Türkiye Condemns Israeli Attacks against UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon

FILE PHOTO: UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles are seen parked in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles are seen parked in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher/File Photo
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Türkiye Condemns Israeli Attacks against UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon

FILE PHOTO: UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles are seen parked in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles are seen parked in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher/File Photo

Türkiye condemns Israel's attacks targeting the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon (UNIFIL), its foreign ministry said late on Thursday, adding Ankara would continue supporting similar peacekeeping initiatives and structures.
Israeli attacks against UNIFIL in recent days, amid the war in Gaza and the cross-border clashes with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, have wounded UN personnel and prompted international alarm.
In New York, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel recommends UNIFIL relocate north in Lebanon "to avoid danger as fighting intensifies".
"Israel's attacks on UN forces, following its massacres against civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon is a manifestation of its perception that its crimes go unpunished," Türkiye’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
"The international community is obliged to ensure that Israel abides by international law," it said, adding that Türkiye contributed to the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force with one corvette and five personnel.
Türkiye has been fiercely critical of Israel's offensives in Gaza and Lebanon. It has halted all trade with Israel, applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court, and repeatedly called for an end to Western support of Israel along with international measures to stop its assaults.



Syrian Security Forces Search for Militants Who Refuse to Turn in Their Weapons

Weapons and ammunition handed over by members of Bashar Assad regime security forces are collected by members of the new government, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Weapons and ammunition handed over by members of Bashar Assad regime security forces are collected by members of the new government, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
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Syrian Security Forces Search for Militants Who Refuse to Turn in Their Weapons

Weapons and ammunition handed over by members of Bashar Assad regime security forces are collected by members of the new government, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Weapons and ammunition handed over by members of Bashar Assad regime security forces are collected by members of the new government, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

The forces together with armed vehicles were deployed in the city of Homs Thursday to look for the militants affiliated with ousted President Bashar Assad, state media reported.
SANA, citing a military official, said that the new de facto authorities led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group had set up centers in Syria’s third-largest city for former soldiers and militants to hand over their weapons, similar to other parts of Syria.
In early December, a lightning insurgency took out the decades-long rule of Assad in less than two weeks. HTS has since run much of war-torn Syria under the authority of its leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, The Associated Press said.
Officials who were part of Assad's notorious web of intelligence and security apparatus have been arrested over the past few weeks.