DAMASCUS: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa met the new head of the US military’s Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper in Damascus on Friday, his office and CENTCOM said.
The United States has for years maintained a troop presence at a series of bases in Syria as part of efforts against the Islamic State jihadist group, which overran swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014.
“The meeting addressed prospects for cooperation in the political and military fields in the service of shared interests and consolidating the foundations of security and stability in Syria and the region,” the Syrian presidency said in a statement.
The meeting, which was joined by US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack, “reflected the positive atmosphere and shared interest in strengthening the strategic partnership and expanding channels of communication between Damascus and Washington,” it added.
A CENTCOM statement said Cooper and Barrack thanked Sharaa for “his support to counter Daesh in Syria,” using another acronym for the jihadist group.
“Eliminating the Daesh threat in Syria will reduce the risk of an Daesh attack on the US homeland while working toward President (Donald) Trump’s vision of a prosperous Middle East and a stable Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors,” CENTCOM said.
They also “offered praise to Syria for supporting the recovery of US citizens inside the country,” it added.
Several US citizens went missing or were killed during Syria’s civil war which erupted in 2011.
In April, the Pentagon announced it would roughly halve the number of troops it has in the country to fewer than 1,000 in the coming months as part of a “consolidation” of US forces.
Barrack said in June that the military would eventually close all but one of its bases in Syria.
The United States periodically targets the jihadist group’s remnants with raids or strikes to prevent its resurgence.
Cooper was appointed in early August to lead CENTCOM, the US military command responsible for the Middle East.
Earlier this month, he was in Israel on his first visit to the US ally since taking up post, the Israeli military said.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December, despite opening an unprecedented dialogue with the Islamist transitional authorities.
Syrian president meets new chief of US CENTCOM
https://arab.news/rfhct
Syrian president meets new chief of US CENTCOM
Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on Palestinian refugee camp
- NNA said “an Israeli drone” targeted a neighborhood of the Ain Al-Helweh camp
- It reported that one person was killed and an unspecified number wounded
SIDON, Lebanon: An Israeli strike on Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp killed one person on Friday, state media reported, with the Israeli army saying it had targeted the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The official National News Agency said “an Israeli drone” targeted a neighborhood of the Ain Al-Helweh camp, which is located on the outskirts of the southern city of Sidon.
It reported that one person was killed and an unspecified number wounded.
An AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from a building in the densely populated camp as ambulances headed to the scene.
The Israeli army said in a statement that its forces “struck a Hamas command center from which terrorists operated.”
Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with the militant group Hezbollah.
Israel has also struck targets belonging to Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally Hamas, including in a raid on Ain Al-Helweh last November that killed 13 people.
The UN rights office had said 11 children were killed in that strike, which Israel said targeted a Hamas training compound, though the group denied it had military installations in Palestinian camps in Lebanon.
In October 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas at the outset of the Gaza war, triggering months of exchanges that culminated in two months of all-out war in Lebanon.
On Sunday, Lebanon said an Israeli strike near the Syrian border in the country’s east killed four people, as Israel said it targeted operatives from Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.
