Middle East latest: Israel plans an extended occupation of Syrian buffer zone

By The
Associated Press

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops will occupy a buffer zone inside Syria for the foreseeable future. Israel’s recent capture of the buffer zone has sparked condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria for a land grab.

Netanyahu entered the buffer zone on Tuesday, making him the first sitting Israeli leader to set foot this far into Syria.

The Israeli advances in Syria come as its forces are still fighting the war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Qatar, Egypt and the United States have renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire deal.

Israeli bombardment and offensives in Gaza have killed more than 45,000 Palestinians over the past 14 months, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry’s tally does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but it says more than of half the dead were women and children.

Israel launched its campaign in retaliation for Hamas’ October 2023 attack on southern Israel in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others, around 100 of whom remain in captivity.

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Here's the latest:

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council has issued its first statement on Syria following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad's government, calling for a Syrian-led political process leading to elections and urging all nations to respect the country’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.

The council said Syrians should “peacefully, independently and democratically determine their own futures” based on key principles in a 2015 council resolution that sets out a roadmap to peace calling for a new constitution and U.N.-monitored elections. It said the process should be facilitated by the United Nations and backed efforts being taken by U.N. envoy Geir Pedersen.

The statement released Tuesday night makes no mention of the Dec. 8 ouster of Assad, who fled to close ally Russia, that was led by the militant opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

The Security Council reiterated support for the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNDOF monitoring the Israel-Syria border following the 1973 Mideast war. It stressed the obligation of all parties to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement that established a demilitarized buffer zone between the countries to abide by its terms and reduce tensions.

The council statement, approved by all 15 members, underscored the importance of combatting terrorism in Syria and preventing the Islamic State extremist group from re-establishing its stronghold in the country. IS militants seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, declaring a caliphate that ended in 2019 though IS pockets remain.

The Security Council also reiterated Syria’s obligation to respect human rights and international humanitarian law. This includes the right to seek justice and allow and facilitate humanitarian access to millions in need, the statement said.

BEIRUT — The main U.S.-backed force in Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), proposed Tuesday demilitarizing the city of Kobani and placing the redistribution of security forces under U.S. supervision.

“In affirmation of our firm commitment to achieving a comprehensive ceasefire throughout Syria, we announce our readiness to submit a proposal to establish a demilitarized zone in the city of Kobani, with the redistribution of security forces under American supervision and presence,” said SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi. “This initiative aims to address Turkey’s security concerns and ensure lasting stability in the region.”

The situation in the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani in northern Syria was tense on Tuesday, with residents expressing concern about their proximity to the frontlines and doubts over whether any agreement, if reached, will be properly implemented.

UNITED NATIONS — The new U.N. humanitarian chief says Syria’s rebel-led government is committed to “an ambitious scaling-up of vital humanitarian support” to help the 17 million Syrians in need of food and other aid.

The flow of aid into the war-torn country was interrupted earlier this month by the chaos surrounding the sudden overthrow of President Bashar Assad by jihadi-led rebels.

However, Tom Fletcher said the United Nations has received assurances that Syria’s new leaders will facilitate the movement of aid and humanitarian personnel from neighboring countries including Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq “for as long as humanitarian operations are required,” including across still-active conflict lines.

Speaking by video from Damascus on Tuesday, he told the U.N. Security Council that the flow of aid had begun to stabilize. Fletcher urged donors to support this year’s appeal for aid for Syria, which is only one-third funded.

UNITED NATIONS — When Israeli troops captured a demilitarized buffer zone along the border with Syria, they violated a 50-year-old ceasefire between the two countries, the United Nations warned Tuesday.

"The presence of the Israeli Defense Forces in the buffer zone is a violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The agreement “needs to be respected, and occupation is occupation — whether it lasts a week, a month or a year, it remains occupation.”

Israeli leaders announced plans earlier Tuesday to keep troops in the buffer zone for the foreseeable future.

There was no immediate comment on the Israeli plans from the main insurgent group that now controls most of Syria, called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or from other Arab states.

LATAKIA, Syria — Hundreds of former Syrian army soldiers lined up outside of a “reconciliation center” on Tuesday run by the country’s new rebel rulers in the coastal city of Latakia — a region seen as a stronghold of support for the government of ousted President Bashar Assad.

The soldiers registered their names, handed over their weapons if they had not already discarded them, and were photographed. In exchange, they received a “reconciliation ID” allowing them the right to move “freely and safely in Syria” for three months, said Mohammad Mustafa, a state security officer in the new interim government.

Elsewhere in Latakia, the country's main port was bustling after returning to work a few days earlier. At one end of the port, workers were repainting a ship after pounding off the rust. At the other end, day laborers milled around as a succession of trucks rolled in to pick up containers from the waiting stacks.

Ammar Bakour, head of customs at the port, said that under the country’s new administration, the port authorities are working on “initial amendments to reduce some of the obstacles that were imposed, such as the huge customs fees that were placed on the import of goods.”

The Syrian navy’s section of the port was pounded by Israeli airstrikes last week. Several destroyed naval vessels were still half-submerged in the water. Looters have ransacked the surrounding barracks. The civilian side of the port was not damaged, Bakour said.

BEIRUT — Qatar reopened its embassy in the Syrian capital on Tuesday, while France's embassy in Damascus raised its flag in a “symbolic gesture.”

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the embassy would resume operations on Tuesday, saying in a statement Sunday that Khalifa Al Sharif would be the chargé d’affaires.

The reopening marked a significant shift after nearly 13 years of severed diplomatic relations with the Syrian government of former President Bashar Assad, who was ousted last week by insurgents.

Although the French Embassy is still closed amid ongoing assessments of political and security conditions, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed to The Associated Press that the French flag was hoisted on Tuesday as a “symbolic gesture.”

“France stands alongside the Syrians in this period of transition,” the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said in a post on X.

This development followed the recent reopening of the Turkish Embassy in Damascus. Most foreign embassies shut down their operations in Syria during the civil war.

Qatar is a close ally of Turkey, which has long backed the rebels who now control Damascus, and the two countries are looking to protect their interests in Syria now that Assad is gone. France, the onetime colonial ruler of both Syria and Lebanon, had been one of the most outspoken Western critics of Assad.

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. envoy for Syria is urging a broad Syrian dialogue to chart a way forward following the ouster of President Bashar Assad, warning that stability won’t last unless the country is built on “credible and inclusive foundations.”

Assad was toppled by jihadi-led insurgent groups. Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities, and many of them fear the possibility that Sunni Islamist extremists will take over.

Speaking by video from Damascus, the U.N. envoy Geir Pedersen also warned the Security Council on Tuesday that the conflict hasn’t ended yet.

He pointed to armed opposition groups, reported Israeli military movements into Syrian territory and U.N.-observed Israeli soldiers in a border buffer zone, as well as U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led forces still controlling the northeast and some neighborhoods of Aleppo City.

Pedersen said Syria faces daunting needs from the 11-year war that has ravaged the economy, destroyed infrastructure, and left 90% of Syrians living in poverty. Syria was also crippled by years of international sanctions.

The third major challenge is political, he said, and it is essential to allow the Syrian people to determine their own future.

CAIRO — Hamas said Tuesday that the militant group believes it’s still possible to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement and a hostage exchange deal that would end Israel’s 14-months war in the enclave.

The group said in a statement that such deal is still possible if Israel stops adding “new conditions” to the ceasefire proposal. A spokesperson with Hamas said he has no details about the alleged new conditions being referred to.

Still, Hamas lauded the “serious and positive” meditation efforts by Egypt and Qatar to reach a ceasefire.

Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said on X Tuesday morning that Israel wants to have “security control” over Gaza the same way it does in the West Bank after it dismantles Hamas’ military and government capabilities.

Officials close to ceasefire negotiations previously said that Israel is interested in maintaining military presence along the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow buffer zone along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Israeli officials also want to separate south Gaza from the north by maintaining military presence in Netzarim corridor.

Hamas rejected those demands and said that deploying Israeli troops at those corridors would be deemed as a military occupation of Gaza.

IZRAA, Syria — The remains of over 30 bodies were uncovered on Monday in southern Syria, with the number of bodies expected to increase. The mass grave was discovered just a week after the fall of Bashar Assad’s government.

Forensic teams worked alongside rebel fighters who now control the country, carefully handling bags of human remains as an excavator rumbled in the background, while relatives stood by.

Relatives said they initially had hopes they would find their loved ones in a prison. “But we didn’t find anyone and it broke our hearts. They were burned alive here after being doused in fuel,” said Mohammad Ghazaleh at the mass grave site near Izraa, north of the city of Daraa.

Some of the people whose remains were uncovered were executed by “shooting in the head, in the eye, or by burning,” said Moussa Al-Zouebi, head of Izraa’s health directorate, who was at the site.

The new authorities in Damascus have set up a hotline for reporting missing persons and secret detention sites.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The international charity Doctors Without Borders said Monday that insecurity from Israeli military actions forced it to close an emergency room in an area of southern Gaza crowded with displaced Palestinians.

The charity, known by the French acronym MSF, said “bombing and heavy shootings” near the homes of 12 team members kept them trapped indoors along with their families, and more than 30 others were trapped in the group's office.

“Tanks were invading the area where we live. It was terrifying," said a MSF staff member in Muwasi, according to a post by the group on X. "We were lying on the ground in our homes for hours and it seemed like the gun fire was coming directly towards us.”

The fighting forced MSF to stop treating wounded people who were arriving at the health clinic in Muwasi, a sprawling tent city on Gaza’s coast that Israel designated a humanitarian safe zone but has repeatedly targeted.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s Central Bank says imports from Asia and the Pacific have not been significantly impacted by Yemen’s Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea.

A study issued by the bank found that imports to Israel in general have decreased since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. But it said the decrease was not noticeably larger for imports from the Asia-Pacific, which reach Israel via the Red Sea.

The Houthis say their attacks on shipping won’t stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. The attacks, which began in November 2023, caused a drop in cargo traffic through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, a vital route connecting Asia and Europe. Shipping companies responded by rerouting much of the traffic to the longer and more costly voyage around Africa. Egypt has reported a 24% drop in its revenues from the canal.

The report released last week, by researchers Haggayi Etkes of the Bank of Israel and Nitzan Feldman, found that the value of worldwide maritime imports fell by about 35% in January compared to the period before Houthi attacks started in November 2023. But it found that the rate had recovered by May as shipping adjusted to the new routes.

It said imports from Asia to Mediterranean countries including Greece, Turkey, Italy, France and Spain were harder hit than Israel by the slowdown. It said that could be because Israel imports less from Asia than those countries. It did not provide figures on the amount of the drop in trade for Israel.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey said developments in Syria should not divert attention away from what it described as the “genocide” being committed by Israel in Gaza.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement on Tuesday accused Israel of intensifying its attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including on school buildings and refugee camps and of using “starvation and infectious diseases as a weapon against the Palestinian people.”

“We reiterate our call for the necessary pressured to be exerted on Israel to ensure an immediate ceasefire agreement and uninterrupted humanitarian access to the region,” the ministry said.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's supreme leader said Israel is wrong to believe it can eradicate Hezbollah in Lebanon or that an “axis of resistance” of Tehran's allies in the region was finished.

State TV quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying during a recent meeting that “the Zionist regime, in its delusion, believes it is preparing itself through Syria to encircle and eradicate Hezbollah forces, but the one that will be eradicated is Israel.”

Khamenei also added that Israel and the United States “thought the issue of resistance was over. They are gravely mistaken.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran will use every opportunity to mobilize the regional and international community to stop what he called Israeli aggression against neighboring countries like Syria, Yemen and others.

He also said that the Syrian people are the only ones who can decide on their country's future after the fall of President Bashar Assad, a Tehran ally. “Naturally, the regional countries should assist in this process without any destructive interference or any form of pressure and threats against the political actors in Syria.”

Baghaei urged regional countries to put pressure on the U.N. Security Council to stop Israel’s occupation in Syria and said, “Ultimately, the entire occupied Golan Heights of Syria must be liberated.”

Israeli troops have seized a border buffer zone, sparking condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria for a land grab. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it, though the international community except for the U.S. regards it as occupied.

ANKARA, Turkey — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday an additional 1 billion euros for Turkey to help it support millions of Syrian refugees.

Speaking after a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital, von der Leyen said the funding would help with health care and education for refugees, as well as migration and border management, including voluntary returns of Syrian refugees. She said the funds could be adjusted to meet needs that may arise as the situation in Syria evolves.

Erdogan said both Turkey and the EU agree on the need to establish an inclusive government in Syria following the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

“We saw that we agree on the establishment of a participatory administration, especially on the preservation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Erdogan said.

He reiterated Turkey’s strong opposition to the presence in Syria of the Islamic State group or of Syrian Kurdish militia that Ankara considers to be terrorists.

“We will absolutely not allow these organizations to grow. There is no place for either the IS or the PKK and its derivatives in the future of our region,” Erdogan said, in reference to Syrian Kurdish groups that are linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, in Turkey.

Von der Leyen emphasized the need to stay alert against the “real” threat of the reemergence of IS in Syria. She acknowledged Turkey’s security concerns but said it was important to ensure that all minorities are safe, an apparent reference to Syrian Kurds.

The Turkish leader accused the international community of failing to provide adequate support to Syrians during the long civil war. “It is now possible to compensate for this. The way to do this is to support Syria’s construction and development efforts,” he said.

GENEVA — A U.N.-backed team investigating years of crimes in war-torn Syria says it has reached out to its new government and hopes to deploy to help gather and preserve evidence on the ground -- in hopes of bringing torturers, killers and other war criminals to justice one day.

Robert Petit, head of the international, impartial and independent mechanism on Syria, said its team has reason to believe that mass graves exist across Syria, but exhumation, DNA collection and tests for cause of death require “a lot of resources.”

He provided no further details about any such mass graves.

Petit said the government of former President Bashar Assad, who fled Syria on Dec. 8, didn’t cooperate with his team, and the change of authority offers a chance to establish the fates of “tens of thousands of people” who died and suffered under his rule.

“We are awaiting a response," from the rebels who now control Syria, he said. “And as soon as that response is forthcoming, we will deploy.”

A “monitoring cell” on the U.N.-backed team has collected recent images from social media, he said, while its sources on the ground have been able to collect new evidence and testimonies in the wake of Assad’s ouster.

The mechanism was created in 2016 by the U.N. General Assembly to collect, preserve, consolidate and analyze evidence of “serious crimes” committed in Syria since the civil war erupted in March 2011, Petit said. A U.N.-backed Commission of Inquiry is doing similar work.

BRUSSELS — The European Union plans to reopen its office in Damascus following “constructive first contacts” between an envoy and Syria’s new representatives, the bloc’s top diplomat said on Tuesday.

“We are ready to reopen our delegation, which is the European embassy, and we want this to be fully operational,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told EU lawmakers.

A diplomat from Beirut was dispatched to Damascus on Monday for talks with representatives of the new leadership and civil society in Syria.

Kallas described it as “a very important step” that would allow for “really constructive engagement and to have the input and information from the ground as well.”

After talks in Turkey with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU also wants to “enhance our engagement in early recovery, including basic services like electricity and water and infrastructure.”

LONDON — British diplomats have met the leader of the militant group that toppled Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

Photographs posted by the group on social media showed senior officials, including the U.K. special representative for Syria, Ann Snow, meeting Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Mohammed al-Golani, in Damascus on Monday.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed Monday that Britain had sent “a delegation of senior U.K. officials to Damascus this week for meetings with the new Syrian authorities and members of civil society groups.”

Britain, along with the U.S. and other countries, classifies HTS, a former al-Qaida affiliate, as a terrorist organization. U.K. officials have suggested they may reconsider that designation, but have not given a timeline. They say British officials can still talk to HST in the meantime.

In an interview with the Times of London newspaper, al-Sharaa urged the West to lift sanctions and said Israel should stop its strikes on Syria.

“We do not want any conflict whether with Israel or anyone else and we will not let Syria be used as a launchpad for attacks,” he was quoted as saying. “The Syrian people need a break, and the strikes must end and Israel has to pull back to its previous positions.”

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike in Gaza killed at least eight people from the same family, most of them women and children, Palestinian medics said Tuesday.

The strike late Monday hit a house in Gaza City’s central neighborhood of Daraj, according to the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency service.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of eight people including two women and four children from under the rubble, it said. Among the dead were a father and his three children, and the children’s grandmother, according to a casualty list obtained by The Associated Press.

The Israeli army said the airstrike targeted a Hamas militant in a “terrorist infrastructure site” and claimed there were secondary explosions indicating the presence of weapons. The army said it had seen reports of wounded civilians and was “reviewing the incident.” Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties, saying militants often operate in residential areas.

BERLIN — Germany says its diplomats have held talks in Syria with the leader of the rebel group that toppled Bashar Assad.

The Foreign Ministry in Berlin said a German delegation spoke in Damascus Tuesday with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmad al-Sharaa. It also met Zaid al-Attar, a HTS representative responsible for international contacts, and Nadir al-Qadari, the education minister in the interim government.

The ministry said the talks centered on the political transition process and “our expectations regarding the protection of minorities and women’s rights.”

The delegation also met representatives of religious communities and inspected the German Embassy building in Damascus, which has been closed since early 2012.

In an earlier statement before Tuesday’s meeting, the Foreign Ministry said that “we know where HTS comes from and know its origins in al-Qaida ideology.” It said that Germany is watching the activities of the group and the interim government closely, and will measure them by their actions. The U.S. already has said that its officials have been in direct contact with HTS.

Germany has been a leading destination for Syrian refugees over the past decade. Many Syrians in Germany are worried by some politicians’ eagerness for them to go home after Assad’s fall.

DAMASCUS, Syria — A U.S.-backed force in Syria says U.S.-led mediation efforts have failed to reach a permanent truce in Syria's north between the force's fighters and Turkish-backed gunmen.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said the failure to end the fighting in the northern areas of Manbij and Kobani were unsuccessful due to Turkey’s unwillingness to accept key points.

“Despite U.S. efforts to stop the war, Turkey and its mercenary militias have continued to escalate over the last period,” the SDF said.

The failure of the mediation is expected to lead to a new round of fighting between the SDF and the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army in the areas of Kobani.

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