BEIRUT: The Syrian military has mounted air strikes against Daesh militants and clashed with the militants in central Syria, the pro-Damascus Al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The flare-up in the area of Al-Sukhna, between Palymra and Deir Ezzor, on Monday points to the foothold the ultra-hardline Islamist group still has west of the Euphrates even as US-backed fighters are poised to seize its last enclave east of the river.
The Syrian air force mounted “a number of air strikes targeting Daesh movements in the eastern Badiya, specifically on one of the dirt roads leading to the town of Al-Sukhna and southeast of the town,” Al-Watan said, citing a military source.
Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been laying siege to Daesh’s last enclave east of the Euphrates, the village of Baghouz, for several weeks.
Some 200 of the militants surrendered in Baghouz after a ferocious battle at the weekend, but around 1,000 may still be holding out, a spokesman for the US-backed Syrian force battling them said on Monday.
While the group’s defeat at Baghouz would mark a milestone in the fight against Daesh, the group is expected to remain an insurgent threat inside Syria and Iraq.
The Syrian army recaptured Sukhna from Daesh in 2017 as it pushed the militants back across central Syria in an advance along the crucial desert highway from Palmyra to Deir Ezzor.
However, some of its fighters remained in the rugged desert areas around and have carried out attacks on army positions and convoys, a pro-Damascus source has said.
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Syrian army attacks Daesh targets in desert
Syrian army attacks Daesh targets in desert
- The Syrian air force mounted ‘a number of air strikes targeting Daesh movements in the eastern Badiya’
- The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have been laying siege to Daesh’s last enclave east of the Euphrates
MSF calls Israeli ban a ‘grave blow’ to Gaza aid
- Doctors Without Borders is among 37 foreign humanitarian organizations banned from the territory
- The group, which has hundreds of staff in Gaza, says: 'Denying medical assistance to civilians is unacceptable'
JERUSALEM: International charity Doctors Without Borders Friday condemned a “grave blow to humanitarian aid” after Israel revoked the status it needs to operate in Gaza for refusing to share Palestinian staff lists.
Israel on Thursday confirmed it had banned access to the Gaza Strip to 37 foreign humanitarian organizations for refusing to share lists of their Palestinian employees.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories, the majority of them in Gaza, said in a statement that “denying medical assistance to civilians is unacceptable under any circumstances.”
The medical organization argued that it had “legitimate concerns” over new Israeli requirements for foreign NGO registration, specifically the disclosing of personal information about Palestinian staff.
It pointed to the fact that 15 MSF staff had been “killed by Israeli forces,” and that access to any given territory should not be conditional on staff list disclosure.
“Demanding staff lists as a condition for access to territory is an outrageous overreach,” the charity said.
MSF also denounced “the absence of any clarity about how such sensitive data will be used, stored, or shared,” charging that Israeli forces “have killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of civilians” in Gaza during the course of the war.
It also charged that Israel had “manufactured shortages of basic necessities by blocking and delaying the entry of essential goods, including medical supplies.”
Israel controls and regulates all entry points into Gaza, which is surrounded by a wall that began to be built in 2005.
Felipe Ribero, MSF head of mission in the Palestinian territories, told AFP that all of its operations were still ongoing in Gaza.
“We are supposed to leave under 60 days, but we don’t know whether it will be three or 60 days” before Israeli authorities force MSF to leave, he said.
Prominent humanitarian organizations hit by the Israeli ban include the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), World Vision International and Oxfam, according to an Israeli ministry list.
The ban, which came into effect on December 31, 2025 at midnight, has triggered widespread international condemnation.
Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.
MSF says it currently supports one in five hospital beds in Gaza and assists one in three mothers in the territory, and urged the Israeli authorities to meet to discuss the ban.
Israel on Thursday confirmed it had banned access to the Gaza Strip to 37 foreign humanitarian organizations for refusing to share lists of their Palestinian employees.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories, the majority of them in Gaza, said in a statement that “denying medical assistance to civilians is unacceptable under any circumstances.”
The medical organization argued that it had “legitimate concerns” over new Israeli requirements for foreign NGO registration, specifically the disclosing of personal information about Palestinian staff.
It pointed to the fact that 15 MSF staff had been “killed by Israeli forces,” and that access to any given territory should not be conditional on staff list disclosure.
“Demanding staff lists as a condition for access to territory is an outrageous overreach,” the charity said.
MSF also denounced “the absence of any clarity about how such sensitive data will be used, stored, or shared,” charging that Israeli forces “have killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of civilians” in Gaza during the course of the war.
It also charged that Israel had “manufactured shortages of basic necessities by blocking and delaying the entry of essential goods, including medical supplies.”
Israel controls and regulates all entry points into Gaza, which is surrounded by a wall that began to be built in 2005.
Felipe Ribero, MSF head of mission in the Palestinian territories, told AFP that all of its operations were still ongoing in Gaza.
“We are supposed to leave under 60 days, but we don’t know whether it will be three or 60 days” before Israeli authorities force MSF to leave, he said.
Prominent humanitarian organizations hit by the Israeli ban include the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), World Vision International and Oxfam, according to an Israeli ministry list.
The ban, which came into effect on December 31, 2025 at midnight, has triggered widespread international condemnation.
Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.
MSF says it currently supports one in five hospital beds in Gaza and assists one in three mothers in the territory, and urged the Israeli authorities to meet to discuss the ban.
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