Sharaa urges unity as Syria marks one year since Assad's fall

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A federal judge on Monday cleared the way for a Tufts University PhD student and pro-Palestinian activist Rumeysa Ozturk to work on campus after ordering the Trump administration to restore her status in a key database used to track foreign students.

Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston issued an injunction after concluding Ozturk was likely to succeed in proving US Immigration and Customs Enforcement unlawfully terminated her record in the database the same day that masked, plainclothes agents took her into custody in March.

That ICE-maintained database is called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System and is used to track foreign students who enter on visas. The termination of a student's record from that database prevents that person from being employed.

Ozturk in a statement said she was grateful for the ruling and that she hopes "that no one else experiences the injustices I have suffered."

The US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it struck infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in several areas in southern Lebanon, including what it described as a training compound used by the armed group's Radwan forces.

Military structures and a launch site belonging to Hezbollah were also hit in the attacks, the military added in a statement.

The strikes come less than a week after Israel and Lebanon both sent civilian envoys to a military committee monitoring their ceasefire, a step towards a months-old US demand that the two countries broaden talks in line with President Donald Trump's Middle East peace agenda.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024 that ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Since then, they have traded accusations over violations.

Lebanon's state news agency, NNA, reported that Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes targeting several places in the south.

The Palestinian Authority the amount of rubble in Gaza resulting from Israel's war exceeds 60 million tonnes, including four million tons of hazardous waste, citing data.

This information was presented by the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority on Monday during a meeting of the government's emergency operations room in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement from the Palestinian Prime Minister's office.

 Two Palestinians were killed and several others were injured on Monday evening by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip.

One was killed after succumbing to injuries sustained in an Israeli shelling of the al-Jarou family home west of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Another was killed by live fire fired from an Israeli drone in Halawa camp in the Jabalia al-Balad area, north of the Strip, the Palestinian Wafa agency said.

Several others were also injured in Israeli drone shelling targeting the tents of displaced people in the vicinity of the al-Omala Market in Gaza City.

 A set of tough US sanctions imposed on Syria under its former leader Bashar al-Assad could be lifted within weeks, after their repeal was included in a sweeping defense policy bill unveiled during the weekend and due for votes in Congress within days.

The Senate and House of Representatives included repeal of the so-called Caesar sanctions, a move seen as key to Syria's economic recovery, in a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a sweeping annual defense policy bill that was unveiled late on Sunday.

The provision in the 3,000-page defense bill repeals the 2019 Caesar Act and requires regular reports from the White House certifying that Syria's government is fighting Islamic State militants, upholding religious and ethnic minority rights within the country and not taking unilateral, unprovoked military action against its neighbors, including Israel.

The NDAA is expected to pass by the end of this year and be signed into law by President Donald Trump, whose fellow Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate and lead the committees that wrote the bill. Lifting the sanctions is considered a key to the success of Syria's new government. Several Saudi Arabian firms are planning billion-dollar investments in the country as part of Riyadh's drive to support the country's recovery. The U.S. sanctions have been a significant obstacle to Syria's economic revival.

Trump announced plans to lift all sanctions on Syria during a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in May, and his administration has suspended them temporarily. However, the Caesar sanctions, the most stringent restrictions, can only be removed permanently by an act of Congress.

The 2019 Caesar Act imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Syria targeting individuals, companies and institutions linked to Assad, who was the president of Syria from 2000 until his ouster in 2024 by rebel forces led by Sharaa. Syrian central bank Governor AbdulKader Husrieh told Reuters last week that the country's economy was growing faster than had been expected. He described the repeal of many U.S. sanctions as "a miracle."

Israeli forces on Monday evening stormed the Silwan neighbourhood in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

Th city's governorate  said that Israeli troops barged their way into the Aby Tayeh neighbourhood, a part of Silwan, and occupied the rooftops of several civilians’ houses, turning them into military posts.

Soldiers opened fire, but no casualties have been reported.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned on Monday an Israeli raid on the East Jerusalem compound of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.

“This compound remains United Nations premises and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference,” Guterres said in a statement.

“I urge Israel to immediately take all necessary steps to restore, preserve and uphold the inviolability of UNRWA premises and to refrain from taking any further action with regard to UNRWA premises.

Israeli forces stormed the Silwan neighbourhood in the occupied city of Jerusalem, opening fire and turning Palestinian homes into military posts, Wafa reports.

At the same time, Israeli forces also raided the Kafr Malek village, northeast of Ramallah, while soldiers deployed in several neighbourhoods.

No injuries, detentions or casualties were reported.

The European Union is studying options for strengthening Lebanon's Internal Security Forces to help free up the Lebanese army to focus on disarming the armed group Hezbollah, according to a document seen by Reuters on Monday.

The document, produced by the EU's diplomatic arm and circulated to the 27 member states, said it would pursue consultations with Lebanese authorities and that a scoping mission would take place in early 2026 on possible new assistance for the country's Internal Security Forces.

EU efforts could "focus on advice, training and capacity-building," the paper said, adding that the bloc would not take over the tasks of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), whose mandate is set to expire at the end of 2026, when it is expected to begin a year-long drawdown and withdrawal.

Instead, the EU "could contribute to the gradual transfer of internal security tasks" from the Lebanese Armed Forces to the Internal Security Forces, allowing the army to focus on its core defence tasks, the document said.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said "victory is only the start" as the nation marked one year since its liberation from the Assad regime. 

"Let's turn this victory into a responsibility manifested in hard work to take our country [to] the forefront among the leading countries worldwide," al-Sharaa said, according to a translation by Al Jazeera.

Al-Sharaa also hailed a "new story of bravery and triumph" for Syria.

Israeli shelling injured several people after the forces targeted a home in the al-Bassa area, west of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, whom they accused of throwing stones, an Israeli security source said, with the Palestinian health ministry confirming on Monday one of the deaths.

The Palestinian health ministry on Monday announced the death of 21-year-old Bara Qablan, "who succumbed to the wounds he sustained yesterday after being shot" by the army in Qalqilya governorate, where Azzun is located.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,022 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US' Donald Trump on 29 December to discuss the next steps of the Gaza ceasefire, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Monday.

"The Prime Minister will meet with President Trump on Monday, 29 December they will discuss the future steps and phases and the international stabilisation force of the ceasefire plan," government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said in an online briefing to reporters.

Costa Rica and Israel signed on Monday a free trade agreement, culminating a process that began in 2023, Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Trade said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump on 29 December, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Monday.

Conditions for medics and patients in Gaza remain as severe as ever despite a nearly two-month truce in the territory, the president of medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in an AFP interview.

"It's as hard as it's ever been," Javid Abdelmoneim said on Sunday of conditions for medical staff operating in Gaza's hospitals. He added that patients were being given "substandard care" and that insufficient aid was entering the Palestinian territory.

Lebanon's ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri has, in a social media post, called for Lebanon and Syria to create a "solid relationship based on shared interests, investment, and the transition to an artificial economy."

"This is a moment for the two peoples that must not be missed," he said, adding, "And for those who were the cause of the devastation, there is no place for them in the future."

The President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, has reiterated the EU's support for Syria.

"The EU stands with Syria, supporting a peaceful, Syrian-led process focused on justice, reconciliation and the rights of all Syrians," Costa wrote on X.

While the president noted that challenges remain, the EU is committed to political dialogue, urgent humanitarian support and Syria's recovery and reconstruction.

A year after the fall of the Assad regime, Syrians are taking steps toward a more stable and inclusive future.

The EU stands with Syria, supporting a peaceful, Syrian-led process focused on justice, reconciliation and the rights of all Syrians.

Challenges remain, but we are… pic.twitter.com/b3k5C59T6h

— António Costa (@eucopresident) December 8, 2025

Israeli forces detained three brothers after raiding a residential building.

The forces stormed the building, searching it, as well as confiscating loudspeakers used for the Islamic call to prayer, before detaining the siblings.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, said in a statement that "sizeable numbers" of Israeli forces, including police on motorcycles, trucks and forklifts, entered the compound in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah and cut communications to the compound.

"The unauthorised and forceful entry by Israeli security forces is an unacceptable violation of UNRWA's privileges and immunities as a UN agency," the agency said.

Israeli police claimed they entered for a "debt-collection procedure" spearheaded by Jerusalem's municipal government, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israeli forces prevented teachers from accessing schools in the Jordan Valley at the Hamra and Tayasir military checkpoints.

Over a hundred teachers were unable to cross the checkpoints on Monday, being left there for several hours, Azmi Balawneh, Director of Education in the Tubas and Northern Jordan Valley Governorate, said.

A year on from the fall of Bashar al-Assad, The New Arab tracks the key moments of the Syrian Revolution from March 2011 to December 2024:

Syrians marked the first anniversary of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and his iron-fisted rule on Monday, as the fractured nation struggles to find stability and recover after years of war.

Official celebrations are planned for the central Umayyad Square in Damascus, which has been packed with jubilant gatherings ahead of 8 December, and in other parts of the country. Military parades are also expected.

Israeli forces raided the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem.

The forces stormed the buildings, searched the premises and confiscated the mobile phones of the security guards.

President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Monday urged Syrians to work together to rebuild their country as they marked a year since the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Following dawn prayers at Damascus's famous Umayyad Mosque, Sharaa "praised the sacrifices and heroism of the fighters" who entered Damascus, a presidency statement said.

"The current phase requires the unification of efforts by all citizens to build a strong Syria, consolidate its stability, safeguard its sovereignty, and achieve a future befitting the sacrifices of its people," Sharaa said, wearing military garb as he did when he entered the capital a year ago.

Iran's judiciary said Monday that a dual national who was arrested during the recent 12-day war with Israel has been referred to trial on charges of allegedly spying for the enemy.

The judiciary's Mizan Online news agency did not identify the defendant but reported he was a "dual national who lives in a European country" and was arrested in Iran during the war in June, adding that he stood accused of "intelligence cooperation and espionage in the interest of the Zionist regime".

The United States, Israel and Qatar held a trilateral meeting in New York on Sunday, a senior White House official told AFP, months after Israeli jets conducted an airstrike in Doha, unsuccessfully targeting Hamas leadership.

The White House official confirmed that the meeting had taken place but did not provide any further details.

Two sources told US news outlet Axios it was "the highest level meeting between the countries since the deal to end the war in Gaza, for which Qatar served as a key mediator."

Axios also reported White House envoy Steve Witkoff hosted the meeting, with Mossad spy chief David Barnea representing Israel and an unnamed senior Qatari official in attendance.