DAMASCUS, Syria: A former Syrian lawmaker allegedly felled by Israeli sniper fire was laid to rest Monday in an official funeral attended by hundreds of people near Damascus.
Midhat Saleh, a well-known figure in Syria, was fatally shot Saturday in Ein el-Tineh, a village along the Israeli border in the Golan Heights where he ran a Syrian government office. Syria said he was killed by Israeli sniper fire. Israeli military and other officials declined to comment on the charge.
Israeli media, however, said Saleh had been assisting the Iranian military presence against Israel. If the Syrian claims are confirmed, it would mark the first time that Israeli snipers are known to have killed someone identified as an Iranian-linked target across the border.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed the area. Most of the world does not recognize the annexation, though the Trump administration declared the territory to be part of Israel.
On Monday, Saleh’s coffin, wrapped in a Syrian flag, was brought in an ambulance from the Mamdouh Abaza hospital in Qunetira to Jaramana, on the outskirts of Damascus, for burial at a Druze cemetery. Hundreds of people attended, in addition to senior officials and Druze clerics.
Saleh was born in Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan, and was jailed several times by Israel, most recently for 12 years until 1997. He later moved to Syria, was elected to parliament in 1998 and served as an adviser to the government on the Golan issue.
Saleh’s son, Golan, a 17-year-old student, said that his father has always told him that the territory would return to Syria.
“I am proud that my father was martyred,” he said.
Syria buries former lawmaker shot near Israeli border
https://arab.news/zfq65
Syria buries former lawmaker shot near Israeli border
- Midhat Saleh, a well-known figure in Syria, was fatally shot Saturday at the Israeli border in the Golan Heights where he ran a government office
- Syria said he was killed by Israeli sniper fire
Arab League chief ‘deeply concerned’ over Yemen tensions
- Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit calls for solidarity among Yemen’s supporters, condemns southern separatist’s military operations
LONDON: The head of the Arab League on Tuesday said he is deeply concerned over escalating tensions in Yemen and called for solidarity among countries supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
His comments came after the military coalition that backs Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council carried out a “limited airstrike” targeting weapons and military vehicles it said were destined for southern separatist forces.
The shipments arrived in the Yemeni port of Mukalla on board two vessels from Fujairah in the UAE.
Saudi Arabia, a key member of the military coalition, criticized the UAE over its support for the separatists, known as the Southern Transitional Council.
The Kingdom said that any threat to its national security was a red line and that the UAE should follow the Yemeni government’s request to remove its forces from the country within 24 hours.
The UAE later announced it would withdraw its remaining counter-terrorism units from Yemen.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit expressed deep concern over the “serious and rapidly unfolding developments in Yemen.”
He called for solidarity among all countries supporting the Yemeni government and to exercise restraint.
He also condemned any military action aimed at “forcibly entrenching a secessionist reality on the ground, in a manner that threatens Yemen’s territorial unity.”
The STC, which wants a separate state in southern Yemen, seized large areas of territory in Hadramout and Al-Mahara provinces in recent weeks.
The STC is meant to be part of a coalition with the Yemeni government opposed to Houthi militants that control the north of the country.
Aboul Gheit said the southern Yemen issue must be addressed through dialogue.
The measures taken by Saudi Arabia and the military coalition were “vital to ensuring peace, security, and the unity of the Yemeni people under their internationally recognized leadership,” said Muslim World League Secretary-General Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa.
“Supporting illegitimate practices only deepens internal divisions and serves those who do not have Yemen’s best interests at heart,” he said.
