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Hamas Names 6 Hostages it Will Release on Saturday

FILE PHOTO: People walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo
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Hamas Names 6 Hostages it Will Release on Saturday

FILE PHOTO: People walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo

The armed wing of militant group Hamas said on Friday it will release Israeli hostages Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Tal Shoham, Omer Wenkert, Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengisto on Saturday.
Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengisto are civilians, who entered Gaza a decade ago and have been held there since.

Hamas also said on Friday it would look into the possibility of an error or that human remains were mixed due to Israeli airstrikes, after the Israeli military said one of the bodies released by Hamas on Thursday did not belong to any of the hostages held in Gaza.
The group's official statement echoed that of one earlier from the group's Gaza government media office director Ismail Al-Thawabta.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would make Hamas pay for failing to release the body of hostage Shiri Bibas as agreed, in the latest potential threat to the month-old Gaza ceasefire.
Israeli specialists said one of four bodies handed over by Hamas on Thursday was an unidentified woman and not Bibas.
Netanyahu accused Hamas of acting "in an unspeakably cynical manner" by placing the body of a Gaza woman in the coffin instead of Bibas, who was kidnapped along with her two sons, Kfir and Ariel, and her husband, Yarden, during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The bodies of Kfir and Ariel were among those handed over and identified.
"We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages - both living and dead - and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement," Netanyahu said in a video statement.
Al-Thawabta said Shiri Bibas' remains appear to have been mixed with other human remains after being buried in the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike.
"Netanyahu himself issued the orders for the direct and merciless bombing, and he bears full responsibility for killing her and her children," he said in a statement.

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SDF Responds to ISIS Attacks in Eastern Syria

Members of the SDF in the Deir Ezzor countryside. (Asharq Al-Awsat file)
Members of the SDF in the Deir Ezzor countryside. (Asharq Al-Awsat file)
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SDF Responds to ISIS Attacks in Eastern Syria

Members of the SDF in the Deir Ezzor countryside. (Asharq Al-Awsat file)
Members of the SDF in the Deir Ezzor countryside. (Asharq Al-Awsat file)

Suspected ISIS cells have escalated their activities in eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor province, staging a series of attacks on security posts and imposing extortion fees on local residents, sources said on Thursday.

Military, security, and civil sources in northeastern Syria said ISIS remnants launched coordinated assaults in recent days, including a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on a security center in the town of Diban, marking one of the most intense waves of violence in the area since the start of the year.

“The cells have become increasingly active, with suspicious movements observed following multiple attacks on checkpoints and security facilities,” one local source said. “They are using intimidation tactics and extorting civilians.”

In a statement on Thursday, the Internal Security Forces, known as Asayish, confirmed that one of their centers in Diban, located in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, was attacked late Wednesday night.

“ISIS-affiliated militants on motorbikes launched an RPG and opened fire on our post in Diban,” the statement said.

Although ISIS lost its territorial control in Syria in 2019, sleeper cells continue to operate in remote desert areas, targeting security forces and civilians in ambushes and hit-and-run attacks.

Farhad Shami, head of the Syrian Democratic Forces’ media center, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Diban attack was one of two coordinated strikes carried out by ISIS-linked cells.

“In the first incident, ISIS fighters used medium-range weapons and rocket-propelled grenades against an Asayish checkpoint in Diban,” Shami said. “Our forces quickly intervened and fought back, forcing the cell to withdraw.”

In a second attack, militants targeted an SDF military vehicle in the nearby town of Jadid Akidat, also in eastern Deir Ezzor, firing an RPG and small-arms rounds at the patrol, Shami said.

“The response was immediate. Our units unleashed heavy fire on the attackers, compelling them to retreat, leaving several of their members wounded,” he added.

A United Nations report published in July last year estimated the number of ISIS fighters in Syria at between 3,000 and 5,000, many of whom are believed to be hiding in the rugged terrain between Syria and Iraq.

The group's enduring presence has raised concerns among regional authorities and international observers about a potential resurgence, particularly in areas where security forces are stretched thin.