Lebanon, Jordan Seek Solutions After Damascus Bans Non-Syrian Trucks

Lebanese truck drivers block the road on the Lebanese side of the Masnaa border crossing in protest against Syria's decision to ban non-Syrian trucks from entering its territory, on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
Lebanese truck drivers block the road on the Lebanese side of the Masnaa border crossing in protest against Syria's decision to ban non-Syrian trucks from entering its territory, on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
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Lebanon, Jordan Seek Solutions After Damascus Bans Non-Syrian Trucks

Lebanese truck drivers block the road on the Lebanese side of the Masnaa border crossing in protest against Syria's decision to ban non-Syrian trucks from entering its territory, on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
Lebanese truck drivers block the road on the Lebanese side of the Masnaa border crossing in protest against Syria's decision to ban non-Syrian trucks from entering its territory, on February 10, 2025. (AFP)

Lebanon and Jordan are seeking a solution with Syria after the latter barred foreign trucks from entering its territory, officials from both countries told AFP on Tuesday.

Damascus had issued a decision on Saturday stipulating that "non-Syrian trucks will not be allowed to enter" the country, and that goods being imported by road must be unloaded at specific points at border crossings.

The decision exempts trucks that are only passing through Syria to other countries.

Dozens of trucks unable to enter the country were lined up on the Lebanese side of the Masnaa border crossing on Tuesday, an AFP photographer saw.

Ahmad Tamer, head of land and maritime transportation at the Lebanese transport ministry told AFP that discussions were underway with Damascus over the decision.

He said the issue was not specifically targeting Lebanon -- which is trying to reset ties with Damascus after the fall of Bashar al-Assad -- adding that he hoped to hold a meeting with the Syrian side soon.

Lebanon sends around 500 trucks to Syria per day, according to Tamer.

In Jordan, also affected by the decision, transport ministry spokesperson Mohammed al-Dweiri told AFP that "discussions are currently underway, and we are awaiting a response from the Syrian side regarding allowing foreign trucks to enter and cross".

Dweiri said that Jordanian trucks were continuing to unload their cargo at the free zone at the Nassib border crossing with Syria despite some "confusion".

Around 250 Jordanian trucks travel to Syria daily, according to him.

A source in the Syrian General Authority for Ports and Customs told AFP that the decision aimed to "regulate the movement of cargo through the ports".

Representatives of unions and associations in Lebanon's transport sector denounced the decision on Tuesday and warning of "negative repercussions", according to the state-run National News Agency.

Syria is the only land route Lebanon can use to export merchandise to wealthy Gulf markets.

As part of continued attempts to rekindle ties, the two countries signed an agreement on Friday to hand around 300 Syrian convicts over to Damascus.



Iraq Warns of Strikes Near Prison Housing ISIS Detainees

 An Iraqi army armored humvee vehicle is deployed near the banks of the Tigris River to protect the US Embassy fortified "Green Zone" in Baghdad, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP)
An Iraqi army armored humvee vehicle is deployed near the banks of the Tigris River to protect the US Embassy fortified "Green Zone" in Baghdad, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP)
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Iraq Warns of Strikes Near Prison Housing ISIS Detainees

 An Iraqi army armored humvee vehicle is deployed near the banks of the Tigris River to protect the US Embassy fortified "Green Zone" in Baghdad, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP)
An Iraqi army armored humvee vehicle is deployed near the banks of the Tigris River to protect the US Embassy fortified "Green Zone" in Baghdad, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP)

Iraq warned on Sunday that drone attacks near Baghdad airport threatened the security of the nearby prison housing ISIS group suspects recently brought from Syria.

In February, the United States completed the transfer of 5,700 ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq.

They have been held since in Baghdad's al-Karkh prison, once a US Army detention center known as Camp Cropper, which is part of Baghdad airport's complex.

Justice ministry spokesperson Ahmed Laibi said in a statement that "the areas surrounding Baghdad International Airport and the airport prison (Al-Karkh Central) have been subjected to repeated strikes".

Some strikes hit "near the facility, raising concerns regarding the impact on the security of a prison that houses high-risk terrorist inmates", Laibi added.

The most intense strikes took place Saturday, hitting "in very close proximity to the prison," he said.

Since the start of the Middle East war, Tehran-backed armed groups have been claiming daily drone and rocket attacks against US bases in Iraq.

Baghdad airport houses a US diplomatic facility and until recently also hosted troops from the US-led international coalition against exremists.

Laibi said while security measures were in place to "ensure stability", "the frequency of these attacks and the proximity of falling projectiles remain a cause for concern".

ISIS swept across Syria and Iraq in 2014, committing massacres. Backed by US-led forces, Iraq proclaimed the defeat of ISIS in the country in 2017, and the Kurdish-led Syrian forces ultimately beat back the group in Syria two years later.


Hospital Officials Say an Israeli Strike Killed 4 in Gaza, Including a Child and His Pregnant Mother

 Palestinians walk amid a sandstorm in a tent camp sheltering Palestinians displaced during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk amid a sandstorm in a tent camp sheltering Palestinians displaced during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 14, 2026. (Reuters)
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Hospital Officials Say an Israeli Strike Killed 4 in Gaza, Including a Child and His Pregnant Mother

 Palestinians walk amid a sandstorm in a tent camp sheltering Palestinians displaced during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk amid a sandstorm in a tent camp sheltering Palestinians displaced during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 14, 2026. (Reuters)

At least four Palestinians, including a boy and his pregnant mother, were killed Sunday by an Israeli airstrike in the war-torn Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.

The strike hit a house in Nuseirat, an urban refugee camp in central Gaza, killing a couple and their young son, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The fourth fatality was taken to the Awda hospital in Nuseirat.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The deaths were the latest fatalities among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the ceasefire has still seen almost daily Israeli fire. Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones, killing more than 650 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Israel says it has responded to violations of the ceasefire or targeted wanted fighters. But about half of those killed have been women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

They were among more than 72,200 Palestinians killed in the war which was triggered when Hamas-led gunmen attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The militant attack killed over 1,200 people and took over 250 others hostage.

The health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and fighters.

Fighters have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.


Palestinian Ministry Says Israeli Troops Kill 2 Children, Parents in West Bank

A Palestinian flag is placed at the site where a Jewish settlers' attack killed 3 Palestinians and injured seven others on March 8, in the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 12, 2026. (AFP)
A Palestinian flag is placed at the site where a Jewish settlers' attack killed 3 Palestinians and injured seven others on March 8, in the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 12, 2026. (AFP)
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Palestinian Ministry Says Israeli Troops Kill 2 Children, Parents in West Bank

A Palestinian flag is placed at the site where a Jewish settlers' attack killed 3 Palestinians and injured seven others on March 8, in the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 12, 2026. (AFP)
A Palestinian flag is placed at the site where a Jewish settlers' attack killed 3 Palestinians and injured seven others on March 8, in the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 12, 2026. (AFP)

The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian husband and wife and their two young children in the north of the occupied West Bank on Sunday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent also said its teams had recovered the bodies of two adults and two children from a vehicle that had been fired on by Israeli forces in the town of Tammun.

The Israeli military said it was looking into reports of the incident in response to AFP's request for comment.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that "four martyrs from one family arrived at the Turkish Public Hospital in Tubas after the occupation army shot at them in Tammun".

It said the hospital had received the bodies of the man, aged 37, the woman, 35, and two boys aged five and seven, adding that all had gunshot wounds.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that the couple's two other children, aged eight and 11, were wounded by shrapnel after Israeli forces opened fire on their vehicle early on Sunday morning.

Palestinian authorities and the United Nations say there has been a spike in deadly attacks, mostly by Israeli settlers, in the West Bank in recent days, with at least five Palestinians killed since the start of March.

Israel's military launched an operation in November against Palestinian armed groups in the north of the West Bank, including areas around Tubas.

More broadly, violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war. It has continued despite a ceasefire since October 10.

According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,045 Palestinians -- many of them fighters, but also scores of civilians -- in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.

Official Israeli figures say that 45 Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations.

In addition to roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.