.
Traders say a diplomatic rift between France and Algeria led the grains agency to tacitly exclude French wheat and trading companies from its purchase tenders, with relations between the two countries remaining tense.
