Syrian rebels enter Hama city as Amnesty accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza

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Gunfights erupted in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank on Thursday between militants and Palestinian security forces following the theft of vehicles belonging to the Palestinian Authority, according to AFP journalists in the city.

The intense exchanges of fire began around 9:30 PM (1930 GMT) and followed the deployment of members of the security forces around the Jenin refugee camp, which is adjacent to the city and a stronghold for armed groups in the territory, according to the journalist.

Witnesses reported that the Palestinian security forces set up roadblocks on routes leaving the camp.

Tensions were running high in Jenin earlier in the day after a group of armed men seized two vehicles belonging to the PA and paraded through the streets waving Islamic Jihad flags.

In a statement, General Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the security forces, said "a group of outlaws opened fire on the headquarters of the security services" and stole two vehicles.

He said the security forces would "recover the vehicles and hold accountable anyone who committed this act".

Tensions between the PA and armed groups appear to have been exacerbated by recent arrests by the security forces.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reportedly told Civil Administration staff, responsible for Israeli and Palestinian affairs in the occupied West Bank, that he aims to close the department as Israel moves to annex the territory, according to Israeli media.

“I hope we’ll have a great opportunity with the new US administration to create full normalisation [of Israeli rule] and bring government ministries in here,” Smotrich was quoted as saying.

He added that he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter.

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has renewed her call to end the transfer of weapons to Israel, citing Amnesty International’s findings.

“My colleagues can no longer deny that this is genocide,” Tlaib wrote on X. “We must follow our own US laws. We need an Arms Embargo now.

My colleagues can no longer deny that this is genocide. We must follow our own U.S. laws. We need an Arms Embargo now. https://t.co/V66f9czppH

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) December 5, 2024

Syrian Defence Minister Ali Abbas said Thursday the army was "still in the vicinity" of Hama, after the military said units had repositioned outside the central city.

"What happened today in the city of Hama is a temporary tactical measure, our forces are still in the vicinity of Hama," Abbas said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA.

Israeli Army Radio reports that at least 18,000 Palestinians have been forced to evacuate from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, according to The Times of Israel.

The report also notes that Israeli forces have detained approximately 100 individuals for questioning.

The Israeli army has issued multiple forced displacement orders throughout the enclave. Over the past day, Army Radio stated that combat in Beit Lahiya has decreased in intensity.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Thursday that his group and its backer Iran had allocated $77 million so far to Lebanese displaced by its war with Israel, with more to come.

"In November, Hezbollah decided to give a monetary gift -- a gift from the Iranian people and Hezbollah -- of between $300 and $400 for each family," out of more than 233,000 families who registered for its assistance, Qassem said.

"A total of $57 million has been paid," covering 172,000 families, or some 75 percent of those registered, while the rest will receive a total of $20 million, he added in a televised address.

Qassem thanked Iran for "the generous support", emphasising Hezbollah's commitment to shelter and reconstruction.

Syrian foreign minister Faisal Mekdad arrived in Iraq's capital Baghdad on Thursday, the Iraqi state news agency (INA) said.

There was no information in the report on the reason for the visit. 
 

The United States said Thursday it disagreed with a report by Amnesty International that accused Israel of "genocide" in Gaza and said its arms suppliers risked complicity.

"We disagree with the conclusions of such a report. We have said previously and continue to find that the allegations of genocide are unfounded," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said Thursday that Israel may have "an opportunity now" to secure a deal for the release of its hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Speaking in a video message from a meeting in Malta, he said: "We may have an opportunity now for a hostage deal. Israel is serious about reaching a hostage deal and I hope we can do this and do it as soon as possible."

Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged his country Thursday to stay out of the fighting in neighbouring Syria triggered by a lightning rebel offensive launched last week.

Sadr stressed in a post on X the "necessity of Iraq's government, people, parties, militias and security forces not getting involved in the Syrian issue", urging the government to "punish all those who violate... security".

Amnesty International's Israel branch distanced itself Thursday from the rights group's allegation that Israel was committing "genocide" in Gaza but said "serious crimes" were potentially taking place that needed investigation.

"While the Israeli section of Amnesty International does not accept the accusation that Israel is committing genocide, based on the information available to us, we are concerned that serious crimes are being committed in Gaza, that must be investigated," it said in a statement.

Hezbollah will stand beside the Syrian government amid an advance by "terrorist groups" trying to sow chaos in the country, the group's leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said in a pre-recorded speech shared on social media on Thursday.

Qassem did not give details of how it would support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but said the Iran-backed militant group would do what it could.

(Reuters)

UN chief Antonio Guterres said Thursday that the escalating conflict in Syria is the result of a "chronic collective failure" of diplomacy, as he called for an end to fighting.

"We are seeing the bitter fruits of a chronic collective failure of previous de-escalation arrangements to produce a genuine nationwide ceasefire or a serious political process to implement Security Council resolutions," the secretary-general told reporters.

There is an urgent need for immediate humanitarian access to all civilians in need in Syria and a return to a UN-facilitated political process to end the bloodshed, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday.

He urged "all those with influence to do their part for the long-suffering people" of Syria and said all parties are obligated to protect civilians.

(Reuters)

Syrian rebel chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, head of Syrian group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, sent an official message Thursday using his real name for the first time, after his fighters seized the strategic city of Hama.

"We congratulate the people of Hama for their victory," said the message, bearing an image of Jolani and signed "Commander Ahmed al-Sharaa".

The message was posted on the Telegram channel of rebel factions' leadership, created just days after the offensive began on 27 November.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called on Syria leader Bashar al-Assad to "urgently" find a "political solution" to his country's civil war.

"The Syrian regime must commit urgently with its people in favour of a global political solution," Erdogan said in a call with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, according to a statement released by the presidency.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a call on Thursday that a new phase "being managed calmly" has been reached in the Syrian conflict, his office said.

Syrian rebels captured the key city of Hama on Thursday, bringing the insurgents a major victory after a lightning advance across northern Syria and dealing a new blow to President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.

Erdogan told Guterres that the Syrian government needed to rapidly engage with its people to achieve a political solution, and added Turkey was working to de-escalate tensions, protect civilians and pave the way for a political solution, his office said in a statement on X.

(Reuters)

Recent fighting in Syria's northwest has displaced more than 280,000 people, the United Nations World Food Programme said in a post on X on Thursday.

(Reuters)

🔴Crisis upon crisis in #Syria:

The recent escalation in the northwest has displaced 280,000+ people, adding to years of suffering.

WFP is scaling up to provide food wherever families are, but we urgently need support to meet soaring needs.

— WFP in the Middle East & North Africa (@WFP_MENA) December 5, 2024

Syria rebel chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, whose fighters have launched a lightning offensive, on Thursday urged Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani of neighbouring Iraq to distance his country from the war.

"We urge him (Sudani) to distance Iraq from entering the new furnace of what is happening in Syria," Jolani said in a video message posted on the opposition faction leadership's Telegram channel, after a powerful Iran-aligned group in Iraq called on Baghdad to send troops in support of Syria's government.

Syrian air defences shot down two "enemy" drones over Damascus on Thursday, state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.

"A short time ago, our air defences confronted enemy drone aircraft in the skies over Damascus," the statement from the military source said, adding that "two aircraft were shot down, without any human or material losses."

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has reported that Israel is withholding the bodies of 46 Palestinians killed in Israeli prisons since the Gaza war began.

In a statement on Telegram, the group said a total of 57 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since 7 October last year, with their names announced by Israeli authorities.

Communications were stopped in northern Syria's Aleppo due to rebel attacks, Syrian state media said on Thursday. 

China's embassy sent an urgent notice on Thursday advising its citizens to leave Syria "as soon as possible", as Islamist-led rebel forces continue their offensive.

"Currently, the situation in northwestern Syria is intensifying, and the overall security situation is deteriorating further. The Chinese Embassy in Syria advises Chinese citizens in the country to make use of available commercial flights to return home or leave the country as soon as possible," the embassy said in a message on its WeChat account.

The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, has apologised for publicly criticising a bill that would protect soldiers who disclose classified information to the prime minister.

Hagari, in a press conference on Wednesday, said the legal amendment considered by lawmakers was "dangerous for the army and the country's security".

The bill, which passed a preliminary reading in Israel's parliament, aims to prevent the prosecution of soldiers or defence officials who disclose classified documents to the prime minister or the defence minister, even if they do so without authorisation.

A Swedish court on Thursday jailed three men for planting explosives outside an Israeli military technology firm in Gothenburg in June, the ruling said.

Two insulated flasks packed with plastic explosives were found outside the offices of Elbit Systems, known for its unmanned aerial systems, in Sweden's second-largest city on June 4.

The national bomb squad removed the objects and no damage or injuries were reported.

Two men aged 24 and 17 were convicted of placing the bombs outside the building. The first defendant was jailed for seven years while the latter, who was 16 at the time, was ordered to spend one year and two months in juvenile care.

The pair "together and intentionally handled two explosive devices containing 3.3 kilos (7.3 pounds) of explosives, without permission. It occurred at the place and time the prosecutor claimed," the Gothenburg district court wrote in its ruling.

The third suspect, aged 29, was found guilty of storing and handling the explosives in his home, but not of transporting them to his two accomplices as the prosecutor had claimed.

He was sentenced to four years and seven months behind bars.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani said there would be "no revenge" after his Islamist group on Thursday seized the Syrian city of Hama, where government forces crushed an uprising in 1982.

"I ask God almighty that it be a conquest with no revenge," Jolani said in a video message on the Telegram channel of the rebel factions' joint operations room, after announcing the fighters had entered Hama "to cleanse the wound that has endured in Syria for 40 years".

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, urged Iraq's prime minister in a video statement on Thursday not to allow the Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi group to intervene in Syria, warning of increased regional tensions.

(Reuters)

Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghany said in a post on X on Thursday that hundreds of inmates from Hama's central prison have been freed.

قواتنا دخلت سجن حماة المركزي، وحررت مئات الأسرى المظلومين منه.#إدارة_العمليات_العسكرية #ردع_العدوان

— حسن عبد الغني (@hasanabdalgany) December 5, 2024

(Reuters)

Assad's forces acknowledged on Thursday it had lost control of the strategic central city of Hama for the first time since war broke out in 2011, amid a lighting rebel offensive.

"Over the past few hours, with the intensification of confrontations between our soldiers and terrorist groups... these groups were able to breach a number of axes in the city and entered it," a statement from the army said, adding that "military units stationed there have redeployed" outside the city.

A monitor of Syria's war said rebel fighters entered the strategic central city of Hama on Thursday, part of a lightning offensive that has seen them take swathes of territory from government forces.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied factions "entered the city of Hama from several sides", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, reporting "street fighting against regime forces in a number of areas".

Qatar has resumed its role as a mediator in efforts to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war following a brief suspension, a source with knowledge of the talks said Thursday.

The Gulf emirate, along with the United States and Egypt, had been involved in months of unsuccessful negotiations for a Gaza truce and capive release after nearly 14 months of Isreal's war.

In November, Doha announced it had put its mediation on hold, saying it would resume when Hamas and Israel showed "willingness and seriousness".

The source, speaking to AFP on Thursday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of talks, said that Qatar has now "returned to mediation" without elaborating on any recent meetings between officials.

The Palestinian Authority welcomed what it called an evidence-based Amnesty International report on Thursday accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"Amnesty is a credible global organisation that bases its reports on evidence. It has clarified that it possesses evidence of Israel committing genocide," Ahmad al-Deek, adviser to the Palestinian foreign minister, told AFP.

Cyprus has taken delivery of an Israeli air defence system, local media reported on Thursday, as the east Mediterranean island taps new markets to upgrade its defence capabilities after the loss of key supplier Russia.

TV station Sigma said the first deliveries were made on Tuesday. Cypriot officials declined to comment on the specifics of the report.

"The only thing I can say is we will, and are doing everything necessary to bolster the deterrence force of Cyprus, not only because we are a country under occupation, but an EU member state in a region of particular geo-strategic importance," Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters on Thursday.

Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974, with the internationally recognised government controlling the south and a breakaway heavily militarised Turkish Cypriot state in the north.

(Reuters)

Over 44,580 Palestinians have been killed and 105,739 injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

(Reuters)

Russia is assessing the situation in Syria and is in constant contact with the Syrian authorities, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

The extent of Russian assistance to Damascus will depend on this assessment, Peskov added.

"At the moment, we are closely monitoring what is happening in Syria. We are in constant dialogue with our Syrian friends, with Damascus," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"Depending on the assessment of the situation, we will be able to talk about the degree of assistance that is needed by the Syrian authorities to cope with the militants and eliminate this threat."

(Reuters)

Turkey has closely cooperated and coordinated with regional counterparts since clashes began again in northern Syria last week, a spokesman for the defence ministry said on Thursday, adding stabilising measures were being taken.

Syrian rebels staged their biggest advance against President Bashar al-Assad's forces in years over the past week and are starting a push into Hama city.

In Ankara, the spokesman repeated the Turkish position that the conflict was triggered by domestic dynamics and unresolved issues in Syria, adding Turkey remained committed to the agreements it reached.

"All necessary measures are being taken by our troops for stability in the region to continue. Since the beginning of the process, close cooperation and coordination with counterparts in the region is continuing," the spokesman said.

(Reuters)

Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least six civilians. 

Wafa reports three Palestinians were killed and others were injured after Israeli airstrikes targeted a house in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Three bodies were also recovered in the Al-Janina neighbourhood, east of Rafah city.

Israel dismissed as "entirely false" an Amnesty International report on Thursday accusing it of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"The deplorable and fanatical organisation Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies," Israel's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The statement said that it was instead the 7 October attack that was "genocidal".

"Israel is defending itself... acting fully in accordance with international law", it said.

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Israel of "committing genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza since the start of its war last year, saying its new report was a "wake-up call" for the international community.

The London-based rights organisation said its findings were based on "dehumanising and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials", satellite images documenting devastation, fieldwork and ground reports from Gazans.

"Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them," Amnesty chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement.

"Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now," she added.