A Hezbollah official says an Israeli strike in central Beirut has killed the militant group's main spokesman

Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — A Hezbollah official says an Israeli strike in central Beirut has killed the militant group's main spokesman.

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  • Uyghur fighters in Syria vow to come for China next

    A Uyghur militant group that helped to topple Bashar-al Assad has vowed to take the fight to China.

  • Israeli troops can remain in Gaza after war, Hamas concedes in major U-turn

    Hamas has reportedly agreed to allow Israeli troops to remain in Gaza in a major about-turn that could unblock a hostage deal.

  • Demoralised and abandoned by allies: why Assad’s army failed to fight in Syria

    Twenty-three-year-old Syrian military conscript Farhan al-Khouli was badly paid and demoralized. For years, the Islamist rebels of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had sat behind the nearby frontline, with Syria's long civil war frozen.

  • Edited 'handshake standoff' clip of China foreign minister, Israel PM spreads online

    China has repeatedly called for peace talks to resolve the Gaza war, sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack in October 2023 to which Israel retaliated with a blistering attack on the Palestinian territory. But a video purportedly showing China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi waiting for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to initiate a handshake has been edited -- the original footage from their meeting in December 2013 shows Wang was listening to a translator. There is no official record of

  • Why Israel captured Syria’s tallest mountain just hours after Assad fell

    Israel wasted no time after Bashar al-Assad’s fall to bomb all the Syrian military assets it wanted to keep out of the rebels’ hands – striking nearly 500 targets, destroying the navy, and taking out, it claims, 90% of Syria’s known surface-to-air missiles.

  • Assad exhibited little of the tackiness of Iraq’s Saddam. But his rule was just as brutal

    Slender shoulders, a limp handshake and soft-spoken lisp. Those were the most vivid memories from my meeting with Bashar al Assad.

  • China FM says 'deeply concerned' about Syria in talks with Egypt counterpart

    China's foreign minister Wang Yi told his Egyptian counterpart on Friday that Beijing is "deeply concerned" about the situation in Syria, as the two top diplomats met in the Chinese capital."The two sides are deeply concerned about the current situation in Syria and call for respect for Syria's sovereignty," Wang told journalists, urging the prevention of "terrorist and extremist forces from taking advantage of the chaos".

  • Syria: Inside the 'coffin' cells where prisoners were fed to be kept alive just for interrogation

    As I followed the rebel soldier, Abu Firas, he told me he deserted the Syrian Army because of the torture he had witnessed in cells like these. As we passed the cells, we saw the remains of meagre amounts of food; one piece of bread and a sort-of thin soup. Abu Firas told me prisoners were fed, but only to keep them alive.

  • Syria's new rulers call for victory celebrations in streets

    Syria's rebel chief called on people across the country to celebrate "the victory of the revolution" on Friday, as G7 leaders looked to forge a common approach to the new government.More than half a century of brutal rule by the Assad clan came to a sudden end on Sunday, after a lightning rebel offensive led by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept across the country and took the capital.Ousted president Bashar al-Assad fled Syria, closing an era in which suspected dissidents were jailed or killed, and capping nearly 14 years of war that killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions."I would like to congratulate the great Syrian people on the victory of the blessed revolution and I call on them to go to the streets to express their joy," Jolani said on Telegram.Jolani, who is now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, is set to attend Friday prayers at Damascus's landmark Umayyad Mosque.During the early days of Syria's uprising in 2011, protesters would often gather after noon prayers on Fridays, the Muslim day of prayer and rest.Assad's overthrow has allowed Syrians to flood to prisons, hospitals and morgues in search of long-disappeared loved ones, hoping for a miracle, or at least closure."I turned the world upside down looking," Abu Mohammed told AFP as he searched for news of three missing relatives at the Mazzeh airbase in Damascus."But I didn't find anything at all. We just want a hint of where they were, one percent."Sunni Muslim HTS is rooted in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda and designated a terrorist organisation by many Western governments, who now face the challenge of how to approach the country's new transitional leadership.The group has sought to moderate its rhetoric, and the interim government insists the rights of all Syrians will be protected. The spokesman for the newly installed government, Obaida Arnaout, told AFP that the country's constitution and parliament would be suspended during a three-month transition."A judicial and human rights committee will be established to examine the constitution and then introduce amendments," he said, pledging that the "rule of law" would be instituted.- Desperate searches -Leaders of the Group of Seven countries, who will meet virtually at 1430 GMT on Friday, said they were ready to support the transition to an "inclusive and non-sectarian" government in Syria.They called for the protection of human rights, including those of women and minorities, while emphasising "the importance of holding the Assad regime accountable for its crimes".Inside much of Syria, the focus for now is on unravelling the secrets of Assad's rule, and particularly the network of detention centres and suspected torture sites scattered across areas previously under government control.Syria's leadership said it is willing to cooperate with Washington in the search for US citizens who disappeared under Assad's rule, including US journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in 2012.Another American, Travis Timmerman, has already been located alive and Blinken said Washington was working to bring him home.The search for other missing detainees has ended more painfully, with hundreds of Syrians gathering Thursday to bury outspoken activist Mazen al-Hamada.In exile in the Netherlands, he publicly testified on the torture he was subjected to in Syrian prison.He later returned to Syria and was detained. His body was among more than 30 found in a Damascus hospital morgue this week.- Israel ready to stay in buffer zone -Assad was propped up by Russia -- where a senior Russian official told US media he has fled -- as well as Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.The rebels launched their offensive on November 27, the same day a ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hezbollah war, which saw Israel inflict staggering losses on Assad's Lebanese ally.Both Israel and Turkey, which backs some of the rebels who ousted Assad, have since carried out strikes inside Syria.Speaking on Thursday in Jordan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the importance of "not sparking any additional conflicts" after mentioning both Israeli and Turkish military activity in Syria.Washington hopes to ensure that Syria is not "used as a base for terrorism" and does not pose "a threat to its neighbours", added Blinken, whose country has hundreds of troops in Syria as part of a coalition against Islamic State group jihadists.In Ankara on Friday, Blinken told Turkey it was "imperative" to work against a resurgence of the Islamic State group in Syria.Hours after Assad's ouster, Israel sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that us supposed to separate Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, in a move the UN said violated a 1974 armistice.In the face of widespread international criticism over the move, Israel says it seized the buffer zone to defend itself.Israeli troops have been ordered to "prepare to remain" in the buffer zone throughout the winter, Defence Minister Israel Katz's office said on Friday.The Israeli military has also carried hundreds of air and naval strikes against Syrian military assets, targeting everything from chemical weapons stores to air defences to prevent them from falling into rebel hands.The fall of Assad has prompted some of the millions of Syrians who fled abroad to return home.On Friday morning, around 60 people were waiting at Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing, anxious to reach Syria.In the southern city of Sweida, the heartland of Syria's Druze minority where anti-government demonstrations have been held for more than a year, hundreds took to the streets on Friday, singing and clapping in jubiliation."Our joy is indescribable," said Haitham Hudeifa, 54. "Every province is celebrating this great victory."bur-dl/kir

  • Israel orders troops to 'prepare to remain' in Syria buffer zone through winter

    Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to "prepare to remain" throughout the winter in the UN-patrolled buffer zone that is supposed to separate Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

  • Battered corpses show the horrors of life and death under Syria’s Assad

    The 35 or so bodies were found in a military hospital in the Syrian capital of Damascus, days after the regime fell. They are believed to be among the last victims of Assad.

  • ‘Catastrophic’ Israeli barrage hits hospital in northern Gaza, doctor says

    The Israeli military battered Kamal Adwan Hospital on northern Gaza with heavy ground and aerial bombardment overnight Thursday into Friday, according to the director of the facility, who described it a “catastrophic” barrage.

  • Huge Crowd in Damascus for Funeral of Syrian Activist Found Dead in Sednaya Prison

    A huge crowd gathered in Damascus on Thursday, December 12, to participate in the funeral of a Syrian activist found dead in the Sednaya prison, according to news reports.Footage filmed by Syrian journalist Yamam Al Shaar shows a large crowd of people chanting, marching, and carrying a coffin wrapped in a Syrian flag.Al Shaar told Storyful that the coffin contained the remains of Mazen al-Hamada, the Syrian activist whose body was found in a prison following the fall of the Assad regime.Syrian photographer and director Sakir Khader wrote on X that Hamada became “one of the most important witnesses against Assad’s regime.”According to news reports, Hamada disappeared in early 2020 after returning to Syria from the Netherlands.His body was found in December 2024 inside the infamous Sednaya prison in Syria, according to news reports. Credit: Yamam Al Shaar via Storyful

  • Gazans mourn 33 Palestinians killed in attack that Israel says targeted militant leader

    GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) -Dozens of relatives wept and recited verses from the Koran, Islam's holy book, at a Gaza Strip hospital on Friday before burying some of the 33 Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on a post office where they had been sheltering. Medics said families displaced by the 14-month-old conflict had sought refuge in the postal facility in Nuseirat camp. Israel said it was targeting a senior Islamic Jihad member when it hit the structure.

  • Kallas urges 'no revenge' in Syria's transition of power, warns of sectarian violence

    The European Union's foreign policy chief said the first signals coming from Syria's rebel forces were 'good' but it was 'too early' to issue a verdict.View on euronews

  • Syrians cheer end of 50 years of Assad rule at first Friday prayers since government fell

    Exuberant Syrians observed the first Friday prayers since the ouster of President Bashar Assad, gathering in the capital's historic main mosque, its largest square and around the country to celebrate the end of half a century of authoritarian rule. The newly installed interim prime minister delivered the sermon at the Umayyad Mosque, declaring that a new era of “freedom, dignity and justice” was dawning for Syria. The gatherings illustrated the dramatic changes that have swept over Syria less than a week after insurgents marched into Damascus and toppled Assad.

  • UCLA police chief who was criticized over Gaza protest violence is out

    The police chief for the University of California at Los Angeles, who was criticized for the handling of a violent mob attack in May on pro-Palestinian activists encamped at UCLA, has left the campus police department. "December 10, 2024, was former UCLA Police Chief John Thomas' last day with UCLA and the UCLA Police Department," the department said on Thursday. UCLA Police Captain Scott Scheffler will serve as interim police chief until a permanent chief is selected, the department added.

  • Russia accelerates Syria exit as it suspends grain supply

    Russia has accelerated its military withdrawal from Syria and suspended a grain deal with the country over concerns about the rebel-led government.

  • Clip shows spectators at Libya motoring event, not pro-Imran Khan rally in Pakistan

    Supporters of Pakistan's jailed ex-leader Imran Khan defied a ban on public gatherings and marched to the capital Islamabad in late November, but circulating footage of a massive nighttime gathering does not show pro-Khan rallyists. The video in fact shows crowds attending a motoring event in Libya.

  • Dutch court rejects lawsuit from rights groups seeking to halt arms sales to Israel

    A Dutch court on Friday rejected a bid from human rights groups to block weapons exports to Israel and trading with the occupied territories, after finding there were sufficient checks already in place to comply with international law. The ten organizations told The Hague District Court last month that they thought the Netherlands was in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, drawn up following World War II, by continuing to sell weapons to Israel more than a year into the conflict. An Israeli airstrike on Thursday killed at least 25 Palestinians and wounded dozens more, Palestinian medics said.