DAMASCUS: An Israeli attack targeted an industrial zone and some residential buildings in the town of Qusayr in Homs province in central Syria on Tuesday, Syrian state TV reported.
The outlet quoted the Homs province’s health director as saying there were no injuries as a result of the attack.
Israel’s military later issued a statement on the incident, saying it attacked ammunition depots used by Hezbollah’s weapons unit in Syria.
“Hezbollah’s munitions unit is responsible for the storage of weapons in Lebanon and has recently expanded its activities into Syria in the area of Qusayr. This is a further example of Hezbollah establishing logistical infrastructure to transfer weapons from Syria to Lebanon through smuggling routes,” the statement said.
A previous Israeli attack on Qusayr on Thursday wounded a number of civilians and caused material damage, state media reported.
Israel’s military said in reference to that attack that it had hit weapons storage facilities and command centers used by militant group Hezbollah.
The Israeli military also said on Monday that it struck Hezbollah intelligence assets near the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Israel says it has been carrying out strikes to reduce the transfer of weapons from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israeli attack targets town in Syria’s Homs province, state TV reports
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Israeli attack targets town in Syria’s Homs province, state TV reports
- Israel’s military issued a statement on the incident, saying it attacked ammunition depots used by Hezbollah’s weapons unit in Syria
Ireland to ask ICJ to widen genocide definition over Gaza war
- Dublin ‘concerned’ that ‘narrow interpretation’ leading to ‘culture of impunity’
- Amnesty International, which accuses Israel of genocide, hails move as ‘glimmer of hope’
LONDON: The Irish government will ask the International Court of Justice to expand its definition of genocide over Israel’s “collective punishment” of civilians in the Gaza Strip, Sky News reported on Thursday.
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin said his government is “concerned” that a “narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide” is leading to a “culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized.”
He added that there has been “collective punishment of the Palestinian people through the intent and impact of military actions of Israel in Gaza,” and that the Irish government “prioritizes the protection of civilian life.”
Ireland is set to link the request to the case brought by South Africa to the ICJ under the UN Genocide Convention, as well as a case brought by Gambia against Myanmar.
“By legally intervening in South Africa’s case, Ireland will be asking the ICJ to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a state,” Martin said.
“Intervening in both cases demonstrates the consistency of Ireland’s approach to the interpretation and application of the Genocide Convention.”
The convention identifies the practice as the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” by killing, inflicting physical and mental harm, and imposing destructive conditions. Collective punishment is not currently part of the criteria.
Israel has also been accused of committing genocide by Amnesty International, which said the country has repeatedly attacked Palestinians, destroyed infrastructure and limited civilians’ access to food, water and medicine.
Amnesty’s executive director in Ireland, Stephen Bowen, called Dublin’s actions a “glimmer of hope,” adding: “Those like Ireland who have called for a ceasefire must join with other like-minded states to create this common platform to end the genocide.
“They must be resolute; they must be relentless; they must be loud, clear, visible. This is genocide. This must stop.”
G7 ready to support political transition in Syria – statement
- G7 leaders called on ‘all parties’ to ‘preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and national unity, and respect its independence and sovereignty’
ROME: Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies “stand ready to support a transition process that leads to credible, inclusive, and non-sectarian governance” in Syria, a statement said on Thursday.
The G7 said a political transition after the end of Bashar Assad’s 24-year authoritarian rule had to ensure “respect for the rule of law, universal human rights, including women’s rights, the protection of all Syrians, including religious and ethnic minorities, transparency and accountability.”
“The G7 will work with and fully support a future Syrian government that abides by those standards and results from that process,” the statement added.
The leaders also called on “all parties” to “preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and national unity, and respect its independence and sovereignty.”
Israeli claims about Hamas fighters in hospitals may be ‘grossly exaggerated’: ICC prosecutor
- Andrew Cayley: ‘I think we’ve been misled about that in the press. There are lies being spoken’
- ‘Exceptionally good satellite imagery’ shows ‘on a daily basis how these (hospitals) are destroyed’
LONDON: Israeli claims about Hamas using hospitals in the Gaza Strip as bases of operation may have been “grossly exaggerated,” an International Criminal Court prosecutor has said.
Speaking at an event in The Hague, Andrew Cayley, the ICC lawyer leading the investigation into alleged war crimes and breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza, said of the Israeli claims: “We need to be able to demonstrate very clearly what the level of military presence was, if at all, in these hospitals because I think we’ve been misled about that in the press.”
Israel regularly claimed that Hamas fighters were using hospitals as bases for cover and using patients and medics as human shields.
Cayley said the ICC was having “great difficulty assessing” the veracity of the claims “because clearly there are lies being spoken, but that’s really something we do need to get to the bottom of as a prosecution office.”
The former UK chief military prosecutor reports directly to Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, who last month secured arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Hamas figure Mohammed Deif.
At the event, held to discuss attacks on healthcare in Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine, Cayley said damage caused to Gaza’s health infrastructure would be examined as part of the investigation into the war.
“Looking at damage to health facilities, destruction of health facilities, we’ll be coming on to that probably later next year. We’re having to do this in stages simply because of the resources that we have,” he added.
“Airstrikes, sieges, raids on hospitals. Add to that lack of fuel, electricity, food, medicine. That’s why the (healthcare) system has collapsed.”
He said he and his team had interviewed medical personnel who had worked in Gaza, and the ICC had seen “exceptionally good satellite imagery” that showed “on a daily basis how these (hospitals) are destroyed.”
Cayley added that his team are awaiting even better imagery to find evidence “showing either the truth or the falsehood of the usage of these facilities as military combat facilities.”
The World Health Organization said it had evaluated 35 hospitals in Gaza and determined that only 17 of them were even partly operational. Five others were labeled “fully damaged” and 13 “non-functional.”
Blinken arrives in Jordan at start of Syria crisis tour
- Top US diplomat meets King Abdullah II in Aqaba, will travel onwards to Turkey
- Blinken has called for “inclusive” process to form Syria’s next government
AQABA, Jordan: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Jordan on Thursday at the start of a crisis tour to address the aftermath of the overthrow of Syrian president Bashar Assad, an AFP journalist on his plane said.
The outgoing top US diplomat headed straight to a meeting in the Red Sea city of Aqaba with King Abdullah II and will travel later in the day to Turkiye.
Blinken has called for an “inclusive” process to form Syria’s next government that includes protections for minorities after Islamist rebels ended the iron-fisted rule of Assad, a member of the Alawite community.
Announcing his trip, the State Department said he would also call for a Syria that is not “a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors” — a nod to the concerns of Turkiye and Israel, which has ramped up strikes on its historic adversary since Assad’s fall.
It is Blinken’s 12th visit to the Middle East since the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, which has responded with a relentless military campaign in Gaza.
His previous trips have ended in disappointment as he sought a ceasefire between US ally Israel and Hamas.
President Joe Biden’s administration leaves office on January 20.
President-elect Donald Trump has described Syria as “a mess” and said that the United States should not get involved, although he has not elaborated on US policy since Assad’s ouster.
Blinken meets Jordan’s King Abdullah in Syria diplomacy push
- The outgoing top US diplomat will meet Jordan’s King Abdullah II and the foreign minister Ayman Safadi
AQABA, Jordan: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Jordan’s King Abdullah in the Red Sea town of Aqaba on Thursday as he arrived in the region for talks on Syria following the overthrow of Bashar Assad.
Blinken, who will head to Turkiye later on Thursday, this week set out Washington’s hopes for Syria’s political transition, saying it would recognize a future Syrian government that amounts to a credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governing body.
Blinken will discuss US priorities of ensuring Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles are secured and destroyed, facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid and that the country is not used as a “base of terrorism,” the State Department said.
Militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which the United States calls a terrorist organization, is playing a key role in Damascus after it led the ouster of Assad, ending a 50-year family dynasty in a swift takeover after 13 years of civil war.
Blinken, the top diplomat in the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden, will also meet Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday and will discuss Israel’s conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon during his trip, the State Department said.