Latest news with #SyrianConflict
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel and Syria agree to ceasefire, US ambassador to Turkey says
Syria and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said on Friday. The deal was 'embraced' by Turkey, Jordan and other neighboring countries, the ambassador, who also serves as the US special envoy to Syria, said in a post on X. 'We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbors,' Barrack said. Neither party immediately commented on the reported deal. The ceasefire comes after Israel launched airstrikes at Syria on Wednesday, which Israel said were aimed at protecting the Druze, an Arab religious minority. Clashes between pro-government forces and the Druze have killed scores of people since the fall of Syria's longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Israel's airstrikes on Damascus targeted several government buildings, with authorities saying at least three people were killed. One video from a Syrian television channel showed the Ministry of Defense building being hit live on air, forcing the anchor to take cover. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday night local time that the Syrian army started withdrawing from Suwayda, where clashes erupted over the weekend between Druze militia and Bedouin tribes, prompting government forces to intervene. Al-Sharaa's government also announced a new ceasefire with the Druze factions. In that same televised address, al-Sharaa accused Israel of seeking to divide the Syrian people and turn Syria 'into a battlefield of chaos.' The US has voiced concern over the increased tensions and has made a recent diplomatic push to resolve the conflict. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday to discuss the matter, according to a readout of the call from the Turkish foreign ministry. Rubio previously said on Wednesday night that all parties to the conflict had agreed to 'specific steps' to resolve the situation. 'This will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made and this is what we fully expect them to do,' Rubio said on X. Amos Yadlin, a former major general and chief of Israeli Military Intelligence, said Friday on CNN's 'The Brief with Jim Sciutto' that that involvement of all the players – including Turkey, Israel, and Jordan – is 'making a lot of sense.' 'The question is how the people on the ground will behave, whether the retaliations of the two communities will stop,' Yadlin said. This story has been updated with additional developments. CNN's Katrina Samaan contributed to this report.
CBS News
18 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Israel, Syrian leaders agree to ceasefire, U.S. envoy says
The leaders of Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire following recent Israeli airstrikes on the Syrian capital, a U.S. envoy said Friday, as he urged all sides in war-torn Syria to lay down arms. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa "have agreed to a ceasefire" also backed by neighbors Turkey and Jordan, said Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey who is also point man on Syria, in a social media post. "We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbors," Barrack wrote on X. Israel on Wednesday bombed locations in the Syrian capital Damascus, including on the country's defense ministry. Israel said it was defending the Druze community after deadly clashes between the minority, which has a presence in Israel, and Bedouins in the southern Syrian province of Sweida. Some diplomats and analysts see Israel as maximizing the damage it can to weaken its historic adversary Syria, after Sharaa's Islamist forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, an Iranian ally, in December. The United States on Wednesday announced a deal in which Syrian government forces pulled back from Sweida. The State Department later said that the U.S. did not support the airstrikes by Israel, its ally, which relies on U.S. diplomatic and military support.
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Syrian government forces preparing to return to province amid renewed clashes
Syrian government forces are preparing to return to a southern region after renewed clashes broke out between Druze armed groups and members of Bedouin clans, leaving tens of thousands of people displaced in a worsening humanitarian crisis. The government forces had withdrawn from the province of Sweida following a ceasefire agreement announced on Wednesday that halted much of the violence that plagued the area earlier in the week, but which ultimately did not stop the fighting. Advertisement Officials were negotiating with Druze factions on an agreement to re-enter the area to impose stability and protect state institutions, according to two Syrian officials. They said an agreement was reached, but later said the deployment was delayed, without giving an explanation. Tens of thousands of people remained displaced by the violence and the United Nations has been unable to bring in much-needed humanitarian and medical aid because of ongoing clashes. Clashes began on Sunday between Druze militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes. Government forces intervened, nominally to restore order, but ended up taking the Bedouins' side against the Druze. Israel later in the week launched air strikes against Syrian forces in defence of the Druze. Bedouin fighters gather in front of a burning shop (Ghaith Alsayed/AP) The fighting killed hundreds of people over four days, with allegations that government-affiliated fighters executed Druze civilians and looted and burned homes. Advertisement Israel launched dozens of air strikes on convoys of government fighters and even struck the Syrian Defence Ministry headquarters in central Damascus. The Druze form a substantial community in Israel, where they are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the Israeli military. A truce mediated by the US, Turkey and Arab countries was announced on Wednesday. Under the accord, Druze factions and clerics were to maintain the internal security in Sweida as government forces pulled out, Syria's interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa said on Thursday. By late Thursday clashes were flaring again between the Druze and Bedouin groups in parts of Sweida. State media reported Druze militias carried out revenge attacks against Bedouin communities, leading to a new wave of displacement. The governor of the neighbouring province of Daraa said in a statement that more than 1,000 families had been displaced to the area from Sweida as a result of 'attacks on Bedouin tribes by outlaw groups'. Advertisement The UN's migration agency said on Friday that nearly 80,000 people had been displaced altogether since clashes started on Sunday. It also noted that essential services, including water and electricity, have collapsed in Sweida, telecommunications systems are widely disrupted, and health facilities in Sweida and Daraa are under severe strain. Bedouin groups and supporters arrived on Friday from other areas of Syria to join the fight. On the outskirts of Sweida, groups of them gathered in front of buildings that had been set ablaze. In Israel, members of the Druze community had called for intervention to protect the Druze in Syria. But elsewhere in the region, Druze leaders have rejected Israeli intervention. Advertisement The spiritual leader of the Druze community in Lebanon, Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna, said on Friday at a gathering of Druze officials in Beirut that sectarian clashes in Syria 'give an excuse for Israeli intervention and for blowing up the situation in the region'. 'We do not accept to request protection from Israel, which we believe is harmful to our history and identity,' he said.
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Syrian state news agency reports Israeli strikes near Sweida
Syrian state media reported Israeli strikes near the Syrian Druze-majority city of Sweida on Thursday, the first attack on the area after Syrian government forces withdrew following clashes with local fighters. Syria's state-run SANA said 'Israeli occupation aircraft carried out a raid on the outskirts of Sweida city.' Syrian forces had withdrawn from Sweida earlier on Thursday after deadly clashes with Druze fighters accompanied by Israeli strikes and diplomatic pressure to retreat from the area.
France 24
2 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
Damascus on the back foot: what next for Syria after Sharaa's Sweida setback?
43:24 From the show The world couldn't believe it last December, when Syria's Assad regime, after decades of iron-fisted rule, suddenly fell like a house of cards. The speed of that collapse exposed how the state had been hollowed out on the quiet. Eight months on, how weak does Syria remain?The government forces of Ahmed al-Sharaa pulling out from the Druze-majority city of Sweida after bombardment from neighboring Israel and pressure from a United States that's only just recently offered Damascus a lifeline through the lifting of years-old crippling sanctions. What just happened in Sweida, what with reports of summary executions of civilians and how other minorities like the Kurds and the Alawites will view the bloodbath, and why the climb down by Damascus? Looming large, Israel with its own Druze community and its own agenda for perennial foes Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. Is war the only way for a nation that's occupied the Golan Heights since 1967 and which for now enjoys a clear military supremacy over its neighbors? Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.
