BEIRUT: Syrian insurgents swept into the central city of Hama on Thursday and government forces withdrew, dealing another major blow to Syrian President Bashar Assad days after insurgents captured much of Aleppo, the country’s largest city.
The stunning weeklong offensive appeared likely to continue, with insurgents setting their sights on Homs, the country’s third-largest city. Homs, which is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hama, is the gate to the capital, Damascus, Assad’s seat of power and the coastal region that is a base of support for him.
The offensive is being led by the jihadi group HTS and an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Their sudden capture of Aleppo, an ancient business hub in the north, was a stunning prize for Assad’s opponents and reignited the Syrian civil war that had been largely a stalemate for the past few years.
Hama is one of the few cities that has remained mostly under government control in the conflict, which broke out in March 2011 following a popular uprising.
By sunset, dozens of jubilant fighters were seen shooting in the air in celebration in live footage from Hama’s Assi Square. The square was the scene of massive anti-government protests in the early days of the uprising in 2011, before security forces stormed it and got the city under control.
The Syrian army on Thursday said it redeployed from Hama and took positions outside the city to protect civilians.
Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, the de facto leader of the Syrian insurgency, announced in a video message that fighters had reached Hama in a “conquering that is not vengeful, but one of mercy and compassion.”
Al-Golani is the leader of the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which previously served as Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria and is considered a terrorist group by the United Nations as well as countries including the US The group that was known as the Nusra Front in the early years of Syria’s conflict changed its name and said in recent years that it cut ties with Al-Qaeda.
Al-Golani publicly toured Aleppo on Wednesday and spoke about Hama on Thursday from an undisclosed location in what appeared to be a video filmed with a mobile phone.
“This is a massive win (for the insurgents) and a strategic blow for the (Syrian) regime,” Dareen Khalifa, a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group and an expert on Syrian groups. She said the question is whether the opposition will be able to reach Homs and take over the area, which she said would be a game-changer.
“I think then we are going to have to pause and consider whether or not this (Assad government) can actually survive this war,” she added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country supports the opposition fighters, reiterated during a telephone call with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres that the Syrian government should urgently engage with its people “for a comprehensive political solution.”
Guterres said in a statement later that after 14 years of war in Syria, “it is high time” for all parties to engage seriously in talks to resolve the conflict in line with Security Council Resolution 2254.”
That resolution, which was adopted unanimously in December 2015, endorsed a road map to peace in Syria. The measure called for a Syrian-led political process, starting with the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with UN-supervised elections.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights — an opposition war monitor — said after fierce battles inside Hama, opposition gunmen now control the police headquarters in the city as well as the sprawling air base and the central prison from where hundreds of detainees were set free.
“The process leading to the fall of the regime has started,” the Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, told The Associated Press.
Aleppo’s takeover marked the first opposition attack on the city since 2016, when a brutal Russian air campaign retook it for Assad after militant forces had initially seized it. Military intervention by Russia, Iran and Iranian-allied Hezbollah, and other militant groups has allowed Assad to remain in power.
The latest flare-up in Syria’s long civil war comes as Assad’s main regional and international backers, Russia and Iran, are preoccupied with their own wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine. This time, there appeared to be little to no help from his allies.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the renewed fighting, which began with the surprise opposition offensive Nov. 27.
Hama is a major intersection in Syria that links that country’s center with the north as well as the east and west. It is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital. Hama province also borders the coastal province of Latakia, a main base of popular support for Assad.
The city is known for the 1982 massacre of Hama, one of the most notorious in the modern Middle East, when security forces under Assad’s late father, Hafez Assad, killed thousands to crush a Muslim Brotherhood uprising.
Syrian insurgents capture central city of Hama
https://arab.news/c7beb
Syrian insurgents capture central city of Hama

- Weeklong offensive appeared likely to continue, with insurgents setting sights on Homs
- Hama one of few cities that remained mostly under government control in conflict that broke out 2011
Trump says he would take hard stance on Gaza on Saturday

- “Beyond the emotional burden and difficult experiences he faced in captivity, he had to bear this horrible loss on the first day that he left from there,” his brother told Israeli Army Radio
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would take a hard stance on Saturday on Gaza, the Palestinian enclave for which he has proposed a US takeover and where a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants is in place.
Top commander with UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is injured by protesters

- “We are shocked by this outrageous attack on peacekeepers who have been serving to restore security and stability to south Lebanon during a difficult time,” it said
- The Lebanese army intervened to disperse the protesters
BEIRUT: The outgoing deputy commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon was injured Friday when protesters attacked a convoy taking peacekeepers to the Beirut airport, the force known as UNIFIL said in a statement.
“We are shocked by this outrageous attack on peacekeepers who have been serving to restore security and stability to south Lebanon during a difficult time,” it said.
The Lebanese army intervened to disperse the protesters. The army said in a statement that acting commander Maj. Gen. Hassan Odeh had contacted UNIFIL and promised to “work to arrest the citizens who attacked its members and bring them to justice.”
Demonstrators have been blocking the road to the airport and other roads in the capital to protest a decision by Lebanese authorities to revoke permission for a passenger plane from Iran to fly to Beirut on Thursday, leaving dozens of Lebanese passengers stranded.
The decision to ban the Iranian plane came after the Israeli army issued a statement claiming that Iran was smuggling cash to the militant group Hezbollah via civilian flights.
Lebanon’s civil aviation agency said Thursday that “additional security measures” meant some flights were temporarily rescheduled until Feb. 18 — the same day as a deadline for Israel and Hezbollah to fully implement their ceasefire agreement, including a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon.
Syria receives local currency printed in Russia before Assad’s fall

- Syria has been facing a liquidity crunch since Assad’s ouster, with Syria’s new central bank governor, Maysaa Sabreen, saying in January that she wanted to avoid printing Syrian pounds to guard against a surge in inflation
DAMASCUS: Syria’s central bank said a batch of Syrian currency had arrived at Damascus airport from Russia, where banknotes were printed under the rule of toppled President Bashar Assad, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported on Friday.
The central bank did not specify the amount of currency that had arrived, but a source with knowledge of the matter said it was in the “hundreds of billions of Syrian pounds,” equivalent to tens of millions of US dollars.
The source said the cash had been printed in Russia under Assad’s rule but had not been shipped to Syria by the time he was toppled in early December 2024.
Syria’s new leadership ordered the Russian company printing the currency to stop after Assad fled to Moscow, the source said, without providing details on what prompted Friday’s delivery of the previously printed cash.
BACKGROUND
A source said the cash had been printed in Russia under Bashar Assad’s rule but had not been shipped to Syria by the time he was toppled in early December 2024.
Syria has been facing a liquidity crunch since Assad’s ouster, with Syria’s new central bank governor, Maysaa Sabreen, saying in January that she wanted to avoid printing Syrian pounds to guard against a surge in inflation.
Syria’s pound has strengthened on the black market since the new leadership took over, helped by an influx of Syrians from abroad and an end to strict controls on trade in foreign currencies.
It traded 9,850 pounds to the US dollar on Thursday, according to exchange houses closed on Friday.
According to statements by the central bank, the official foreign exchange rate has stayed around 13,000 pounds to the US dollar.
But that has sparked concerns about liquidity in Syrian pounds.
The central bank only has foreign exchange reserves of around $200 million in cash, sources said, a considerable drop from the $18.5 billion that the International Monetary Fund estimated Syria had in 2010, a year before civil war erupted.
Russia is hoping to retain the use of naval and air bases in Syria under its new leaders.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with Syria’s President Ahmad Al-Sharaa on Wednesday, the first call between the two leaders since Assad’s ouster.
The Syrian presidency said Putin had invited Syria’s new foreign minister to visit Moscow.
Gazans return to ruined homes and severe water shortage

- Wells, pumps destroyed during the war
- Israel claims it has repaired some damage
BEIT LAHIYA: A ceasefire has enabled some Gazans to go back to their ruined homes without fear of Israeli airstrikes, but they have returned to a severe water crisis.
“We returned here and found no pumps, no wells. We did not find buildings or houses,” said 50-year-old farmer Bassel Rajab, a resident of the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
“We came and set up tents to shelter in, but there is no water. We don’t have water. We are suffering.”
Drinking, cooking, and washing are a luxury in Gaza, 16 months after the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Rajab said he sometimes walks 16 km, hoping to shower in Gaza City. Some Palestinians have dug wells in areas near the sea or rely on salty tap water from Gaza’s only aquifer, contaminated with seawater and sewage.
The Palestinian Water Authority estimates it will cost $2.7 billion to repair the water and sanitation sectors. Palestinians were already facing a severe water crisis as well as shortages of food, fuel, and medicine before the wells were destroyed in the war.
The Palestinian Water Authority said in a statement on its website that 208 out of 306 wells had been knocked out of service during the war, and a further 39 were partially out of service.
“There is a big shortage as the occupation (Israel) is preventing the entrance (into Gaza) of drills, excavators, machines, equipment, and generators that are needed to operate wells and to dig them,” said Beit Lahiya Mayor Alaa Al-Attar.
Attar said small companies were trying to fix the wells but had minimal equipment.
He added: “We are trying to establish new wells to mitigate the severity of the water crisis at this stage.”
COGAT, the branch of the Israeli military that manages humanitarian activities, has said it has coordinated water line repairs with international organizations, including one to the northern Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-Israel ceasefire has been in force since Jan. 19.
Gazans hoping to one day rebuild are squeezed by shortages of water, food, medicines, and fuel in Gaza, which was grappling with poverty and high unemployment even before the war erupted.
Youssef Kallab, 35, says he has to carry heavy water containers to the roof of his home using a rope. The municipality supplies water every three days.
“We do not have the strength to carry it up and down the stairs. We have children, we have elderly. They all want water,” Kallab said as he lifted water containers.
Twelve-year-old Mohammed Al-Khatib says he has to drag a cart for 3-4 km to get water.
Mohammed Nassar, a 47-year-old Palestinian supermarket owner, said he has to walk for miles to fill buckets from a water pipe despite health problems and cartilage damage.
“We turn a blind eye to the pain because we have to,” he said.
Tunisian startup takes on e-waste challenge

- The aim is to have “an environmental and social impact, but also an economic gain,” Cheriha said, adding that refurbished products can be up to 60 percent cheaper in a country where the average monthly salary is around 1,000 dinars ($310)
TUNIS: Engineer turned social entrepreneur Sabri Cheriha hunches over a washing machine at a small depot in a suburb of Tunisia’s capital, the unassuming home of a startup he launched to tackle the country’s mounting electronic waste problem.
Cheriha said there were about 8 million household appliances and 9 million cell phones in use across Tunisia, but once these devices break down or are replaced, “there’s no service to dispose of them properly.”
WeFix, the startup that won him a second-place regional social entrepreneur award last year, stands out by offering an “all-in-one service,” providing collection, repairs, and recycling to reduce e-waste.
The aim is to have “an environmental and social impact, but also an economic gain,” Cheriha said, adding that refurbished products can be up to 60 percent cheaper in a country where the average monthly salary is around 1,000 dinars ($310).
The startup “avoided” 20 tonnes of waste in 2023 and 80 tonnes last year, according to its founder, who anticipates handling another 120 tonnes this year.
“When we talk about ‘avoided waste,’ we’re also considering the resources needed to manufacture a single washing machine — 50 or 60 kg of finished product require over a tonne of raw materials,” he explained.