IDLIB, Syria: The main insurgent group in rebel-held northwest Syria blasted the US on Thursday over its criticism of a crackdown on protesters in areas outside government control.
The group said Washington should instead respect protesters at American universities who have demonstrated against the war in Gaza.
The statement by the US Embassy in Damascus came after months of protests against Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province by people opposed to the rule of the group that was once known as the Nusra Front, the Syria branch of Al-Qaeda. The group later changed its name several times and distanced itself from Al-Qaeda.
Anti-HTS sentiments had been rising for months following a wave of arrests by the group of senior officials within the organization.
Earlier this month, HTS members attacked protesters demanding the release of detainees with clubs and sharp objects outside a military court in Idlib city, injuring several people. Days later HTS fighters fired into the air and beat protesters with clubs, injuring some of them as protests intensified to demand the release of detainees and an end to the group’s rule.
The rebel-held region is home to more than 4 million people, many of them displaced during the conflict that broke out in March 2011 and has so far killed half a million people.
The conflict began with protests against President Bashar Assad’s government before turning into a deadly civil war that left large parts of the country in ruins.
The US Embassy in Damascus posted on the social media platform X on Wednesday that it supports “the rights of all Syrians to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including in Idlib.”
It added that “we deplore Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham’s regime-style intimidation and brutality against peaceful protesters as they call for justice, security, & respect for human rights.”
HTS responded in a statement saying that “liberated areas enjoy a safe environment for the expression of opinion” as long as they don’t aim to destabilize the region and spread chaos. It added that the US Embassy should back the Syrian people aiming to achieve “freedom and dignity against a criminal regime.”
“The rights of university students in the United States should be preserved and their demands in supporting the Palestinian people and Gaza should be respected,” HTS said in a statement.
Syria’s main insurgent group blasts the US Embassy over its criticism of crackdown on protesters
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Syria’s main insurgent group blasts the US Embassy over its criticism of crackdown on protesters
- The group said Washington should instead respect protesters at American universities who have demonstrated against the war in Gaza
- The statement by the US Embassy in Damascus came after months of protests against Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham
US lawmakers press Israel to probe strike on reporters in Lebanon
- “The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said
- Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured
WASHINGTON: Several Democratic lawmakers called Thursday for the Israeli and US governments to fully investigate a deadly 2023 attack by the Israeli military on journalists in southern Lebanon.
The October 13, 2023 airstrike killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six other reporters, including two from AFP — video journalist Dylan Collins and photographer Christina Assi, who lost her leg.
“We expect the Israeli government to conduct an investigation that meets the international standards and to hold accountable those people who did this,” Senator Peter Welch told a news conference, with Collins by his side.
The lawmaker from Collins’s home state of Vermont said he had been pushing for answers for two years, first from the administration of Democratic president Joe Biden and now from the Republican White House of Donald Trump.
The Israeli government has “stonewalled at every single turn,” Welch added.
“With the Israeli government, we have been extremely patient, and we have done everything we reasonably can to obtain answers and accountability,” he said.
“The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said, referring to the Israeli military, adding that it has told his office its investigation into the incident is closed.
Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured.
“But I’d also like them to put pressure on their greatest ally in the Middle East, the Israeli government, to bring the perpetrators to account,” he said, echoing the lawmakers who called the attack a “war crime.”
“We’re not letting it go,” Vermont congresswoman Becca Balint said. “It doesn’t matter how long they stonewall us.”
AFP conducted an independent investigation which concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area in Israel.
The findings were corroborated by other international probes, including investigations conducted by Reuters, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
Unlike Welch’s assertion Thursday that the Israeli probe was over, the IDF told AFP in October that “findings regarding the event have not yet been concluded.”
