Barrack: Syria to Help US Fight IRGC, Hamas, Hezbollah
US special envoy Tom Barrack. dpa
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Barrack: Syria to Help US Fight IRGC, Hamas, Hezbollah
US special envoy Tom Barrack. dpa
Syria will play an active role in assisting the United States in fighting armed groups including Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Hamas and Hezbollah, US special envoy Tom Barrack said on Thursday.
President Ahmed al-Sharaa became the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since his country's independence in 1946.
Shortly after his visit, the US-led coalition fighting ISIS announced that Syria had become its 90th member.
On Thursday, Barrack wrote on X that "Damascus will now actively assist us in confronting and dismantling the remnants of ISIS, the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps), Hamas, Hizballah, and other terrorist networks.”
The IRGC and Lebanon's Hezbollah were key backers of president Bashar al-Assad before he was ousted last December by a coalition led by Sharaa.
Hamas does not have an armed presence in Syria.
Barrack also said he held a "pivotal" meeting with US top diplomat Marco Rubio, Türkiye's Hakan Fidan and Syria's Asaad al-Shaibani, during which they discussed steps towards "integrating the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the new Syrian economic, defense and civic structure.”
Backed by Washington, the Kurdish-led SDF played a key role in unseating ISIS from its last strongholds in Syria.
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi told AFP last month that he had reached a "preliminary agreement" with Damascus on the integration of his troops into Syria's military and security forces.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Abdi said he had discussed with Barrack "our commitment to accelerate the integration of the SDF into the Syrian state.”
Sharaa's administration and the SDF had signed an agreement in March to integrate into national civilian and military institutions, but it has faced hurdles since.
Komala: A Frequent Target of Iranian Attacks in Iraqi Kurdistanhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5297175-komala-frequent-target-iranian-attacks-iraqi-kurdistan
Komala: A Frequent Target of Iranian Attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan
A drone is intercepted in the sky over Erbil, Iraq, July 15, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. (Dlawer/X/via Reuters)
At least nine people were killed and others wounded on Friday in a missile and drone attack suspected of having been carried out by Iran against an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, a group official said.
The attack targeted positions belonging to the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan in the Zargwezela area near Sulaymaniyah, the official said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
The group said Iran was behind the strike, the official added. Tehran did not immediately claim responsibility.
Iran has previously attacked Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region.
Abdullah Azarbar, a member of the Politburo of the Komala Party, said the attack began at around 6 a.m. and involved eight large bunker-busting missiles.
Nine members of the group’s Peshmerga forces were killed and three others seriously wounded, he added. Three missiles struck the headquarters where the casualties occurred.
A security source had earlier said a party headquarters in the Surdas subdistrict of Sulaymaniyah province had been hit by missiles. Authorities opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of the attack and identify those responsible, the source said.
The Kurdistan Region Security Agency said seven missiles struck three areas in Sulaymaniyah province early on Friday.
Four landed in Zargwezela, one in Qasardi village and two near Tal Kobani in the Qaradagh area, the agency said. Its teams were still assessing casualties and material damage.
The Kurdistan Region Counter-Terrorism Service had earlier said coalition forces intercepted and destroyed eight explosive-laden drones over Erbil early on Friday. No casualties were reported.
Residents of Sulaymaniyah and Halabja provinces said they heard loud explosions in the early hours of the morning.
The Kurdistan Region Presidency condemned the missile and drone attacks on Sulaymaniyah and Erbil provinces, calling them a “dangerous development and a flagrant violation” of Iraqi sovereignty.
It warned that continued attacks could threaten Iraq’s stability and undermine efforts to strengthen security and peace in the region.
Komala repeatedly targeted
The Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan is one of Iran’s oldest opposition groups. Founded in the late 1960s as a leftist Kurdish movement, it rose to prominence during the unrest that followed Iran’s 1979 revolution.
The group later entered into armed conflict with the new authorities over Kurdish autonomy and political freedoms.
After years of fighting inside Iran, Komala moved much of its operations and many of its bases to Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, where it established political and military headquarters and camps.
It has since faced repeated Iranian attacks, particularly by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, which accuses Iranian Kurdish opposition parties of seeking to destabilize the country.
Komala combines political opposition to Tehran with advocacy for Kurdish rights in Iran. Tehran says such groups pose a security threat.
The 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests renewed attention on Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, although most remained based outside Iran.
Since the war between Iran and the United States began in February, no independent tally has established a final figure for the number of attacks on Komala bases.
Available reports, however, indicate that Iranian Kurdish opposition headquarters in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region were hit by a wave of missile and drone strikes during the conflict.
According to statements by the party and its allies, sites belonging to Iranian Kurdish opposition groups were repeatedly attacked, including bases linked to Komala and other parties in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah provinces.
The Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan also said missile strikes had targeted Peshmerga positions.
Human rights reports and Kurdish sources said bases belonging to Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, including Komala, were among the targets of dozens of missile and drone attacks during the war.
Delay of Lebanon-Israel Technical Meeting Stalls Implementation of Pilot Zones Planhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5297172-delay-lebanon-israel-technical-meeting-stalls-implementation-pilot-zones-plan
Delay of Lebanon-Israel Technical Meeting Stalls Implementation of Pilot Zones Plan
An Israeli flag hangs from a building in an area occupied by Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP)
The United States has postponed a virtual meeting between Lebanese, Israeli and US military delegations that had been expected on Friday to discuss the first phase of the “pilot zones” plan.
The delay puts the practical rollout of the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel on hold, particularly the pilot zone arrangements, and renews questions over an implementation process that still has no clear timetable.
The technical meeting was agreed during the latest round of negotiations in Rome at the start of the week. It was intended to finalize the first phase mechanism: Israeli forces would withdraw from several pilot zones, allowing the Lebanese army to deploy there under the supervision of the monitoring committee. The plan would then expand in later stages.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told Asharq Al-Awsat that Washington requested the postponement, saying more time was needed to complete technical files, operational plans and implementation procedures.
No new date was set.
The sources said the meeting could instead take place during a visit by US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper, who is due in Beirut on July 23. Cooper met President Joseph Aoun and Lebanese army commander General Rodolphe Haykal late last month.
Military sources, however, linked the delay to Israeli actions on the ground in Lebanon.
“Israel is continuing its systematic destruction of border villages in what appears to be an attempt to complete its objectives on the ground before committing to any implementation agreement,” the sources said.
They said Israel, which still refuses to withdraw from Lebanese territory, was trying to limit the pilot zone plan to locations it does not occupy. Washington, meanwhile, is pressing Israel to begin implementing the agreement by withdrawing from areas under its control.
The sources said the disagreement explained Israel’s attempts to buy time and delay the start of actual implementation.
The sixth round of direct Lebanese-Israeli negotiations, held in Rome under US sponsorship, ended with an agreement to finalize the pilot zone structure and begin implementation within days.
The plan forms part of the framework agreement aimed at consolidating the ceasefire and preparing for a gradual Israeli withdrawal in return for the deployment of the Lebanese army. But the agreement sets no binding deadline for a full Israeli withdrawal.
Israel says it will not leave the security zone it seeks to retain, stretching about 10 km from the border, until Hezbollah has been disarmed in those areas.
That condition is widely seen as highly difficult under Lebanon’s current circumstances.
Israeli soldiers walk at the entrance to Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP)
Violations and destruction continue
On the ground, Israeli violations continued across southern Lebanon as the Lebanese army expanded its deployment.
The army deployed in the town of Froun in the Bint Jbeil district and began intensive patrols. Froun is one of six villages being considered for the pilot phase.
Israeli forces continued demolishing homes, most recently in Bint Jbeil.
Israeli drones also struck Mayfadoun and Choukine, carried out three strikes on the Naqoura road and hit Mansouri. Another strike on Naqoura wounded a Syrian worker.
Israeli forces also carried out a large explosion on Friday morning in Hadatha, near the outskirts of Aita al-Jabal, and continued combing operations in several border areas.
Rescue teams recovered the bodies of victims of the strike on Mansouri late on Thursday.
Residents of Haris appealed to the Lebanese army to evacuate civilians trapped during an Israeli combing operation, the state-run National News Agency reported.
This handout photograph released by the Lebanese army press office on July 15, 2026 shows Lebanese army vehicles patrolling in southern Lebanon. (Lebanese Army Press Office / AFP)
Hezbollah steps up criticism, warns of internal instability
Hezbollah, meanwhile, continued to attack the framework agreement and the Lebanese authorities’ handling of the negotiations.
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said the Rome talks had exposed the weakness of Lebanon’s official position.
He accused the authorities of pursuing negotiations despite continuing Israeli military operations and following policies aimed at satisfying the United States and Israel.
Fayyad warned that the approach threatened domestic stability.
“These authorities are determined to take the country to an extremely dangerous place,” he said.
He said the process would neither restore Lebanese territory nor protect sovereignty, but would instead cost the country its internal stability and national unity.
Fayyad said the “resistance [Hezbollah] is ready for all possibilities and options” and remained committed to what he described as its principles of defending Lebanon, liberating occupied territory and securing the return of residents to their villages.
Israeli Strike on Funeral Kills 7 and Wounds 22 in Gaza, Local Hospital Sayshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5297157-israeli-strike-funeral-kills-7-and-wounds-22-gaza-local-hospital-says
Palestinian residents save their belongings from destroyed buildings following an Israeli airstrike last night, at al-Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP)
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Israeli Strike on Funeral Kills 7 and Wounds 22 in Gaza, Local Hospital Says
Palestinian residents save their belongings from destroyed buildings following an Israeli airstrike last night, at al-Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP)
An Israeli strike on a funeral in the Gaza Strip on Friday killed at least seven people and wounded another 22, according to a local hospital.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
The Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp confirmed the number of casualties, saying people were struck at the funeral for a Palestinian killed in a strike earlier on Friday.
Israel and the Hamas group agreed to a ceasefire deal in October aimed at halting a two-year-long war.
The heaviest fighting has subsided but at least 1,123 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.
The ministry, which has been part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and fighters but says women and children make up most of the dead.
Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.
The war began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,264 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
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