DAMASCUS: Syrian pro-government forces now hold more than a fifth of the country’s strategic desert, the army said Saturday, after reaching the eastern border with Iraq for the first time since 2015.
The desert, known as “Badiya,” extends over some 90,000 sq km from central Syria to the borders with Iraq and Jordan to the east and southeast.
Since 2015, much of the Badiya has been held by Daesh, but Syria’s army has been chipping away at it for months.
On Friday, they reached the country’s eastern frontier with Iraq for the first time in two years.
“In cooperation with our allies, our units have captured a large number of locations and strategic positions in the Badiya, amounting to an area of 20,000 square kilometers,” the general command of the army said on Saturday.
“This important achievement represents a strategic shift in the fight against terrorism and a launching pad to broaden military operations in the Badiya and along the borders with Iraq,” said the statement, distributed on state media.
The army had thus completed the “first phase” of its Badiya operations, the statement said.
State news agency SANA had reported on Friday that army units set up positions northeast of the Al-Tanaf garrison, currently used by the US-led coalition bombing Daesh, to train Syrian fighters to fight the militants.
The coalition has established a “de-confliction” zone extending 55 km from the garrison, in which pro-regime and allied Russian forces are not supposed to operate.
The US-led alliance has in recent weeks conducted three strikes against pro-regime forces it deemed to be threatening Al-Tanaf.
On Thursday, a US jet shot down a pro-regime combat drone that fired what turned out to be a dud bomb at US-led coalition forces close to Al-Tanaf.
Syria’s army on Saturday accused the coalition of carrying out the bombing raids in an attempt to slow the regime’s fight against Daesh.
“We once again warn of the dangers of repeated attacks by the so-called international coalition and its attempts to obstruct the advances of the Syrian army and its allies,” the command said.
Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with protests against the rule of President Bashar Assad.
It has since evolved into a complex, multi-front war that has drawn in international powers and left more than 320,000 people dead.
Syria army says it holds fifth of key desert territory
Syria army says it holds fifth of key desert territory
Israeli FM urges Jews to move to Israel a week after Sydney attack
- “Today I call on Jews in England, Jews in France, Jews in Australia, Jews in Canada, Jews in Belgium: come to the Land of Israel! Come home!” Saar said
JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called on Sunday for Jews in Western countries to move to Israel to escape rising antisemitism, one week after 15 were shot dead at a Jewish event in Sydney.
“Jews have the right to live in safety everywhere. But we see and fully understand what is happening, and we have a certain historical experience. Today, Jews are being hunted across the world,” Saar said at a public candle lighting marking the last day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
“Today I call on Jews in England, Jews in France, Jews in Australia, Jews in Canada, Jews in Belgium: come to the Land of Israel! Come home!” Saar said at the ceremony, held with leaders of Jewish communities and organizations worldwide.
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli leaders have repeatedly denounced a surge in antisemitism in Western countries and accused their governments of failing to curb it.
Australian authorities have said the December 14 attack on a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach was inspired by the ideology of the Islamic State jihadist group.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Western governments to better protect their Jewish citizens.
“I demand that Western governments do what is necessary to fight antisemitism and provide the required safety and security for Jewish communities worldwide,” Netanyahu said in a video address.
In October, Saar accused British authorities of failing to take action to curb a “toxic wave of antisemitism” following an attack outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, in which two people were killed and four wounded.
According to Israel’s 1950 “Law of Return,” any Jewish person in the world is entitled to settle in Israel (a process known in Hebrew as aliyah, or “ascent“) and acquire Israeli citizenship. The law also applies to individuals who have at least one Jewish grandparent.zz
