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World Court to Rule Friday on Measures over Israel's Rafah Offensive

A Palestinian woman stands next to a damaged building after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 22, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
A Palestinian woman stands next to a damaged building after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 22, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
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World Court to Rule Friday on Measures over Israel's Rafah Offensive

A Palestinian woman stands next to a damaged building after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 22, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
A Palestinian woman stands next to a damaged building after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 22, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

The International Court of Justice will rule on Friday May 24 on South Africa's request to order a halt to Israel's Rafah offensive in Gaza, it said on Thursday.
In hearings last week South Africa had asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to order a halt to Israel's offensive in Gaza, and in Rafah in particular, to ensure the survival of the Palestinian people.
The demand for such an emergency measure is part of a larger case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide.
Israel has denounced South Africa's claim that it is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, saying it makes a mockery of the crime of genocide. The court has previously rejected Israel's demand to throw out the case and has ordered it to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians.

Israeli forces killed 35 Palestinians in aerial and ground bombardments across the Gaza Strip on Thursday and battled in close combat with Hamas-led militants in areas of Rafah, health officials and Hamas media said.
Israeli tanks advanced in Rafah's southeast, edged towards the city's western district of Yibna and continued to operate in three eastern suburbs, residents said.

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Damascus: Army to Rely on Volunteers, Discharge Tens of Thousands of Reservists

General Abdul Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim, Chief of the General Staff of the Syrian Army, visits forces operating in the countryside of Hama, Idlib and Deir Ez-Zor on the occasion of Eid al-Adha. (Ministry of Defense)
General Abdul Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim, Chief of the General Staff of the Syrian Army, visits forces operating in the countryside of Hama, Idlib and Deir Ez-Zor on the occasion of Eid al-Adha. (Ministry of Defense)
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Damascus: Army to Rely on Volunteers, Discharge Tens of Thousands of Reservists

General Abdul Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim, Chief of the General Staff of the Syrian Army, visits forces operating in the countryside of Hama, Idlib and Deir Ez-Zor on the occasion of Eid al-Adha. (Ministry of Defense)
General Abdul Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim, Chief of the General Staff of the Syrian Army, visits forces operating in the countryside of Hama, Idlib and Deir Ez-Zor on the occasion of Eid al-Adha. (Ministry of Defense)

The Syrian government said that it intends to rely on volunteers and discharge tens of thousands of reservists by the end of this year.
“Tens of thousands will be discharged by the end of the current year, and the same next year, while maintaining combat readiness and acting in the interests of the people,” Major General Ahmed Sleiman told Syrian state television late Wednesday.
Sources in Damascus told Asharq Al-Awsat that the military establishment began six months ago to implement a plan aimed at restructuring the army, under the direct supervision of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
As a result of the long war, the army has suffered from disorder, corruption and lack of human resources, the sources added.
According to Sleiman, discharging the reservists will take place based on a three-phase plan beginning next month and until the end of October 2025.
He added that reserve service will be reduced to a maximum of two years in the final phase.
Sleiman said the decision aimed to “achieve an advanced army that relies on voluntary enlistment, through a new volunteer contract,” according to which anyone who has completed five years of service and does not wish to continue will be discharged.
He also stressed that these measures are “an internal matter, and are not messages directed to any side, nor a preparation for war, but rather a necessary change.”
The Syrian army is composed of three main groups: soldiers who enlist voluntarily, those conscripted as part of compulsory military service, and reservists who have completed their service but can be summoned for further duty at any time.