Israeli attacks in Syria are against international law, UN experts said today and assessed that preventive disarmament opens the door to global chaos.
"There is absolutely no basis under international law for pre-emptive disarmament of a country we don't like," UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism Ben Saul told a news conference in Geneva.
"If that were the case, it would open the door to global chaos, because many countries have enemies they would like to see disarmed. You can't follow your enemy wherever he is in the world and bomb him," said Saul, a specialist in humanitarian law. .
That expert, who, like other reporters, has the mandate of the UN Human Rights Council, but does not speak on behalf of the organization, hinted that the situation in Lebanon, where Israel has also been carrying out attacks for several months, is different because it is an open conflict.
After the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the cease-fire established in 1974 with Syria invalid and ordered soldiers to be deployed in the buffer zone in the home of the part of the Golan Heights occupied and annexed by Israel.
For decades, Syria has been a close ally of Tehran and a land bridge between Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, a member of the so-called anti-Israel axis of resistance, through which fighters and weapons could pass.
In recent days, the Israeli military has carried out hundreds of strikes on the neighboring country's territory, targeting everything from chemical weapons storage facilities to Syrian naval air defenses.
"It is completely illegal. There is absolutely no basis under international law to do it, but it is a continuation of what Israel has been doing in Syria for at least a decade," said Australian Saul.
The UN special rapporteur for the promotion of democratic and just order, George Katrougalos, professor of public law and former foreign minister of Greece, also said that the Israeli action in Syria is another case of Israeli disobedience of the law in the region, and that it is an unprovoked attack on the sovereign the state.
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The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced today that four people were killed in new Israeli attacks on the south of the country.
Earlier it was reported that one person was killed in a drone attack.
"Three people were killed in Israeli attacks on Bint Jbeil," the ministry said, adding that in a separate "Israeli attack on Beit Lif, one person was killed," AFP reported.
More than a dozen people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since a ceasefire took effect on November 27 ending the war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah.
The cross-border clashes started on October 8 last year, a day after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, but in September they turned into an open war.
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The United Nations is asking donors to provide more than four billion dollars to fund humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, mostly in war-torn Gaza.
In today's appeal, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also called for the removal of all obstacles to the entry of aid.
UN agencies say that the delivery of aid to Gaza is hampered by Israeli restrictions and violations of law and order.
Israel claims it is allowing enough aid to flow in and accuses the UN of not distributing it inside Palestinian territory.
For Gaza, the UN is asking for 3,6 billion dollars for the next year and about 450 million for the Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank.
In the Israeli offensive launched after the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in the south of Israel, large parts of the besieged territory were destroyed and about 90 percent of the 2,3 million inhabitants were displaced.
Many have been displaced several times and live in overcrowded camps in tents with little food and other necessities. Most of the population relies on international aid.
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One person was killed and another was wounded today in an Israeli air attack on the Lebanese settlement of Bint Jbail in southern Lebanon, the state news agency reported.
The National News Agency stated that one house was hit in the attack, but there are no other details, nor any comments from the Israeli army, the Associated Press reports.
More than a dozen people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since a ceasefire took effect on November 27, ending the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Cross-border conflicts began on October 8 last year, a day after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, but in September they turned into an open war.
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The Secretary of State of the United States of America (USA) Anthony Blinken will arrive in Jordan today and then go to Turkey for talks on Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, the State Department announced.
During talks to be held tomorrow in Aqaba on the Red Sea and a day later in Ankara, Blinken will "reiterate US support for an inclusive Syrian-led transition to an accountable and representative government," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
The Syrian government fell on December 8, marking the end of 50 years of rule by the Assad family after a surprise rebel offensive across the territory it held and the capital Damascus within ten days.
The leader of the offensive that overthrew Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria, with which it severed ties in 2016.
Deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad went with his family to Moscow, where he was granted asylum.
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The grave of Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez, was set on fire in his hometown of Kardaha, reports AFP.
AFP released the footage and said it showed rebel fighters in uniform and young men watching the tomb burn.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, told AFP that rebels set fire to the mausoleum, located in Latakia, in the heart of the Alawite community to which Assad belongs. AFP footage shows parts of the mausoleum on fire.
The Italian Corriere della Sera published an interview with Muhammad al-Bashir, the Syrian Prime Minister of the Transitional Government.
In the interview, he states that his government's three main priorities are: establishing security and stability in all Syrian cities, the return of millions of Syrian refugees scattered around the world, and strategic planning" to end the insecurity of basic services such as electricity, food and water.
"People are exhausted because of injustice and tyranny. The authority of the state must be restored to allow people to go back to work and continue with their normal lives," Bashir said.
He also warned about the difficult financial situation in which the country is,
"There are only Syrian pounds in the vaults, which are worth almost nothing. Financially, we are in a very bad state," he pointed out.
When asked about his militant group's jihadist past, Bashir replied that "the unjust actions of certain Islamist groups have led many people, especially in the West, to associate Muslims with terrorism and Islam with extremism."
"There were mistakes and misunderstandings that distorted the true meaning of Islam, which is the 'religion of justice'. Precisely because we are an Islamic regime, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all communities in Syria," he pointed out.
He added that the transitional government is open to dialogue with any foreign country "that has distanced itself from Assad's bloody regime."
According to a report by the Tass agency, Dmitry Peskov said during a regular daily press briefing that the Kremlin closely monitors everything that is happening in Syria and maintains contacts with those who currently control the situation.
"It is necessary because our bases and our diplomatic missions are located there," he added.
Peskov declined to specify how many Russian troops are in Syria, insisting that is a matter for the Russian Defense Ministry. He also declined to comment on the development of relations with rebel leaders in Syria.
"Too little time has passed ... that's why I can't say anything in detail," he added.
Russia has a significant airbase in Latakia province and a naval facility in Tartus, which, according to a Reuters report, is Russia's only Mediterranean repair and supply hub.
The Kremlin spokesman said that Israel's actions in the occupied Golan Heights and in the buffer zone area are unlikely to contribute to the stabilization of the situation in Syria.
Israel launched a ground invasion of the UN-supervised buffer zone that separates Syria from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, territory Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981.
Israeli attacks on the northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip killed at least 31 Palestinians, most of whom died in Beit Lahia in the north, Reuters reported, citing local medical sources.
Health officials said an Israeli airstrike on a house in Beit Lahia killed at least 22 people, including women and children.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency said at least 30 people lived in the multi-storey building that was hit, adding that family members were still missing as rescue operations continued.
Earlier today, at least seven Palestinians were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Nuseirat camp.
The Israeli military (IDF) said four rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip in the early hours of the morning. In a statement on the official Telegram channel, the IDF said the rockets were intercepted and there were no reports of casualties.
On the other hand, the Palestinian agency Wafa also reports that Israeli security forces arrested three men in Qalqilya, in the West Bank area under Israeli occupation.
After the victory of the Islamist rebels in Syria, Russia is trying to resolve the issue of its military bases in that country. The naval base in Tartus is especially important
Will Russia, after the victory of the Islamist rebels in Syria and the escape of President Bashar al-Assad, lose its two military strongholds in that country?
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The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that at least 22 people were killed overnight in the Gaza Strip in Israeli attacks.
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that the US and Israel are standing by the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, and he also pointed out that Turkey bears part of the responsibility.
"There should be no doubt that what happened in Syria is the result of a joint American and Zionist plan. Yes, the government from the Syrian neighborhood played and plays an obvious role in this - everyone sees it - but the main conspiracy, the brain and the command center are located in America and the Zionist regime. We have evidence. That evidence leaves no room for doubt," Khamenei said, according to reports from the Iranian news agency Tasnim.
Palestinian medical officials say that at least 19 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a house where displaced people took refuge in the northern Gaza Strip, AP writes.
This was announced by the Kamal Advan Hospital, which on Wednesday received the victims after the night attack in the city of Beit Lahija.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Since the beginning of October, Israel has been conducting a renewed offensive against Hamas militants in northern Gaza.
Hospital records show that a family of eight was among the dead.
The war began when Hamas-led militants invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1.200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 people.
Hamas has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
There are still about 100 hostages in Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 44.000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials who say women and children make up more than half of the dead. Israel says it has killed over 17.000 militants without providing evidence.
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