New fighting in eastern Syria ‘risks re-emergence of Daesh’

A US-backed SDF fighter stands next to an armored vehicle, in Al-Sabha town in the eastern countryside of Deir El-Zour, Syria, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 07 September 2023
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New fighting in eastern Syria ‘risks re-emergence of Daesh’

  • Warning as 90 die in clashes in Deir Ezzor
  • Kurdish leader offers to fix ‘mistakes’ in region

JEDDAH: Fighting between rival militias that has killed at least 90 people in eastern Syria risks the re-emergence of Daesh in the region, analysts warned on Thursday.

The violence began a week ago when Arab tribal fighters rebelled against the Kurdish-led in Syrian Democratic Forces Deir Ezzor last week, the first such uprising since Daesh were driven out more than four years ago.
The terrorists lost their last sliver of land in eastern Syria in 2019, but fugitive cells hiding in the region have continued low-level attacks, killing dozens over the years.
The latest clashes in Deir Ezzor “present an opportunity for Daesh cells that nest in the Euphrates River valley to emerge,” said Myles Caggins, senior fellow at the New Lines Institute, a think tank in Washington.

Spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG and including Arab fighters, the SDF led the fight against Daesh. It governs about a quarter of Syria, including valuable oil fields.
But Arab residents have complained that the Kurdish-led provincial administration in Deir Ezzor discriminates against them and denies them their share of oil wealth.

In an effort to reduce tension, the head of the Syrian Democratic Forces offered on Thursday to meet Arab tribal demands in eastern Syria and fix “mistakes” he said had been made in administering the region.

Commander Mazloum Abdi said he had met tribal leaders and would honor their request to release dozens of local fighters who had been detained as the SDF quelled the unrest. “We have a decision to issue a general amnesty for those involved,” he said. “We already released half who were arrested, and we will release the rest.”

Abdi promised to host a meeting with Arab tribal notables and other representatives from Deir Ezzor to address longstanding grievances from education and the economy to security. “There are gaps, and there were mistakes on the ground,” he said.
Spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG and including Arab fighters, the SDF led the fight against Daesh. It governs about a quarter of Syria, including valuable oil fields.
Abdi pledged to restructure both the civilian council governing the province and the Deir Ezzor Military Council to make them more “representative of all the tribes and components in Deir Ezzor.”
He said: “We are open to all criticisms, we will study them all and we will overcome them ... and the result will be the return of SDF with all its components in an even stronger way.”


Red Cross chief declares Gaza ‘worse than hell on earth’

Updated 04 June 2025
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Red Cross chief declares Gaza ‘worse than hell on earth’

  • Palestinians are being stripped of their human dignity, Mirjana Spoljaric tells BBC
  • She calls on world leaders to take action to bring the conflict to an end

LONDON: The situation in Gaza has become “worse than hell on earth,” the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross has said.

“Humanity is failing in Gaza,” Mirjana Spoljaric told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Wednesday. “We cannot continue to watch what is happening.”

The ICRC, a global organization assisting people affected by conflict, has about 300 staff in Gaza.

It runs a field hospital in Rafah that was swamped with casualties in recent days after witnesses described Israeli troops opening fire on crowds trying to access food aid.

Spoljaric said that the situation in the territory was “surpassing any acceptable legal, moral and humane standard.”

“The fact that we are watching a people being entirely stripped of its human dignity should really shock our collective conscience.”

She called on world leaders to do more to bring the conflict to an end because the consequences would haunt them and “reach their doorsteps.”

Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 54,000 people since October 2023, mostly women and children.

The offensive was launched after a Hamas-led attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and seized dozens of hostages.

Spoljaric said that while every state had a right to defend itself, there could be “no excuse for depriving children from their access to food, health and security.”

She added: “There are rules in the conduct of hostilities that every party to every conflict has to respect.”

International condemnation of Israel has increased in recent weeks after its military pushed to take full control of Gaza after severing all food and aid supplies to the territory’s population.

Late last month, some aid deliveries resumed after Israel set up a new aid system that bypassed the UN and is now run by a newly formed US organization.

Operations at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s three aid delivery sites were paused on Wednesday after dozens of Palestinians were killed by gunfire near one of the sites.


Israeli settlers establish illegal outpost near Palestinian Authority’s administrative city of Ramallah

Updated 04 June 2025
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Israeli settlers establish illegal outpost near Palestinian Authority’s administrative city of Ramallah

  • Settlers establish site on ruins of displaced Palestinian family’s home
  • Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission reported in May attempts by settlers to establish 15 new illegal outposts in West Bank

LONDON: Israeli settlers have established a new outpost on land belonging to Palestinians east of Ramallah, the administrative city of the Palestinian Authority.

The settlers have established the outpost on the ruins of a home belonging to a Palestinian family that was forcibly displaced nearly a year ago following a series of attacks in the village of Al-Taybeh, the Palestine News Agency reported.

Israeli settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law and have long been viewed as hindrances to the establishment of a viable Palestinian state and to achieving peace.

The PA’s affiliated Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission reported in May on attempts by Israeli settlers to establish 15 new illegal outposts in the West Bank, mainly on agricultural and pastoral land.

These outposts are distributed across several governorates, including six in Ramallah and Al-Bireh; two in Salfit, Tubas, and Bethlehem; and one each in Jericho and Nablus.


Israel defense ministry says arms exports hit all time high in 2024

Updated 04 June 2025
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Israel defense ministry says arms exports hit all time high in 2024

  • “Israel again reached an all-time peak in defense exports in 2024,” the ministry said

JERUSALEM: Israel’s defense ministry said Wednesday that its arms exports hit an all-time high of more than $14.7 billion in 2024, with a sharp rise in deals with Arab Gulf states, despite international criticism of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

“Israel again reached an all-time peak in defense exports in 2024, marking the fourth consecutive record-breaking year in the scope of defense agreements,” the ministry, which oversees and approves the exports of Israel’s defense industries, said in a statement.


Suspected crypto kidnappings mastermind arrested in Morocco

Updated 48 min 52 sec ago
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Suspected crypto kidnappings mastermind arrested in Morocco

  • France thanks Morocco for arresting 24-year-old after kidnappings targeting French crypto entrepreneurs

RABAT: Moroccan authorities have arrested a French-Moroccan man suspected of involvement in recent kidnappings in France targeting individuals with crypto wealth, a source with knowledge of the arrest said on Wednesday.
French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin thanked Morocco for the arrest in a post on X, without giving further details of the charges or incidents.
The 24-year-old man, named by a separate Moroccan police source as Bajjou Badiss Mohamed AmiDe, was subject to an Interpol red notice and wanted by France on charges including participation in organized crime, kidnapping, and extortion.
The police source said that since Bajjou is a dual national, he will not be extradited and will be tried in Morocco on the charges he is facing in France.
French authorities had passed details of the charges to Moroccan counterparts so that the man can face justice in Morocco, the source added.
The Paris prosecutor’s office did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
France has seen a wave of kidnappings targeting the crypto sector, including one in January of a co-founder of French crypto company Ledger, which left the victim missing a finger.
This month, a botched attempt to kidnap a crypto company CEO’s daughter on a busy Paris street left crypto entrepreneurs in France fearing for their safety and was seen by some as a symptom of France’s growing problem with organized crime.


Turkiye’s AJet to start flights to Syria’s Damascus

Updated 04 June 2025
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Turkiye’s AJet to start flights to Syria’s Damascus

  • AJet said flights from Sabiha Gokcen airport will begin from Jun. 16
  • Flights to Damascus from Ankara will start from Jun. 17

ISTANBUL: Turkish Airlines subsidiary AJet said it will start flights to Damascus International from Istanbul and Ankara airports in mid-June.

AJet said in a statement that flights from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport will begin from Jun. 16. Flights will initially take place four times per week before operating daily from July, it added.

Flights to Damascus from the Turkish capital Ankara will start from Jun. 17, three-times per week, the carrier also said.

Turkish Airlines resumed flights to Damascus in January after a 13-year suspension.

Turkiye, a close ally of the new government in Damascus, has pledged to support the country’s reconstruction. Ankara has already helped with the improvement and maintenance of Syria’s airports, the Turkish transport minister has said.