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Turkish Drone Hits Car in Syria's Kurdish-held Northeast, Casualties Reported

File photo: A burnt vehicle is pictured after, what medical and security sources say, was targeted by a Turkish drone strike in the village of Tal Shaeer, Syria June 20, 2023. (HAWARNEWS/Handout via Reuters)
File photo: A burnt vehicle is pictured after, what medical and security sources say, was targeted by a Turkish drone strike in the village of Tal Shaeer, Syria June 20, 2023. (HAWARNEWS/Handout via Reuters)
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Turkish Drone Hits Car in Syria's Kurdish-held Northeast, Casualties Reported

File photo: A burnt vehicle is pictured after, what medical and security sources say, was targeted by a Turkish drone strike in the village of Tal Shaeer, Syria June 20, 2023. (HAWARNEWS/Handout via Reuters)
File photo: A burnt vehicle is pictured after, what medical and security sources say, was targeted by a Turkish drone strike in the village of Tal Shaeer, Syria June 20, 2023. (HAWARNEWS/Handout via Reuters)

A Turkish drone strike in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeast on Wednesday killed the driver of a car and wounded a journalist traveling with him, according to the local media outlet for which they worked, a medical source and a security source.
Türkiye’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Thursday.
The media office of the Kurdish-led authorities in northeast Syria said late Wednesday that a Turkish drone "targeted a car carrying journalists". It did not mention casualties.
But the local Jin TV station said that the Turkish strike killed the outlet's hired driver and seriously injured a correspondent. One medical source and one security source in northeast Syria also said the driver was killed.
Türkiye is fiercely opposed to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and the Kurdish-led autonomous zone in Syria's northeast, accusing them of links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. YPG officials have said it operates separately from the PKK.
Türkiye has used ground artillery and unmanned drones to target Kurdish fighters. Local authorities in northeast Syria say the strikes have also targeted civilian officials.
That has caused tensions with the United States, which has allied with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the YPG, in the fight against ISIS in Syria.
Syria is ranked 175 out of 180 on Reporters Without Borders' press freedom index, which has documented more than 270 reporters killed since the country's conflict began in 2011.

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Arab World

Lebanon's Parliament Renews Army Chief's Term in First Session after Ceasefire

Lebanese policeman stand outside the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon October 17, 2017. (Reuters)
Lebanese policeman stand outside the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon October 17, 2017. (Reuters)
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Lebanon's Parliament Renews Army Chief's Term in First Session after Ceasefire

Lebanese policeman stand outside the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon October 17, 2017. (Reuters)
Lebanese policeman stand outside the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon October 17, 2017. (Reuters)

Lebanon's parliament Thursday renewed the term of army chief Joseph Aoun, who is seen as a potential presidential candidate in next year's vote.

The parliament has seldom met since Israel’s war with Hezbollah began 14 months ago, and has not convened to try to elect a president since June 2023, leaving the country in a political gridlock.

Thursday’s session is the first since a US-brokered ceasefire came into effect on Wednesday which has left the Lebanese military responsible for ensuring Hezbollah fighters leave the country's south and its facilities dismantled. The army is expected to receive international aid to help deploy troops to deploy in the south to exert full state control there, The AP reported.

Gen. Joseph Aoun is seen as a likely presidential candidate due to his close relationship with the international community and his hold on an institution that is seen as a rare point of unity in the country facing political and sectarian tensions. Lebanon has been without a president since Oct. 31, 2022.

It is unclear whether the decision to renew Aoun's term will impact his chances as Lebanon's next president.

Hezbollah and some of its key allies and their legislators have been skeptical of a Aoun presidency due to his close relationship with Washington.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who spearheaded negotiations with the United States to end the war, also called for parliament to convene on Jan. 9, 2025 to elect a president, the first attempt in almost 19 months.

French special envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, tasked by French President Emmanuel Macron with helping Lebanon break its political deadlock, observed the session before meeting with Berri and later caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Berri, in an address Wednesday, urged political parties to pick a president that will bring Lebanon's rival groups together, in a bid to keep the war-torn and financially battered country from further deteriorating amid fears of internal political tensions between Hezbollah and its political opponents following the war.

The militant group's opponents, who believe Hezbollah should be completely disarmed, are furious that it made the unilateral decision to go to war with Israel in solidarity with its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.