Protests Continue in Northern Syria against Normalization Efforts between Ankara, Damascushttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5063150-protests-continue-northern-syria-against-normalization-efforts-between-ankara
Protests Continue in Northern Syria against Normalization Efforts between Ankara, Damascus
A protest against normalization between Ankara and Damascus is seen in Afrin. (X platform)
Protests continued on Friday against normalization efforts between Ankara and Damascus in Turkish-held regions in northern Syria.
A huge protest was held in Afrin against the normalization with demands that military decision-making in the anti-regime revolution be removed from Ankara’s control.
Rallies had broken out overnight on Thursday in areas held by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group in the Idlib countryside.
The demonstrators protested against attacks by pro-Türkiye military police against rallies that were held in the Peace Spring Operation areas in Afrin.
The police had fired live rounds and tear gas to disperse the protesters in Afrin.
The people had taken to the streets on Thursday to demand the release of 18 demonstrators who were arrested during protests against normalization.
Protests also broke out in regions of Türkiye's Operation Olive Branch. They demanded an end to Ankara’s control of the revolt and opening new fronts to combat the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Türkiye is keen implementing an agreement reached with Russia to open trade routes with Syria, which has also angered protesters because it is seen as another move to normalize ties with Damascus.
On Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan declared that discussions are ongoing over normalization.
Türkiye is ready for a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Assad, he added.
The time and place of the meeting have not been set yet.
He made his remarks shortly after a round of discussions held between Turkish officials with an American delegation in Türkiye.
The talks focused on reaching a political solution to the crisis in Syria in line with United Nations Security Council resolution 2254.
Syrians Mourn a Former Chess Champion as Her Death Is Confirmed 13 Years Laterhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5280185-syrians-mourn-former-chess-champion-her-death-confirmed-13-years-later
People attend a protest in memory of dentist and former chess champion Rania al-Abbasi, her husband, and their children, after National Commission for Missing Persons (NCMP) reports confirmed that her children were killed in Syrian government detention facilities during the rule of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, at the Faculty of Dental Medicine, in Damascus, Syria, June 1, 2026. (Reuters)
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Syrians Mourn a Former Chess Champion as Her Death Is Confirmed 13 Years Later
People attend a protest in memory of dentist and former chess champion Rania al-Abbasi, her husband, and their children, after National Commission for Missing Persons (NCMP) reports confirmed that her children were killed in Syrian government detention facilities during the rule of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, at the Faculty of Dental Medicine, in Damascus, Syria, June 1, 2026. (Reuters)
Hundreds of people flocked to a tent in Damascus on Wednesday to mourn a former national chess champion who went missing 13 years ago along with her husband and six children, after their deaths in Syria's civil war were finally confirmed.
Surviving relatives of Rania al-Abbasi announced Sunday that they had seen evidence that the family had been killed by pro-government gunmen shortly after they were detained in 2013, and that they would set up a giant tent in the city on Tuesday and Wednesday to receive condolences.
“We had hope. We’ve been looking for them for 13 years in every way possible,” Rana's brother Wael al-Abbasi said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Then we got the horrible news that they were killed the same day they were arrested.”
The case of Rania al-Abbasi, who also was a dentist and who had been accused of funding the opposition, was well-known in Syria, and this week's revelations have received wide coverage in the country's news media. Photos of the family have been all over social media. Many people have said the killers should be sentenced to death.
Mohammad Shukri, Syrian minister of religious affairs, visited the tent in the Rukneddine neighborhood and said the country's new government is making sure that the culprits are held accountable. “They must get their punishment,” he said.
More than 100,000 people went missing in areas once controlled by forces loyal to now-ousted President Bashar Assad and many are believed to have died under torture run by the country’s powerful security agencies. The number could be higher, because many Syrians were too scared to complain under Assad, now in self-exile in Russia. Some people are now coming forward requesting information about missing loved ones.
During the early years of Syria’s conflict, which started with peaceful pro-democracy protests and later became a civil war after a brutal regime crackdown, many people were killed, and the fate of many remains unknown. The conflict left nearly half a million people dead.
People attend a protest in memory of dentist and former chess champion Rania al-Abbasi, her husband, and their children, after National Commission for Missing Persons (NCMP) reports confirmed that her children were killed in Syrian government detention facilities during the rule of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, at the Faculty of Dental Medicine, in Damascus, Syria, June 1, 2026. (Reuters)
The fate of the al-Abassi family was revealed following the arrest of an ex-intelligence officer, who allegedly was involved in the killings, surviving family members said. Amjad Yousef had appeared in a video leaked four years ago that purportedly showed him and his comrades fatally shooting dozens of people during the war.
Al-Abbasi’s family was shown another video that was not made public showing the children dead after apparently being strangled or beaten to death.
Wael al-Abbasi said that his brother-in-law, Abdul-Rahman al-Yassin, was detained on March 9, 2013 while his wife and children were detained four days later.
“We were holding on to hope to find one or two of the kids (alive),” he said.
Yousef, the ex-intelligence officer, was arrested by Syria's new authorities in April in the central province in Hama where he had been hiding. He has been undergoing questioning since then.
Wael al-Abbasi said he and other relatives saw a video in which Yousef was talking and pointing the camera at the children in a dark room that may have been part of a detention center.
“He was filming the kids and naming each one of them. Those were our kids, there was no room for doubt that it’s them, they were even wearing the same clothes,” he said.
The children’s ages were from 1 1/2 to 14. They were identified as Ahmad, Dema, Najah, Intisar, Alaa and Layan. He said a couple of them had their faces bloodied.
The brother said he hoped that Yousef and others involved in the killings would go on trial and be hanged. “They’re criminals and we have proof of that through videos. We want the whole chain, all the way up to Bashar Assad. We want them all to hanged.”
Since the fall of Assad, several top officials in his government and security agencies have been detained and some have been put on trial.
Al-Abbasi’s cousin, Doa’a al-Abbasi, said that the family had been worried that the children might have been trafficked, but now they know the truth.
“What is this brutality? What is this hatred? They waited for them to come home from school so he can kill them,” she said, referring to the children. “There are many people like Amjad Yousef and we hope they will all be held accountable."
Israeli Strikes Kill Three People in Gaza, Medics Sayhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5280172-israeli-strikes-kill-three-people-gaza-medics-say
Mourners react during the funeral of brothers Saqer and Moamen Khalil Abu Karim, who were killed in an Israeli strike, according to medics, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, June 3, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israeli Strikes Kill Three People in Gaza, Medics Say
Mourners react during the funeral of brothers Saqer and Moamen Khalil Abu Karim, who were killed in an Israeli strike, according to medics, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, June 3, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli strikes killed three Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, health officials said, and the Palestinian group Hamas said an end to such attacks was crucial to further talks on safeguarding a US-brokered ceasefire.
Medics said one Palestinian was killed in an airstrike near the Mughraqa area in the central Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said it had struck a person acting suspiciously near forces operating in an Israeli-controlled area to remove the threat.
A separate Israeli airstrike killed two brothers - Saqer and Moamen Khalil Abu Karim - in the courtyard of a house in the nearby Maghazi refugee camp, medics said.
Israel's military did not immediately comment on the incident.
The ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump has failed to halt Israeli attacks in Gaza, and left Israel in control of over half the enclave following the conflict that began with Hamas attacks on southern Israel in October 2023.
Indirect talks on implementing the second phase of the deal, which includes the group's disarmament and Israeli army withdrawals, are deadlocked.
Sources close to the talks said further negotiations had been expected this week in Egypt, but Hamas denied it had sent delegates to Cairo.
A Hamas official told Reuters on Wednesday the group has been in daily contact with mediators and underlined the need for Israeli attacks in Gaza to stop.
"Israel has so far rejected ending its attacks, it continues to restrict aid and goods coming into Gaza and expand its occupation, in stark violation of the ceasefire agreement," the official said.
Israel says its strikes are aimed at thwarting imminent attacks. It also says it allows aid and goods to flow into Gaza.
Some 930 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the truce began, according to figures from Gaza health officials that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by fighters during the same period, Israel's military has said.
Netanyahu Says He and Trump Share Goal to Disarm Hezbollah, Demilitarize Lebanonhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5280169-netanyahu-says-he-and-trump-share-goal-disarm-hezbollah-demilitarize-lebanon
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Arnoun on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
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Netanyahu Says He and Trump Share Goal to Disarm Hezbollah, Demilitarize Lebanon
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Arnoun on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he and US President Donald Trump are aligned on the goal of disarming Hezbollah in order to achieve peace between Israel and Lebanon.
Hezbollah "is an Iranian proxy that puts all the citizens of Lebanon at gunpoint and uses Lebanon as a platform to launch terror missiles into our cities, to launch killer drones against our civilians", Netanyahu said in an interview with US television channel CNBC.
"And so if we want to save Lebanon, if we want to get a Lebanese-Israeli peace, as I do, we have to disarm Hezbollah and we have to demilitarize Lebanon. And I know that this is a goal that the president and I share, and that's what we have to do."
Meanwhile, US Secretary Marco Rubio voiced hope Wednesday that the latest round of talks in Washington between Israel and Lebanon will produce a security roadmap, despite Israel and Hezbollah's continuing hostilities.
Israeli and Lebanese envoys meeting Wednesday for the fourth round of direct talks in the US capital "hopefully today will... produce a joint statement and an action plan on the track for security in that country, independent from Hezbollah," Rubio told a congressional panel.
The negotiations come days after Trump said the two countries had pledged to de-escalate.
But Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade fire, with Hezbollah claiming missile attacks on northern Israel Wednesday and Lebanon saying Israeli strikes in the south killed at least nine people, including two paramedics.
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