Pakistan condemns Israel's ongoing military actions against Syria
Israel has ramped up airstrikes over the past week against military and strategic sites in Damascus and southern Syria.
According to Syrian and regional monitoring groups, these strikes have resulted in civilian casualties and extensive infrastructure damage. The intensifying campaign has prompted rebukes from Syria's government and other UN Security Council members.
'Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad called for the immediate cessation of all violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity,' Radio Pakistan reported after he addressed a national statement during the UN Security Council briefing on the situation in Syria,
Violence in Syria pitting the Islamist-led government against members of the Druze community has put a spotlight on the small but influential minority.
Straddling Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Druze occupy a special niche in the region's complex politics.
Israel has cited protecting the Druze as a reason for attacking Syrian government forces this week.
Ahmad described the strikes as 'repeated violations' that 'must be unequivocally condemned,' warning that they threatened regional peace .
Israel bombed Syria frequently when President Bashar Assad was in power, seeking to roll back the influence established by Iran and Iran-backed groups that were deployed there to help him fight rebels.
Israel has painted the new Syrian government as a jihadist threat, saying it won't allow it to deploy forces into southern Syria. Israel has said it wants to avoid any hostile build-up at its border, whilst also vowing to protect the Druze minority.
Israeli troops have also seized Syrian territory adjoining the occupied Golan Heights since December.
Syria's interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Thursday said Israel was promoting division among Syrians, accusing it of seeking to 'dismantle the unity of our people,' saying it had 'consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime' in December.
With inputs from Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Rubio demands Syria prevents further attacks, hold accountable those behind Sweida clashes
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the US has 'heavily involved' over the past couple of days as clashes escalated in southern Syria. 'The US has remained heavily involved over the last three days with Israel, Jordan and authorities in Damascus on the horrifying & dangerous developments in southern Syria,' Rubio said on X. Sectarian clashes between armed Bedouin forces and the Druze in the community's Sweida heartland had drawn in Syria's government, Israel and other armed tribes. US-brokered negotiations have sought to avert further Israeli military intervention, with Syrian forces agreeing to withdraw from the region. Rubio added that 'If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria... they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS,' and other extremist groups from entering the area 'and carrying out massacres.' He called for the Syrian government to 'hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.' 'Furthermore the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately,' Rubio added. Once in control of large swathes of Syria, ISIS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 largely due to the efforts of Kurdish-led forces supported by an international coalition. Violence between the Druze and Bedouin groups that began on July 13 has left an estimated 940 dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. With AFP
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Syria interior ministry says Sweida clashes have ‘halted'
DAMASCUS: Tribal fighters have been evacuated from Syria's southern city of Sweida and violent clashes have ceased, the country's interior ministry said late Saturday. 'After intensive efforts by the Ministry of Interior to implement the ceasefire agreement, following the deployment of its forces in the northern and western regions of Sweida Governorate, the city of Sweida was evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city's neighborhoods were halted,' interior ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba said in a post on Telegram. In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the Syrian government's security forces to prevent 'jihadists from entering and 'carrying out massacres' in the conflict-stricken south of the country. 'If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria... they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent Daesh and any other violent terrorists from entering the area and carrying out massacres,' Rubio said in a statement posted to X. Sectarian clashes between armed Bedouin forces and the Druze in the community's Sweida heartland had drawn in Syria's Islamist-led government, Israel and other armed tribes. US-brokered negotiations have sought to avert further Israeli military intervention, with Syrian forces agreeing to withdraw from the region. 'The US has remained heavily involved over the last three days with Israel, Jordan and authorities in Damascus on the horrifying & dangerous developments in southern Syria,' Rubio said. He called for the Syrian government to 'hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.' 'Furthermore the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately,' Rubio added. Once in control of large swathes of Syria, the Daesh was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 largely due to the efforts of Kurdish-led forces supported by an international coalition. Violence between the Druze and Bedouin groups that began on July 13 has left an estimated 940 dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. The count included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 165 of whom were summarily executed, according to the Observatory. The monitor also included 312 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin in the toll.
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Rubio demands Syrian government forces intervene to prevent jihadist attacks
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday called on the Syrian government's security forces to prevent jihadists from entering and "carrying out massacres" in the conflict-stricken south of the country. "If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria... they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent Daesh and any other violent terrorists from entering the area and carrying out massacres," Rubio said in a statement posted to X.
