UN Condemns Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza's Beit Lahiya

 Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid
Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid
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UN Condemns Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza's Beit Lahiya

 Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid
Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid

The UN peace envoy for the Middle East on Sunday condemned the continued attacks on civilians after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza's Beit Lahiya killed dozens late on Saturday.

"This follows weeks of intensified operations resulting in scores of civilian fatalities and near total lack of humanitarian aid reaching populations in the north," said Tor Wennesland, the UN Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

For his part, civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said: "Our civil defense crews recovered 73 martyrs and a large number of wounded as a result of the Israeli air force targeting a residential area... in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza."

Bassal also said that more than 400 martyrs from the various targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip were recovered, including Jabalia and its refugee camp, since Israel's operation began.

"More than a year has passed, and every day our blood is shed," displaced Gazan Nasser Shaqura said outside a hospital in Deir el-Balah, where victims of an Israeli air strike were taken.

"Every day, every hour, there is a massacre," he said.

"This is what our lives have become."



King of Jordan Sends Syria’s Assad Message on Regional Developments

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad holds talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi in Damascus on Sunday. (SANA)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad holds talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi in Damascus on Sunday. (SANA)
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King of Jordan Sends Syria’s Assad Message on Regional Developments

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad holds talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi in Damascus on Sunday. (SANA)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad holds talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi in Damascus on Sunday. (SANA)

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi arrived on an official unannounced visit to Damascus on Sunday.

He held talks with President Bashar al-Assad, delivering a verbal message from King Abdullah II on the “current dangerous developments in the region,” said an official Syrian statement.

The message was related to several bilateral and regional affairs, as well as the Syrian crisis, it added.

Assad and Safadi also discussed bilateral ties between their countries and the return of Syrian refugees back to their home country.

Assad stressed that providing the conditions for the safe return was a “priority for the Syrian state,” added the statement. Syria has made strides in this regard, it stressed.

Jordan is doing everything in its power to return the refugees home, Safadi was quoted as saying. Amman supports Syria’s stability and recovery given its importance to the region.

Safadi also held talks with his Syrian counterpart Bassam al-Sabbagh.

Informed sources in Damascus told Asharq Al-Awsat that the surprise visit means Safadi was in Syria to discuss the escalation in the region and the “Arab role Damascus is expected to play to avert the expansion of the war.”

He was also seeking to overcome the impasse in reaching a political solution to the crisis in Syria, they remarked.

Moreover, they noted the drugs and arms smuggling from Syria to Jordan that has been a major cause for concern in the kingdom.

Iran-backed militias in Syria are accused of being behind the smuggling.

Amman has been urging Damascus to intensify its efforts to combat the illicit activity, which has decreased, but not stopped, despite increased efforts.

The sources said Safadi likely discussed this issue in Syria given that Israel has struck smuggling routes between Syria and Lebanon.

Earlier this month, the Jordanian military announced that it had thwarted a drug smuggling attempt through the use of a drone.

The army has been firmly combating the smuggling, resorting to force on occasion.