Israel hits Yemen ports, energy infrastructure after Houthi strike

Amnesty International projected the message “End Gaza genocide” in 24 languages spoken across the European Union onto the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, ahead of a meeting of the bloc's leaders.

Earlier this month, Amnesty released a report concluding that Israel’s devastating war on Gaza meets the legal definition of genocide.

Amnesty has urged EU leaders meeting on Thursday to stop all arms transfers to Israel, ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements, and ensure justice and accountability for Israeli crimes.

How do you say genocide in the EU's 24 languages?

As EU leaders meet in Brussels to discuss Israel's actions in #Gaza, we sent them a message they can't ignore #EndGazaGenocide 👇 pic.twitter.com/OCF6ffMgwJ

— Amnesty EU (@AmnestyEU) December 18, 2024

Israel on Thursday faced accusations of "acts of genocide" and exhibiting "signs of ethnic cleansing" in its military offensive in Gaza, charges Israeli authorities dismissed as "lies".

They are the latest in a series of accusations levelled against Israel -- and denied by the country -- during its 14-month war against Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

In a report focused on water, New York-based Human Rights Watch detailed what it called deliberate efforts by Israeli authorities "of a systematic nature" to deprive Gazans of water, which had "likely caused thousands of deaths... and will likely continue to cause deaths".

The United States said Thursday it disagreed with New York-based Human Rights Watch's accusation that Israel was carrying out "acts of genocide" in the Gaza Strip by damaging water infrastructure.

"When it comes to a determination of something like genocide, the legal standard is just incredibly high, and so the finding in this scenario we just disagree with," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

"That does not take away from the fact that there is a dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

Israeli forces have set up a position in an abandoned Syrian army base in the village of Maariyah and prevented local farmers from accessing their fields, residents said Thursday.

Associated Press journalists who visited the area saw the Israeli troops from a distance and watched a local resident waving a white flag approach to speak with them.

The village, on the western edge of Syria's southern Daraa province, is near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but outside of a buffer zone in the Golan established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel.

Abdel Raouf Issa, a resident of Maariyah, said the Israeli military had penetrated about 1 kilometer (two-thirds of a mile) into the village and “is demanding that we hand over all weapons to the occupation. We told them that we have no weapons at all.”

“They prevented us from farming. They prevented us from moving,” he said. “We call on the United Nations to remove the occupation as soon as possible.”

Kamal Saleh Damara, a local official in the village, said, “Thank God, we were happy that HTS came,” referring to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main insurgent group in the coalition that unseated Assad. “But then Israel came, and it is preventing people from coming and going and moving.”

The leaders of Turkey and Iran called on Thursday for unity in Syria at a summit of eight Muslim-majority countries after the ouster of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey historically backed Assad's opponents, while Iran supported his rule.

The gathering of the D-8 Organisation for Economic Cooperation, also known as the Developing-8, was being held against a backdrop of regional turmoil including the conflict in Gaza, a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon and unrest in Syria.

In a speech at the summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called for reconciliation in Syria and the restoration of the country's "territorial integrity and unity".

He also voiced hope for "the establishment of a Syria free of terrorism", where "all religious sects and ethnic groups live side by side in peace".

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also called for "the participation of all (Syrian) groups in the future government... as well as respect for different beliefs and religions".

He added that "for more than 14 months, the Middle East region, in particular Gaza and southern Lebanon, and now... Syria, has been the target of massive attacks" by Israel.

"It is our religious, legal and human duty to prevent further harm" to those suffering in the conflict zones, he said.

The United Nations General Assembly voted on Thursday to ask the International Court of Justice for an opinion on Israel's obligations to facilitate aid to Palestinians that is delivered by states and international groups including the U.N.

The Norwegian-drafted resolution was adopted by the 193-member body with 137 votes in favor. Israel, the United States and 10 other countries voted no, while 22 countries abstained.

The move came in response to Israel's decision to ban the operation of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA in the country from late January and other obstacles faced by other U.N. agencies in their aid work in Gaza over the past year.

The ICJ, known as the World Court, is the United Nations' highest court, and its advisory opinions carry legal and political weight although they are not binding. The Hague-based court has no enforcement powers if its opinions are ignored.

The resolution adopted on Thursday also expressed "grave concern about the dire humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" and "calls upon Israel to uphold and comply with its obligations not to impede the Palestinian people from exercising its right to self-determination."

Kurdish fighters who came to Syria from around the Middle East to support Syrian Kurdish forces will leave if a total ceasefire is reached in the conflict with Turkey in northern Syria, the commander of Syrian Kurdish-led forces told Reuters on Thursday.

The withdrawal of non-Syrian Kurdish fighters is one of the major demands of neighbouring Turkey, which deems Syria's dominant Kurdish groups a national security threat and is backing a new military campaign against them in the north.

Hostilities have escalated since Bashar al-Assad was toppled less than two weeks ago, with Turkey and Syrian armed groups it backs seizing the city of Manbij from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Dec. 9.

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi's comments mark the first time he has confirmed that non-Syrian Kurdish fighters, including members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), have come to Syria to support his forces during the Syrian conflict. Turkey, the United States, and other countries deem the PKK a terrorist group.

Ankara views the main Syrian Kurdish factions as an extension of the PKK. Abdi said that while PKK fighters had come to Syria, the SDF has no organisational ties to the group.

He credited the non-Syrian fighters with helping the U.S.-backed SDF battle Islamic State over the last decade. He said that while some of them had returned home over the years, others had stayed to help fight Islamic State, and that it would be time for them to go home if a ceasefire was reached.

"There is a different situation in Syria, we are now starting a political stage. Syrians must solve their problems themselves and establish a new administration," he said.

"We are now preparing, after a total ceasefire between us and the Turkish forces and their affiliated factions, to join this stage," he said.

The International Monetary Fund stands ready to assist Syria's reconstruction alongside the international community, but the situation on the ground remains fluid, IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said on Thursday.

Kozack told a regular press briefing that the IMF has had no meaningful contact with Syrian authorities since an economic consultation in 2009.

"It's too early to make an economic assessment. We are closely monitoring the situation, and we stand ready to support the international community's efforts to assist serious reconstruction as needed and when conditions allow," Kozack said.

Less than two weeks after Syrian rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime and seized control of the capital Damascus, Kozack said that the emerging Syrian authorities face many difficulties after 13 years of civil war.

"The Syrian people have suffered for far too long. We hope that the country can now begin to address its deep humanitarian, social and economic challenges, and to begin the rehabilitation of the Syrian economy," Kozack said.

Syria will remove all references to the former ruling Baath party from its educational system as of next week but will not otherwise change school curricula or restrict the rights of girls to learn, the country's new education minister said.

"Education is a red line for the Syrian people, more important than food and water," Nazir Mohammad al-Qadri said in an interview from his office in Damascus.

"The right to education is not limited to one specific gender. ... There may be more girls in our schools than boys," he said.

Qadri said religion - both Muslim and Christian - will continue to be taught as a subject in school.

Primary schools will remain mixed between boys and girls, while secondary education will stay largely segregated, he said.

Hundreds of Syrians protested Thursday in central Damascus calling for democracy and women's rights, more than a week after an Islamist-led rebel alliance ousted president Bashar al-Assad, AFP correspondents said.

"We want a democracy, not a religious state," men and women demonstrators chanted in central Damascus's Ummayad Square, as well as "Free, civil Syria" and "the Syrian people are one", while some protesters held signs including "No free nation without free women".

A sit-in in Umayyad square in the heart of #Damascus today demanding a secular, democratic & civil state.
A new civil group has called for it in response to the formation of the transitional government & 100s showed up!. #Syria pic.twitter.com/zbqAJmQFvK

— Zaina Erhaim 🪬 (@ZainaErhaim) December 19, 2024

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that there was a "flame of hope" in Syria following the fall of president Bashar al-Assad's regime but warned of significant challenges ahead.

"The Middle East is being consumed by many fires, but today, there is a flame of hope in Syria, and that flame must not be extinguished," he said.

Thousands of people demonstrated Thursday in northeast Syria in support of a US-backed, Kurdish-led force that for weeks has been pushing back against Turkey-backed fighters, an AFP correspondent said.

Demonstrators in Qamishli for the first time raised the three-starred flag adopted by Syria's new authorities. Others raised the flag of northeast Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, and of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

"Long live the SDF resistance," demonstrators chanted, also yelling, "The Syrian people are one" and "No to war in our region, no to Turkey's attack" on northeast Syria.

The SDF on Thursday accused Turkey and allied fighters of "not adhering to the (ceasefire) decision and continuing attacking" south of Kobane, encouraging residents to "take up arms against the (Turkish) occupation".

#القامشلي
الصـــفراء تجتــمع من اجـــل الوحـدة في هذه اللحــظات #قسد pic.twitter.com/DC6pgo2072

— Rojava news (@Rebero28182868) December 19, 2024

🔴 مظاهرة في القامشلي ترفض التهديدات والهجمات على مناطق شمال شرق سوريا وتدعو لوحدة الصف الكوردي
📸 رودي تعلو pic.twitter.com/Koq61ilkyB

— Ivan Hassib (@Ivan_Hassib) December 19, 2024

Israeli airstrikes on Syria are violations of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity and "must stop," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday.

"Syria's sovereignty, territorial unity, and integrity must be fully restored, and all acts of aggression must come to an immediate end," Guterres told reporters.

"Let me be clear: There should be no military forces in the area of separation other than U.N. peacekeepers – period. Israel and Syria must uphold the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement, which remains fully in force," Guterres said.

He said the United Nations is focused on facilitating an "inclusive, credible and peaceful" political transition in Syria and getting aid moving to combat one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world.

"This is a decisive moment – a moment of hope and history, but also one of great uncertainty," he said, adding that some players might try to exploit the situation for their own ends.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 10 Palestinians at two shelters housing displaced families and wounded several other people in eastern Gaza city, medics told Reuters on Thursday.

The Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has concluded its investigation into the Israeli airstrike on Gaza City's Al-Hassan Mosque on 16 November 2023, which killed over 15 Palestinians, including women and children.

The monitor stated that no military targets, such as armed individuals or military equipment, were present inside the mosque or its surrounding area at the time of the attack.

The incident occurred at approximately 4:45 am during dawn prayers, with Israeli aircraft dropping one or two heavy, high-explosive bombs on the mosque in Gaza's Al-Tuffah neighbourhood without prior warning.

The Israeli military has reported intercepting a "suspicious aerial target" over the Mediterranean Sea, stating that the interception occurred before the target could enter Israeli territory.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Houthi rebels on Thursday that they "will pay a heavy price" after Israel launched strikes in Yemen in response to a missile attack from the armed group.

"After Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are almost the last remaining arm of Iran's axis of evil," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"The Houthis are learning and will learn the hard way, that those who strike Israel will pay a very heavy price for it."

Russia has evacuated 4,000 Iranian fighters from Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged Israel to remove its forces from the "territory of Syria".

"We hope that Israel will at some point leave the territory of Syria. But now it is bringing in additional troops," Putin said at his annual end-of-year press conference.

Palestinian officials said that Israeli forces killed two people, one of them an 80-year-old woman, and injured several others during a raid near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday.

The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said Halima Abu Leil, 80, was fatally shot in the chest and leg during a raid in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus. The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed her death after transporting her to the hospital.

Later, the ministry announced the death of a second Palestinian, a 25-year-old man, whose passing was also confirmed by the Red Crescent.

At least four others were injured during the raid, including two young men aged 21 and 22, a 65-year-old man who suffered gunshot wounds, and another individual injured by bullet shrapnel.

#عاجل | اشتباكات في مخيم بلاطة شرق نابلس بعد تسلل وحدات خاصة والدفع بتعزيزات عسكرية باتجاه المخيم. pic.twitter.com/RmLsBhi7oE

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) December 19, 2024

At least 45,129 Palestinians have been killed and 107,338 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Four Palestinians were killed and three were severely wounded Thursday in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the Tulkarm camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry and media reports confirmed.

An Israeli airstrike killed at least five people in Gaza City's Al-Shati camp on Thursday, Alaraby TV said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had not been defeated in Syria and that Moscow had made proposals to the new rulers in Damascus to maintain Russia's military bases there.

In his first public comments on the subject, Putin said he had not yet met former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad since was overthrown and forced to flee to Moscow earlier this month, but that he planned to do so.

"I will tell you frankly, I have not yet seen President Assad since he came to Moscow. But I plan to do so. I will definitely talk to him," said Putin.

A group of EU immigration hawks held talks ahead of a summit of the bloc's leaders on Thursday - the second consecutive gathering of its kind - upping pressure on Brussels to boost migrant returns.

Denmark hosted the meeting, co-organised with Italy and the Netherlands, which was attended by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and the leaders of Cyprus, Greece, Malta, the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden and Hungary.

"If the situation in Syria is such that people can return, we will also work together on that," Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof told reporters in Brussels.

Iraq started to send Syrian soldiers of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad's army back to their homeland on Thursday, according to an Iraqi official body responsible for disseminating security information.

"The operation was carried out after coordination with the concerned Syrian authorities," Iraqi Security Media Cell added.

Around 2,000 Syrian troops took refuge across the border in Iraq during the advance of rebel forces that toppled Assad earlier this month.

The troops crossed the border into Iraq through Al-Qaim border town, the local mayor said on n December 7.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in the Gaza Strip in a report documenting the 14-month conflict published on Thursday.

The report documents 41 attacks on MSF staff including air strikes on health facilities and direct fire on humanitarian convoys.

The NGO said it was forced to evacuate hospitals and health centres on 17 occasions.

"We are seeing clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinians are forcibly displaced, trapped and bombed," said Christopher Lockyear, MSF's secretary general.

MSF's report, entitled "Gaza: Life in a Death Trap", said the siege of the Palestinian territory has drastically reduced humanitarian aid, with only 37 trucks authorised daily in October 2024, compared with 500 before the conflict.

The north of the territory, particularly the Jabalia camp, has been undergoing an "extremely violent" offensive since early October, MSF said.

Turkey will push ahead with its military preparations until Kurdish fighters "disarm", a defence ministry source said Thursday as the nation faces an ongoing threat along its border with northern Syria.

"Until the PKK/YPG terrorist organisation disarms and its foreign fighters leave Syria, our preparations and measures will continue within the scope of the fight against terrorism," the source said.

Egypt hosted the leaders of Turkey and Iran for a summit of eight Muslim-majority countries on Thursday, against a backdrop of regional turmoil including the conflict in Gaza and unrest in Syria.

The gathering of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, also known as the Developing-8, also includes Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia.

A special session on Gaza and Syria will be held, and will be attended by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

The summit will see Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian meeting for the first time since Syria's president Bashar al-Assad was ousted.

صورة تذكارية للقادة المشاركين في القمة الـ11 لمنظمة الدول الثماني النامية للتعاون الاقتصادي#القاهرة_الإخبارية #مصر pic.twitter.com/Zk8gSbY68M

— القاهرة الإخبارية - AlQahera News (@Alqaheranewstv) December 19, 2024

There is no ceasefire deal between Turkey and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria, contrary to a U.S. announcement on the issue, a Turkish defence ministry official said on Thursday.

Turkey believes that the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) forces will "liberate" areas occupied by the Kurdish PKK/YPG militia in northern Syria, the official also said.

The SDF is an ally in the U.S. coalition against Islamic State militants. It is spearheaded by the YPG, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose militant fighters have battled the Turkish state for 40 years.

Hussain Albukhaiti, described as a pro-Houthi journalist, says the group's rocket attacks on Israel will continue until the war on Gaza ends.

"We know that Yemeni attacks against Israel as well as the blockade in the Red Sea have resulted in the closure of the Eilat port, south of occupied Palestine, and it has also increased costs in Israel because now ships that are linked to Israel have to go around Africa," he told Al Jazeera.

"And Yemenis have said clearly that they will not stop these attacks unless the Israeli regime stops its attack against Gaza, lifts the blockade and withdraws from Gaza."

It comes after Israel launched a wave of bombings in Yemen, after it intercepted a Houthi missile.

Iran condemned on Thursday as a "flagrant violation" Israeli strikes on ports and energy sites in Yemen, where it supports the Houthi rebel group.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the attacks were "a flagrant violation of the principles and norms of international law and the UN Charter".

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Turkey and Lebanon would work together on Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad by Islamist-led rebels.

"A new era has now begun in Syria. We agree that we must act together as two important neighbors of Syria," Erdogan told a news conference, alongside Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

"The stability of Syria means the stability of the region," he said, adding that reconstruction of the war-ravaged country on their borders would be their priority.

To rebuild Syria, Erdogan said: "This is a critical period in which we need to act with unity, solidarity and mutual reconciliation."

Turkey and Lebanon are home to a large number of Syrian refugees.

Aziz kardeşim, Lübnan Başbakanı Sayın Necip Mikati ve heyetini ülkemizde misafir etmekten büyük memnuniyet duydum. 🇹🇷🇱🇧

Lübnan’ın istikrarını hedef alan her türlü teşebbüsün karşısındayız. Lübnan halkının birliğine ve iç barışına katkılarımızı sürdüreceğiz.… pic.twitter.com/cDnzdMQFCS

— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) December 18, 2024

Palestinian group Hamas said Thursday that Israel's strikes in Yemen after the Houthi rebels fired a missile at the country were a "dangerous development".

"We regard this escalation as a dangerous development and an extension of the aggression against our Palestinian people, Syria and the Arab region," Hamas said in a statement as Israel struck ports and energy infrastructure in Yemen after intercepting a missile attack by the Houthis.

Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by denying them clean water which it says legally amounts to acts of genocide and extermination.

"This policy, inflicted as part of a mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, means Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination, which is ongoing. This policy also amounts to an 'act of genocide' under the Genocide Convention of 1948," Human Rights Watch said in its report.