Israel announced today that it has taken control of the buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights to defend itself, despite an appeal by France, which called on Israel to withdraw its forces from the territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he had ordered the army to take over the demilitarized zone in the part of the Golan Heights considered Syrian after rebels ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Oren Marmorstein, announced today on Platform X that the move was necessary for defensive reasons, due to threats from jihadist groups operating near the border.
"Israel will continue to act to defend itself and ensure the safety of its citizens as necessary," Marmorstein wrote.
Netanyahu's cabinet stated in a statement that the collapse of the Assad regime created a vacuum on the Israeli border and in the buffer zone, and that is why Israeli forces entered the buffer zone and took control of strategic locations near the Israeli border.
"That deployment is temporary until the forces committed to the 1974 agreement (on separation) are established and until the security of our border is guaranteed," Netanyahu's cabinet said.
The announcements were preceded not only by France's invitation, but also by the request of the UN and several countries in the Middle East that Israel withdraw its forces from the buffer zone.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that by taking over the demilitarized zone, Israel violated the 1974 separation agreement, which established a buffer zone patrolled by UN forces.
France demanded that Israel respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, France Pres reported.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Countering Terrorism Ben Saul also called on Israel to withdraw.
"I appeal to Israel to withdraw from the illegal occupation of additional Syrian territory outside the occupied Golan Heights, under the pretext of countering terrorism and in the absence of any armed attack on Israel that would justify self-defense," Saul wrote on Platform X.
Israel conquered the Golan Heights in the 1967 war and later annexed it, which the international community, with the exception of the US, does not recognize.
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Syria's new government has announced that the country's constitution and parliament will be suspended during a three-month transition period following the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
"A legal and human rights commission will be formed to review the constitution and then propose changes," the new government's spokesman, Obaid Arnaut, told AFP.
The current constitution dates from 2012 and does not designate Islam as the state religion.
Arnaut announced a meeting scheduled for Tuesday between ministers of the "salvation government" and former ministers of the Assad administration to carry out the handover of power.
"This transitional period will last three months. Our priority is the preservation and protection of institutions," he added.
Speaking from the headquarters of state television, which is now under the control of the new rebel government, Arnaut vowed to establish "the rule of law".
"All those who have committed crimes against the Syrian people will be tried in accordance with the law," he added.
When asked about religious and personal freedoms, he said: "We respect religious and cultural diversity in Syria" and added that those freedoms will remain unchanged.
The country's Sunni majority has for years been firmly under the control of Assad, a member of the Alawite branch of Shiite Islam, who has sought to present himself as a protector of minority communities.
"The year is coming to an end, and I hope that with it will end the terrible suffering that has been imposed on all innocent victims around the world, and especially on my people in Palestine.
In the meantime, despite all the losses, traumas and injustices, we Palestinians continue to have hope, wishing and dreaming that maybe next year will be better, a year where humanity will prevail, a year where we can host you all to celebrate Christmas , as we once did, in the very place of Jesus Christ's birth, in Bethlehem - Palestine," said the Palestinian ambassador to Montenegro, Rabi Alhantuli, at the New Year's reception of the diplomatic corps, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro. Above, according to a statement from the Palestinian embassy.
The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) has overwhelmingly demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as well as the release of all hostages.
As reported by Reuters, 158 out of 193 member states voted for the UN General Assembly Resolution for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The United States of America (USA), Israel and seven other countries voted against the Ceasefire Resolution, while 13 countries abstained.
The General Assembly also supported the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), adopting a second resolution by 159 votes to condemn a new Israeli law that will ban UNRWA operations in Israel from the end of January.
That document demands that Israel respect UNRWA's mandate and allow its operations to continue without hindrance or restriction.
The USA, Israel and seven other countries voted against, while 11 countries abstained.
The resolutions of the General Assembly are not binding, but they carry political weight, reflecting the global view of the war.
The war in the Gaza Strip began after the attack of Hamas militants on Israel, on October 7 last year, when 1,2 thousand were killed and about 250 people were kidnapped.
There are still about 100 hostages in Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
In the Israeli retaliatory offensive, more than 44,8 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip.
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As Syrians around the world celebrate the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, political analysts are considering how it will affect the geopolitical situation and whether there could be an easing of tensions in the Middle East.
At least 37 Palestinians were killed and 30 injured in Israeli airstrikes on settlements in different parts of the Gaza Strip.
According to medical sources, 15 people were killed and 30 injured in an attack that hit people who were next to a humanitarian aid truck in the west of the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis in the south of Gaza.
The sources stated that in the attack on the house of the Al-Lavh family, where the displaced members of the Habash family lived, in the west of the Nusairat refugee camp, 15 Palestinians were killed and a large number of people were injured, Anadolia reports.
A statement from the Civil Defense Administration in Gaza stated that Israel carried out two separate attacks on Bahr Street in Rafah and Mawasi, and those killed and injured in the attacks were transferred to hospitals.
It added that at least seven Palestinians were killed and many, including children, were injured in an attack carried out by the Israeli army on a residential building on Jela Street in Gaza City.
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The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the release of all hostages.
Montenegro was among the countries that requested a ceasefire.
Palestinian medical officials said Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 28 people, including seven children and a woman, hours after the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
One of the night attacks, which continued until today, leveled a house in the densely populated Nuseirat refugee camp, according to information from Al Aqsa Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al Balah, where the victims were transferred.
Two other attacks killed 15 men who were part of local committees formed to secure aid convoys. Those committees were established by displaced Palestinians in cooperation with the Hamas-run interior ministry.
On Wednesday, the UN General Assembly adopted resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and expressing support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, whose ban Israel has announced. The resolutions of the General Assembly are not legally binding, but they reflect the views of the world public.
Israelis and Palestinians are signaling new efforts to reach a ceasefire deal - albeit a limited one - that would temporarily halt the fighting in Gaza and allow the return of some hostages still in the Palestinian Strip, the Guardian reports.
During a phone call on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, that there is now a chance for a new deal that would allow the return of all hostages, including American citizens, according to Katz's office.
But a Western diplomat in the region said that while a deal was being worked out, it was likely to be limited in scope, including the release of only a handful of hostages and a brief pause in hostilities.
Such a truce and liberation would be only the second since the beginning of the war in October 2023. The cautious optimism comes as US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan prepares to visit Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, then Egypt and Qatar, which are brokering the deal with the US.
Separately, President-elect Donald Trump has demanded that members of the Palestinian group Hamas release hostages in Gaza before he takes over from Biden on January 20. Otherwise, Trump said, "there will be hell to pay."
Israeli medical officials said the boy died after being wounded in a gun attack in the occupied West Bank that injured two others.
An Israeli bus was targeted in an attack by a suspected Palestinian late Wednesday, the military said, as Israeli forces search for the attacker.
The attack took place in an area near large Israeli settlements, not far from Jerusalem.
Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem said the boy was 12 years old, after initial reports said he was 10 years old. A hospital spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for further clarification. The hospital announced that two more people, aged 24 and 55, were injured, reports the Guardian.
A new study of children living in Gaza found that 96% of them feel that their death is imminent, while almost half want to die because of the trauma they went through.
The needs assessment, carried out by a Gaza-based non-governmental organization and supported by the humanitarian organization War Child Alliance, also found that 92% of the children surveyed had not "accepted reality", 79% suffered from nightmares, while 73% showed symptoms aggression.
"This report clearly shows that Gaza is one of the most terrifying places in the world for a child. In addition to the destruction of hospitals, schools and homes, the psychological devastation leaves invisible but no less devastating wounds on children who have no responsibility for this war," said Helen Pattison. , chief executive of War Child UK.
Palestinian medical officials said an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza early this morning killed at least 13 people, including seven children and a woman.
The attack flattened a house in the densely populated Nuseirat refugee camp, according to Al Aqsa Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al Balah, where the victims were transferred.
Syrian rebel leader Mohammad al-Golani told Reuters in a written statement that he would disband the security forces of the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Golani, whose real name is Ahmad Al Shara, said he would "disband the security forces of the previous regime and close the notorious prisons," he said in a statement released exclusively to Reuters by his cabinet.
Separately, the leader of the Syrian rebel-aligned government, Mohamad Al Bashir, who has been appointed as the country's prime minister, reiterated to Italian media that the interim government would only remain in power until March.
In an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper published on Wednesday, Bashir said: "We will only stay until March 2025," according to Reuters.
He added that the priorities are the restoration of security and state authority, the return of millions of Syrian refugees and the provision of basic services.
When asked whether the new Syrian constitution will be Islamic, he replied that these details will be clarified during the process of drafting the constitution.
The Civil Defense in Gaza announced that 21 people were killed in an Israeli attack last night, among them at least five children, and that attack occurred shortly after the UN called for a momentary ceasefire in the devastated Palestinian territory.
Israeli warplanes targeted two buildings near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip and in Gaza City in the north, civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said.
He said that 15 dead people, including at least five children, as well as more than 17 wounded were found after the Israeli bombardment of the building where the displaced people were located near Nuseirat. The bodies of six more people killed in the attack on an apartment in Gaza City were taken to the hospital, as well as numerous wounded, he said.
A few hours earlier in New York, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly demanded an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, in a symbolic call rejected by Israel and the US.
For the past several weeks, the Israeli army has been operating in the north of the Gaza Strip, the aim of which, according to the army, is to prevent the military regrouping of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, at least 22 people, including women and children, were killed in a second Israeli strike in the north of the Gaza Strip, according to the civil defense of the Palestinian territory.
The war in the Gaza Strip was launched by an attack without a president carried out by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, when 1.208 people were killed on the Israeli side, according to the balance of France Press made on the basis of official data.
On that day, 251 people were abducted from Israeli soil, and a total of 96 of them are still in Gaza, of which 34 were declared dead by the army.
In the Israeli offensive that followed, more than 44.786 people died in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
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Syrian opposition rebel groups have been patiently waiting for the perfect moment to attack Bashar al-Assad's regime, but the speed with which they have achieved success has exceeded their expectations.
There is no way that the rebels could have continued with the plan without first informing Turkey, which has been the main ally of the Syrian opposition since the very beginning of the war, according to the sources.
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The top commander of Syrian fighters who ousted decades-long president Bashar al-Assad said anyone involved in torturing and killing people Assad captured during his rule would be caught and that a pardon was not an option.
CNN's analysis of satellite images from Planet Labs shows that at least 15 military aircraft have been targeted in a series of Israeli airstrikes on a Syrian military base. The attacks also appear to have targeted the base's infrastructure.
In recent days, the Israeli military has been intensively destroying Syrian military capabilities, attacking air bases, ports and weapons depots across the country to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
Marj Ruhail Air Base, 30 kilometers south of Damascus, appears to have been home to a unit of Mi-25 Hind helicopters, according to satellite images collected on December 3.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it seized several Syrian tanks in the separation zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria.
Israeli soldiers also found a Syrian observation post in the Mount Hermon region inside the buffer zone and seized a cache of weapons, including rockets, explosives and other equipment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to occupy the buffer zone and other positions near it. Israel claims it is conducting "defensive missions" to eliminate threats to its citizens in the area.
Syrian rebels are working with international organizations to secure possible locations of chemical weapons, according to a statement by leader Abu Muhammad al-Golani, which was shared with Reuters on Wednesday.
Golani, whose real name is Ahmad Al Shara, also said he would close notorious regime-era prisons and work to dismantle security services linked to the former Assad regime.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh welcomed Golani's assurances about chemical weapons at a news conference.
"We welcome this kind of rhetoric, but actions must follow words. Our goal is to ensure that these chemical weapons do not fall into the wrong hands," Singh said.
Last week, the United Nations said it could not confirm the alleged destruction of chemical weapons in Syria, while Israel announced on Monday that it had destroyed Syria's chemical weapons capacity. The US also said it has "reliable information" about chemical weapons sites in Syria and is working with partners to destroy them, CNN reports.
Former President Bashar al-Assad, under the threat of US intervention, pledged to give up Syria's chemical weapons, which he used against his own people during the Syrian civil war. However, the US and other countries believe Assad has kept secret stockpiles, and the regime has been accused of additional chemical attacks in the years since.
The former ruling Baath Party in Syria has announced that it is suspending its work and activities until further notice, according to a statement published on Wednesday on its media channel.
The party, which has been ruled by the Assad family for decades, said that all its assets, funds and weapons would be handed over to Syrian government authorities.
"Vehicles and weapons owned by the comrades should be handed over to the Ministry of Interior or the nearest police unit or station. All property and funds of the party will be placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice, and the income will be paid to the Central Bank of Syria," it said. .
The decision comes days after former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad left the country following a lightning offensive by rebel forces.
Assad became Syria's leader in 2000, in an unopposed election, following the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had led the Baath Party since coming to power in 1970.
Speaking at an event last Sunday, Andrew Keighley, who heads the ICC's Palestine investigation, provided a rare insight into the ICC prosecutor's office's investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
He questioned the credibility of claims of military activity in Gaza hospitals, which have been used to justify Israeli attacks on health facilities in the area.
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