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Syrian Opposition Expanded Meeting 2 Kicks off in Riyadh

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir attends an interview with Reuters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 16, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir attends an interview with Reuters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 16, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser
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Syrian Opposition Expanded Meeting 2 Kicks off in Riyadh

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir attends an interview with Reuters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 16, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir attends an interview with Reuters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 16, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser

The Syrian Opposition's second expanded meeting launched in Riyadh on Wednesday.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir, who hosts the meeting, addressed the opening session of the two-day gathering before leaving the room for the members of Syrian opposition to discuss the crisis in their country, welcoming them in the Kingdom and expressing hope that their endeavor and efforts strike every success.

In his speech, Jubeir said the meeting comes amid international consensus on the importance of reaching a political solution to the Syrian crisis, describing the stage the Syrian crisis is witnessing as critical as it turned seventh.

Addressing the partakers, he said "the Syrian people everywhere are now gearing to you and waiting for tangible results to achieve their aspirations as you are now facing an historic responsibility to end the crisis which your people can no longer tolerate and gearing to see a solution in the offing and move to future under a clear political framework".

Jubeir stated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will remain standing by the side of the Syrian people, as firm as it was.

“We will provide help and support for them in all what they need,” Jubeir told reporters.

“We hope they can come out of the conference unified,” he added.

He pointed that there would be no solution for the Syrian crisis without Syrian congruence and consensus that would achieve the aspirations of the people who look forward to see their suffering coming to an end based on Geneva I declaration and UN Security Council resolution No. 2254.

For his part, Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for the Syrian crisis, who also attended the opening session, demanded the Syrian opposition to form a unified delegation to Geneva talks, saying that humanitarian assistance should reach everyone in the besieged areas and adding that "within few days we are going to put a framework for the political process in Syria".

De Mistura added that Riyadh meeting aims at reactivating Geneva negotiations.

Following the departure of Jubeir, the conference, which gathers a wide-range spectrum of the Syrian opposition, started.

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Sports

Van Dijk Wants 'Leader' Salah to Stay at Liverpool

Mohamed Salah has scored just four Premier League goals this season © Paul ELLIS / AFP
Mohamed Salah has scored just four Premier League goals this season © Paul ELLIS / AFP
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Van Dijk Wants 'Leader' Salah to Stay at Liverpool

Mohamed Salah has scored just four Premier League goals this season © Paul ELLIS / AFP
Mohamed Salah has scored just four Premier League goals this season © Paul ELLIS / AFP

Virgil van Dijk wants Mohamed Salah to stay at Liverpool despite the Egyptian star's incendiary rant about the club, but the Reds captain admits he does not know what will happen over the next few weeks, AFP reported.

Salah came off the bench against Brighton on Saturday for his first appearance since claiming he had been "thrown under the bus" by the club following last weekend's 3-3 draw with Leeds.

The forward also said in the same interview at Elland Road that he had no relationship with Liverpool manager Arne Slot, who had named him as a substitute for three straight games.

Salah was then omitted from the midweek Champions League trip to Inter Milan, a 1-0 win for Liverpool, but he was back in action as a first-half substitute against Brighton.

The 33-year-old provided an assist for Hugo Ekitike's second goal in a much-needed 2-0 win, but will now jet to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and could be absent for five weeks.

After the match, Slot said there was "no issue to resolve" with his star forward, but speculation continues to rumble over the player's future.

Van Dijk is adamant that he wants Salah to stay and said he had told him so.

"I would love to have him around because he is one of the leaders, but the fact is he is going to AFCON. We will be in contact over the next days and weeks like we always are and let's see," the Dutch defender said.

"I wish him absolutely all the best -- and (to) come back, hopefully. I have no control over that.

"We hope he will be absolutely successful there and we all hope he will be coming back to be important for the rest of the season.

"But, on the other side of it, we all know football and have no idea what is going to happen."

Premier League champions Liverpool ended a tumultuous week by extending their unbeaten run to five matches in all competitions.

Van Dijk said it proved the dressing room had not been distracted by the Salah situation.

"As a captain I have to deal with how the boys react to it and they reacted perfectly fine. Mo, in the end, reacted perfectly fine as well," he added.

Van Dijk also praised Slot for dealing with a tumultuous period at Liverpool, whose Premier League title defense has collapsed in recent weeks.

"There is a lot of noise, pressure from the outside world and rightly so as we've not been close to the standard we were showing last season," he said.

"But personally looking at it, and from the conversations we have on a daily basis, I think he has handled it very well.

"This moment of time is a very good moment to see how everyone responds. I think the manager has done perfectly."

Arab World

Israel Army Says Struck Hezbollah Members in Southern Lebanon

Smoke rises above Lebanon, following an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, May 5, 2024. REUTERS/Ayal Margolin /File Photo
Smoke rises above Lebanon, following an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, May 5, 2024. REUTERS/Ayal Margolin /File Photo
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Israel Army Says Struck Hezbollah Members in Southern Lebanon

Smoke rises above Lebanon, following an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, May 5, 2024. REUTERS/Ayal Margolin /File Photo
Smoke rises above Lebanon, following an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, May 5, 2024. REUTERS/Ayal Margolin /File Photo

The Israeli military said it targeted three members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in strikes on southern Lebanon on Sunday.

The Lebanese health ministry said on Sunday that two people had been killed in separate Israeli strikes in the south of the country, which came despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

"Since this morning (Sunday), the (military) has struck three Hezbollah terrorists in several areas in southern Lebanon," the Israeli military said in a statement, AFP reported.

"The terrorists took part in attempts to reestablish Hezbollah's terror infrastructure, and their activities constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," it added, referring to the November 2024 ceasefire.

The agreement sought to end over a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which broke out at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.

Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.

The Lebanese health ministry said earlier on Sunday that an "Israeli enemy strike" on a motorcycle in Yater, south Lebanon, killed one individual and wounded another.

It added later in another statement that a second person was killed in a separate strike on southern Lebanon targeting a car in Safad Al-Battikh.

On Saturday, the Israeli army said it had "temporarily" suspended a planned strike on a building in Yanuh, which it described as Hezbollah infrastructure.

The decision came after the Lebanese army "requested access again to the specified site... and to address the breach of the agreement", the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said.

According to the ceasefire, Hezbollah was required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres from the border with Israel, and have its military infrastructure in the vacated area dismantled.

Under a government-approved plan, Lebanon's army is to conduct the dismantling south of the Litani by the end of the year, before tackling Hezbollah's weapons in the rest of the country.

In a televised speech on Saturday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem, who has repeatedly rejected attempts to disarm the group, said "disarmament will not achieve Israel's goal" of ending resistance, "even if the whole world unites against Lebanon".

Arab World

Syrian Who Killed Americans was Part of Security Forces

Members of the Syrian security forces secure an area -REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Members of the Syrian security forces secure an area -REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
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Syrian Who Killed Americans was Part of Security Forces

Members of the Syrian security forces secure an area -REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Members of the Syrian security forces secure an area -REUTERS/Karam al-Masri

Syria's interior ministry said Sunday the gunman who killed three Americans in the central Palmyra region the previous day was a member of the security forces who was to have been fired for extremism.

Two US troops and a civilian interpreter died in what the Syrian government described as a "terrorist attack" on Saturday, while Washington said it had been carried out by an ISIS militant who was then killed.

The Syrian authorities "had decided to fire him" from the security forces before the attack for holding "extremist ideas" and had planned to do so on Sunday, interior ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba told state television.

A Syrian security official told AFP on Sunday that "11 members of the general security forces were arrested and brought in for questioning after the attack".

The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the gunman had belonged to the security forces "for more than 10 months and was posted to several cities before being transferred to Palmyra".

Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins, was controlled by ISIS at the height of its territorial expansion in Syria.

The incident is the first of its kind reported since the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country's ties with the United States.

US President Donald Trump vowed "very serious retaliation" following Saturday's attack.

A Syrian defense ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity that prior to the attack, US forces had "arrived by land from the direction of the Al-Tanf military base" in southeastern Syria, near the border with Jordan.

"The joint Syrian-American delegation first toured the city of Palmyra, then proceeded to the T-4 airbase before returning to a base in Palmyra", the source added.

A Syrian military official who requested anonymity said on Saturday that the shots were fired "during a meeting between Syrian and American officers" at a Syrian base in Palmyra.

However, a Pentagon official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that the attack "took place in an area where the Syrian president does not have control."

- Warnings -

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the soldiers "were conducting a key leader engagement" in support of counter-terrorism operations when the attack occurred, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted "a joint US-Syrian government patrol".

Trump called the incident "an ISIS attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them", using another term for the group.

He said the three other US troops injured in the incident were "doing well".

The official SANA news agency said the attack also wounded two members of the Syrian security forces.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Damascus "strongly condemns the terrorist attack".

In an interview on state television on Saturday, Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Anwar al-Baba said there had been "prior warnings from the internal security command to allied forces in the desert region".

"The international coalition forces did not take the Syrian warnings of a possible ISIS infiltration into consideration," he said.

ISIS seized swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014 during Syria's civil war, before being territorially defeated in the country five years later.

Its fighters still maintain a presence, however, particularly in Syria's vast desert.

Last month, during Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's historic visit to Washington, Damascus formally joined the US-led global coalition against ISIS.

US forces are deployed in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeast as well as at Al-Tanf near the border with Jordan.