GAZA: Israel mounted air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the first since the end of 11 days of cross-border fighting last month, in response to incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian territory.
The flare-up, a first test for Israel’s new government, followed a march in East Jerusalem on Tuesday by Jewish nationalists that had drawn threats of action by Hamas, the ruling militant group in Gaza.
The Israeli military said its aircraft attacked Hamas armed compounds in Gaza City and the southern town of Khan Younis and was “ready for all scenarios, including renewed fighting in the face of continued terrorist acts emanating from Gaza.”
The strikes, the military said, came in response to the launching of the balloons, which the Israeli fire brigade reported caused 20 blazes in open fields in communities near the Gaza border.
A Hamas spokesman, confirming the Israeli attacks, said Palestinians would continue to pursue their “brave resistance and defend their rights and sacred sites” in Jerusalem.
Hours earlier, thousands of flag-waving Israelis congregated around the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City before heading to Judaism’s holy Western Wall, drawing Palestinian anger and condemnation.
Israel, which occupied East Jerusalem in a 1967 war and later annexed it in a move that has not won international recognition, regards the entire city as its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state that would include the West Bank and Gaza.
Prior to Tuesday’s march, Israel beefed up its deployment of the Iron Dome anti-missile system in anticipation of possible rocket attacks from Gaza.
But as the marchers began to disperse after nightfall in Jerusalem, there was no sign of rocket fire from the enclave.
The procession was originally scheduled for May 10 as part of “Jerusalem Day” festivities that celebrate Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem.
At the last minute, that march was diverted away from the Damascus Gate and the Old City’s Muslim Quarter, but the move was not enough to dissuade Hamas from firing rockets toward Jerusalem, attacks that set off last month’s round of fighting.
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Israel-Gaza violence erupts for first time since end of last month’s fighting
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Israel-Gaza violence erupts for first time since end of last month’s fighting
- A Hamas spokesman, confirming the Israeli attacks, said Palestinians would continue to pursue their “brave resistance and defend their rights and sacred sites” in Jerusalem
Dark times under Syria’s Assad hit Arab screens for Ramadan
Dark times under Syria’s Assad hit Arab screens for Ramadan
BEIRUT: A Syrian prison warden screams at a group of chained, crouching inmates in a harrowing scene from one of several Ramadan television series this year that tackle the era of former ruler Bashar Assad.
Talking about Syria’s prisons and the torture, enforced disappearances and executions that took place there was taboo during half a century of the Assad family’s iron-fisted rule, but the topics are now fertile ground for creative productions, though not without controversy.
An abandoned soap factory north of the Lebanese capital Beirut has been transformed into a replica of the basements and corridors of Syria’s Saydnaya prison, a facility synonymous with horror under Assad, for the series “Going Out to the Well.”
Crews were filming the last episodes this week as the Muslim holy month kicked off — primetime viewing in the Arab world, with channels and outlets furiously competing for eager audiences’ attention.
Director Mohammed Lutfi told AFP that “for Syrians, Saydnaya prison is a dark place, full of stories and tales.”
The series focuses on the 2008 prison riots in Saydnaya, “when inmates revolted against the soldiers and took control of the prison, and there were negotiations between them and Syrian intelligence services,” he said.
The military prison, one of Syria’s largest and which also held political prisoners, remains an open wound for thousands of families still looking for traces of their loved ones.
Tragedy into drama
The Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Saydnaya Prison estimates that some 30,000 people were thrown into the facility after the 2011 uprising against Assad began, but only 6,000 came out after he was toppled.
Amnesty International has described the prison outside Damascus, which was notorious for torture and enforced disappearances, as a “human slaughterhouse.”
In the opening scene of the series, the main character is seen in a tense exchange with his family before jumping into a deep well.
The symbolic scene in part captures the struggles of the detainees’ relatives. Many spent years going from one Assad-era security facility to another in search of their missing family members.
Syrian writer Samer Radwan said on Facebook that he finished writing the series several months before Assad’s fall.
Director Lutfi had previously told AFP that challenges including actors’ fears of the Assad authorities’ reaction had prevented filming until after his ouster.
Since then, productions have jumped on the chance to finally tackle issues related to his family’s brutal rule.
Another series titled “Caesar, no time, no place” presents testimonies and experiences based on true stories from inside Syria’s prisons during the civil war, which erupted in 2011.
But in a statement this week, the Caesar Families Association strongly rejected “transforming our tragedy into dramatic material to be shown on screen.”
“Justice is sought in court, not in film studios,” said the association, whose name refers to thousands of images smuggled out of Syria more than a decade ago showing bodies of people tortured and starved to death in the country’s prisons.
Refugees
Another series, “Governorate 15,” sees two Saydnaya inmates, one Lebanese and one Syrian, leave the facility after Assad’s fall and return to their families.
Producer Marwan Haddad said that the series tackles the period of “the Syrian presence in Lebanon” through the Lebanese character.
The show also addresses the Syria refugee crisis through the story of the Syrian character’s family, who fled to the struggling neighboring country to escape the civil war.
“For years we said we didn’t want Lebanon to be (Syria’s) 15th province” and each person fought it in their own way, said Lebanese screenwriter Carine Rizkallah.
Under Assad’s father Hafez, Syria’s army entered Lebanon in 1976 during the country’s civil war and only left in 2005 after dominating all aspects of Lebanese life for almost three decades.
It was also accused of numerous political assassinations.
Lebanese director Samir Habchy said that the actors represent their “own community’s problems” in the “Lebanese-Syrian series.”
The show could prove controversial because it includes real people who “are still alive and will see themselves” in the episodes, he added.
BEIRUT: A Syrian prison warden screams at a group of chained, crouching inmates in a harrowing scene from one of several Ramadan television series this year that tackle the era of former ruler Bashar Assad.
Talking about Syria’s prisons and the torture, enforced disappearances and executions that took place there was taboo during half a century of the Assad family’s iron-fisted rule, but the topics are now fertile ground for creative productions, though not without controversy.
An abandoned soap factory north of the Lebanese capital Beirut has been transformed into a replica of the basements and corridors of Syria’s Saydnaya prison, a facility synonymous with horror under Assad, for the series “Going Out to the Well.”
Crews were filming the last episodes this week as the Muslim holy month kicked off — primetime viewing in the Arab world, with channels and outlets furiously competing for eager audiences’ attention.
Director Mohammed Lutfi told AFP that “for Syrians, Saydnaya prison is a dark place, full of stories and tales.”
The series focuses on the 2008 prison riots in Saydnaya, “when inmates revolted against the soldiers and took control of the prison, and there were negotiations between them and Syrian intelligence services,” he said.
The military prison, one of Syria’s largest and which also held political prisoners, remains an open wound for thousands of families still looking for traces of their loved ones.
Tragedy into drama
The Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Saydnaya Prison estimates that some 30,000 people were thrown into the facility after the 2011 uprising against Assad began, but only 6,000 came out after he was toppled.
Amnesty International has described the prison outside Damascus, which was notorious for torture and enforced disappearances, as a “human slaughterhouse.”
In the opening scene of the series, the main character is seen in a tense exchange with his family before jumping into a deep well.
The symbolic scene in part captures the struggles of the detainees’ relatives. Many spent years going from one Assad-era security facility to another in search of their missing family members.
Syrian writer Samer Radwan said on Facebook that he finished writing the series several months before Assad’s fall.
Director Lutfi had previously told AFP that challenges including actors’ fears of the Assad authorities’ reaction had prevented filming until after his ouster.
Since then, productions have jumped on the chance to finally tackle issues related to his family’s brutal rule.
Another series titled “Caesar, no time, no place” presents testimonies and experiences based on true stories from inside Syria’s prisons during the civil war, which erupted in 2011.
But in a statement this week, the Caesar Families Association strongly rejected “transforming our tragedy into dramatic material to be shown on screen.”
“Justice is sought in court, not in film studios,” said the association, whose name refers to thousands of images smuggled out of Syria more than a decade ago showing bodies of people tortured and starved to death in the country’s prisons.
Refugees
Another series, “Governorate 15,” sees two Saydnaya inmates, one Lebanese and one Syrian, leave the facility after Assad’s fall and return to their families.
Producer Marwan Haddad said that the series tackles the period of “the Syrian presence in Lebanon” through the Lebanese character.
The show also addresses the Syria refugee crisis through the story of the Syrian character’s family, who fled to the struggling neighboring country to escape the civil war.
“For years we said we didn’t want Lebanon to be (Syria’s) 15th province” and each person fought it in their own way, said Lebanese screenwriter Carine Rizkallah.
Under Assad’s father Hafez, Syria’s army entered Lebanon in 1976 during the country’s civil war and only left in 2005 after dominating all aspects of Lebanese life for almost three decades.
It was also accused of numerous political assassinations.
Lebanese director Samir Habchy said that the actors represent their “own community’s problems” in the “Lebanese-Syrian series.”
The show could prove controversial because it includes real people who “are still alive and will see themselves” in the episodes, he added.
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