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Head of Syrian Opposition Warns Israel about Airstrikes but Doesn’t Seek Conflict

Ahmad al-Sharaa speaks at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus Sunday Dec. 8, 2024. (AP)
Ahmad al-Sharaa speaks at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus Sunday Dec. 8, 2024. (AP)
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Head of Syrian Opposition Warns Israel about Airstrikes but Doesn’t Seek Conflict

Ahmad al-Sharaa speaks at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus Sunday Dec. 8, 2024. (AP)
Ahmad al-Sharaa speaks at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus Sunday Dec. 8, 2024. (AP)

The head of the Syrian opposition group that led the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's government said they are not about to enter a conflict with Israel.

But Ahmad al-Sharaa in his first public comments on Israel in the week since Assad's fall said “the pretexts that Israel uses have ended” for its airstrikes inside Syria in recent days.

Al-Sharaa said “the Israelis have crossed the rules of engagement” in his interview with Syrian TV on Saturday. About 400 Israeli airstrikes in the past days have destroyed much of the Syrian army's assets.

Al-Sharaa leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS.

The excerpts released from his interview did not address contact with the United States, which on Saturday said had been in direct communication with HTS, which it designated a foreign terrorist organization years ago.

The HTS leader did say the new authorities in Damascus are in contact with Western embassies, and that authorities have a plan to start reconstruction and development in Syria. He did not give details.

He added that the authorities have given Russia — a key backer of Assad — an opportunity to reconsider relations with the Syrian people, and that authorities are not hostile to the people of Iran, another Assad backer.

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Arab World

Palestinian Infant Dies Due to Severe Cold in Gaza

Displaced Palestinians in a temporary camp in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip (EPA)
Displaced Palestinians in a temporary camp in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip (EPA)
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Palestinian Infant Dies Due to Severe Cold in Gaza

Displaced Palestinians in a temporary camp in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip (EPA)
Displaced Palestinians in a temporary camp in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip (EPA)

A Palestinian infant died Tuesday morning due to extreme cold in the Gaza City.

The Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA) quoted medical sources as saying that "the 7-month-old infant, Shatha Abu Jarad, died in Gaza due to severe cold."

According to the agency, "the number of children who have died in the Gaza Strip due to the extreme cold since the beginning of winter has risen to nine, amid a shortage of aid and a lack of heating".

The Civil Defense in Gaza warned on Monday of the possibility of increased deaths among children due to an unprecedented drop in temperatures.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Civil Defense in Gaza, said in a statement: "The sharp drop in temperatures we are witnessing tonight is unprecedented since the beginning of winter. The cold is so severe that we no longer feel our feet, so how about infants, patients, and families living in dilapidated tents?"

Displaced people in Gaza are facing a very difficult situation due to a stormy weather accompanied by strong winds and heavy rain, coinciding with temperatures dropping to freezing levels.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned last week that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains dire, as severe weather conditions threaten progress in the field of humanitarian response, noting that more than one million people are in dire need of shelter as rainstorms continue.

Arab World

PKK Says Will 'Not Abandon' Syrian Kurds

Kurdish children and their families fleeing a government advance through Kurdish-controlled areas arrive in the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli on January 19, 2026. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
Kurdish children and their families fleeing a government advance through Kurdish-controlled areas arrive in the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli on January 19, 2026. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
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PKK Says Will 'Not Abandon' Syrian Kurds

Kurdish children and their families fleeing a government advance through Kurdish-controlled areas arrive in the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli on January 19, 2026. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
Kurdish children and their families fleeing a government advance through Kurdish-controlled areas arrive in the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli on January 19, 2026. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

Outlawed Kurdish militants in Türkiye will "never abandon" Kurds in Syria following an offensive by Damascus, a leader of the PKK armed group said, quoted by the Firat news agency Tuesday.

Syrian forces began an offensive nearly two weeks ago which pushed Kurdish-led SDF forces out of the northern city of Aleppo, and expanded over the weekend to push deep into territory that has been held by Kurdish forces for over a decade.

"You should know that we will not leave you alone. Whatever the cost, we will never leave you alone.. we as the entire Kurdish people and as the movement, will do whatever is necessary," Murat Karayilan of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was quoted as saying by Firat.

A close ally of Syria's new leadership that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the Turkish government is simultaneously leading a drive to reach a settlement with the PKK -- listed as a terror group by Türkiye and its Western allies.

Karayilan said the Damascus-led offensive was an "attempt to nullify" the peace process in Türkiye.

"This decision by international powers to enable these attacks, will be a black mark for the US, the UK, Germany, France and other international coalition states," he said.

On Monday, at least 500 people rallied in Türkiye’s Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir against the Syrian offensive. Clashes erupted when police tried to break up the protest.

The pro-Kurdish DEM party, the third largest force in the Turkish parliament, called for a rally on Tuesday in the town of Nusaybin, located on the border with Syria.

 

Arab World

Israel Begins Demolitions Inside UNRWA Headquarters in East Jerusalem

A photograph shows a demolished structure inside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on January 20, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows a demolished structure inside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on January 20, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Begins Demolitions Inside UNRWA Headquarters in East Jerusalem

A photograph shows a demolished structure inside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on January 20, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows a demolished structure inside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on January 20, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli bulldozers began demolishing structures inside the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in east Jerusalem on Tuesday, an AFP photographer saw, with the Israeli foreign ministry defending the move.

"UNRWA-Hamas had already ceased its operations at this site and no longer had any UN personnel or UN activity there. The compound does not enjoy any immunity and the seizure of this compound by Israeli authorities was carried out in accordance with both Israeli and international law," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas, claiming that some of its employees took part in the group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.