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Washington Warns Syrian Regime against Attacking the Kurds

US Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) and Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of US Central Command, brief the media at the Pentagon in Washington, US, April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
US Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) and Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of US Central Command, brief the media at the Pentagon in Washington, US, April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
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Washington Warns Syrian Regime against Attacking the Kurds

US Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) and Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of US Central Command, brief the media at the Pentagon in Washington, US, April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
US Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) and Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of US Central Command, brief the media at the Pentagon in Washington, US, April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

US Defense Secretary James Mattis warned the Syrian regime on Friday against launching any attacks against the “Syrian Democratic Forces”, which have liberated the city of Raqqa from ISIS terrorist group.
 
In a news conference at the Pentagon, Mattis said that there was currently a “demarcation line” between areas controlled by the US-led coalition and those controlled by Syria and its Russian allies in western Syria.
 
“We have said that we would operate on one side and the Russians on the other,” Mattis stated. “And we are still taking (ISIS) down. Nothing has changed.”
 
“It’s a mistake” to cross that line, he stressed.
 
The Kremlin announced on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a deal on the expansion of the Russian naval facility in the Syrian port city of Tartus.
 
Franz Klintsevich, vice-president of the upper house of Russian parliament’s defense and security committee, accused the US-led coalition of transferring ISIS leaders from Deir Ezzor by helicopters to the Hassakah countryside, stressing the presence of close cooperation between the coalition and the terrorists.
 
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that buses carrying fighters of “Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham” and their families have headed from Beit Jinn area towards Idlib Province in the Syrian north and Daraa Province in the south.
 
SOHR explained that four buses headed towards Idlib carrying about 100 fighters of “Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham” and their families, while 6 buses have departed carrying fighters of the factions and their families, along with civilians who refused the agreement with the factions of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and the regime forces, towards Daraa.
 
Hezbollah’s “war media” said that the buses carrying the militants of Beit Jann and their families left the assembly center in the southwestern Damascus countryside towards the city of Idlib, “as stipulated in the agreement reached between the Syrian army and the armed groups in the region.”

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Arab World

Yemen Leader Says Will Not Expand Confrontation after Airport Attack

Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, during the meeting (Saba)
Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, during the meeting (Saba)
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Yemen Leader Says Will Not Expand Confrontation after Airport Attack

Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, during the meeting (Saba)
Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, Chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, during the meeting (Saba)

The leader of Yemen's internationally recognised governing council said on Monday that he would not expand his confrontation with the Houthis after his forces hit Sanaa airport to prevent an Iranian plane carrying Houthi delegation from landing.

"I have also ordered that the scope of the confrontation not be expanded in a manner that would achieve Iran's objective of dragging Yemen and its people into wars," said Rashad al-Alimi, who heads the eight-member Presidential Leadership Council.

Al-Alimi also said he had called an emergency meeting of the PLC following the flare-up.

 

 

 

 

Arab World

EU, Partners Launch $1 billion Scheme to Help Gaza Recover from War

Displaced Palestinians shelter in tents near the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in Gaza City, July 6, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Displaced Palestinians shelter in tents near the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in Gaza City, July 6, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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EU, Partners Launch $1 billion Scheme to Help Gaza Recover from War

Displaced Palestinians shelter in tents near the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in Gaza City, July 6, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Displaced Palestinians shelter in tents near the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in Gaza City, July 6, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

The European Commission and more than a dozen countries launched an initiative on Monday to deliver €883.6 million ($1 billion) in aid projects to help Gaza recover from war. The small coastal enclave remains in ruins more than 2-1/2 years after the conflict was triggered by the October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since last October, and the United Nations has estimated the cost of rebuilding work in Gaza at around $70 billion.

The "Team Gaza Initiative", launched at a meeting of aid donors in Brussels, will support projects such as restoring water and sanitation, removing debris and re-establishing health systems, the Commission said in a statement, Reuters reported.

Spain, Denmark, Britain, Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank are taking part in the initiative, along with the Commission itself, the statement said. Australia and Canada are also expected to join.

"Our objective is clear: to help build hope, resilience and a better future for the Palestinian people," said Dubravka Suica, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean.

The European Commission did not provide a breakdown of how much each partner would contribute to the new initiative.

Israel's devastating aerial and ground bombardment of Gaza displaced nearly the entire population of 2 million people, most of whom now live in tents or damaged buildings in a greatly reduced coastal strip of territory governed by Hamas.

Israeli troops control nearly 70% of Gaza, patrolling what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes as a buffer zone to deter Hamas attacks. Netanyahu says Israel will not withdraw from the territory.

Arab World

Hezbollah Insists on Linking Lebanon to Iran-US Negotiations

People stroll along the seafront in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre after the ceasefire agreement was reached (Reuters). 
People stroll along the seafront in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre after the ceasefire agreement was reached (Reuters). 
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Hezbollah Insists on Linking Lebanon to Iran-US Negotiations

People stroll along the seafront in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre after the ceasefire agreement was reached (Reuters). 
People stroll along the seafront in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre after the ceasefire agreement was reached (Reuters). 

As Lebanon places its hopes on direct negotiations with Israel, Hezbollah continues to insist that the Lebanese file be tied to Iran-US talks, with party officials declaring Sunday that Lebanon would be the first item in any final agreement.

Days before a sixth round of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations expected in Rome, Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan said Iranian officials had assured Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem that Lebanon would top the agenda of any potential final agreement with Washington.

“The first item will be a permanent ceasefire, an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal,” Hajj Hassan told a memorial ceremony, calling this a clear and sufficient Iranian commitment.

He also denounced the Framework Agreement between Lebanon and Israel as “full of sins, flaws and loopholes.” It linked redeployment to pilot zones whose number and size remained unclear, he argued, while making disarmament dependent on Israeli satisfaction with the outcome.

Hajj Hassan renewed Hezbollah’s refusal to surrender its weapons. “Disarmament is unattainable,” he told Lebanese officials. “You will not be able to achieve it, and we will not hand over our weapons.”

Fellow Hezbollah MP Ibrahim Mousawi likewise reaffirmed support for the “resistance and its leadership,” maintaining that its popular base would remain steadfast despite mounting pressure.

Mousawi claimed Lebanon was the first item in the memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the United States in Islamabad. He also criticized Lebanon’s negotiating track, arguing that sovereignty was achieved through defending and sacrificing for the country, not through slogans.

President Joseph Aoun, however, has insisted on keeping the Lebanese and Iranian tracks separate.

“Under no circumstances will I allow anyone to negotiate on Lebanon’s behalf,” Aoun said recently, adding that Lebanon had secured Israeli recognition that it had no territorial ambitions in the country.

“The state’s train has left the station, and the decision to establish a state monopoly on weapons will be implemented,” he added.

Meanwhile, Israeli violations continued across southern Lebanon early Sunday. Israeli forces demolished homes in Majdal Zoun, fired toward houses in Mansouri and carried out explosions in Bint Jbeil. Artillery struck Kfar Tibnit, while machine-gun fire was reported from Qantara. An Israeli aircraft also dropped a stun grenade near Mansouri, and artillery fire sparked blazes around Hamra Farm, between Zawtar al-Sharqiya, Arnoun and Yohmor al-Shaqif.

Lt. Col. Ella Waweya, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, maintained that Israel would not allow Hezbollah to rebuild. She wrote on X that the 551st Brigade, under the 91st Division, had completed a two-month deployment in southern Lebanon, during which Israeli troops killed more than 80 Hezbollah members and destroyed over 200 sites, including underground routes, launchers, weapons depots and observation posts.

The developments came as a US military delegation visited Beirut to discuss implementing an Israeli withdrawal from the first pilot zone.

Lebanon, Israel and the United States signed the Framework Agreement in Washington on June 26. It provides for a phased Israeli withdrawal alongside Lebanese Army deployment. Implementation, however, remains stalled by Israel’s demand that further withdrawals be tied to Hezbollah’s disarmament, which the group rejects while continuing to rely on Iran’s role in any future settlement.