Israeli Air Strike in Gaza Kills Prominent Scientist Sufyan Tayeh

 Palestinians flee from east to west of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, during the ongoing Israeli bombardment, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. (AP)
Palestinians flee from east to west of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, during the ongoing Israeli bombardment, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. (AP)
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Israeli Air Strike in Gaza Kills Prominent Scientist Sufyan Tayeh

 Palestinians flee from east to west of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, during the ongoing Israeli bombardment, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. (AP)
Palestinians flee from east to west of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, during the ongoing Israeli bombardment, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. (AP)

An Israeli air strike targeting the town of Al-Faluja, 30 km (18 miles) northeast of Gaza City, has killed prominent Palestinian scientist Sufyan Tayeh and his family, the Palestinian Higher Education ministry announced on Saturday.

Tayeh, who was president of the Islamic University of Gaza, was a leading researcher in physics and applied mathematics.



Syrian Government, Kurdish Officials Discuss Merging Their Armed Forces

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
TT

Syrian Government, Kurdish Officials Discuss Merging Their Armed Forces

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

Government officials met Wednesday in the northeastern province of Hasakeh with the commander of the main Kurdish-led group in the country, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the US.

The new Syrian government wants to bring Syria’s breakaway Kurdish militias back under government control, but the details of their recent breakthrough agreement are still being worked out and negotiators will have overcome a decade of civil war.

Wednesday’s meeting comes a week after Syria’s interim government signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the SDF into the Syrian army.

The deal should be implemented by the end of the year. It would bring northeast Syria’s borders and lucrative oil fields under the central government’s control.