عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

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
TT
20
TT

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.”

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Activist Aid Ship Nears Gaza After Reaching Egypt Coast

Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)
Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)
TT
20
TT

Activist Aid Ship Nears Gaza After Reaching Egypt Coast

Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)
Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP)

An aid ship with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, has reached the Egyptian coast and is nearing the besieged Palestinian territory, organizers said on Saturday.

The Madleen, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Sicily last week with a cargo of relief supplies "to break Israel's blockade on Gaza".

"We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast," German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. "We are all good," she added.

In a statement from London on Saturday, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza -- a member organization of the flotilla coalition -- said the ship had entered Egyptian waters.

The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies to ensure the safety of those on board, warning that any interception would constitute "a blatant violation of international humanitarian law".

European parliament member Rima Hassan, who is on board the vessel, urged governments to "guarantee safe passage for the Freedom Flotilla."

The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war and Israel has enforced its blockade with military action in the past.

A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar aid flotilla trying to breach the blockade, left 10 civilians dead.

In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, reported coming under drone attack while en route for Gaza, prompting Cyprus and Malta to send rescue vessels in response to its distress call. There were no reports of any casualties.

Earlier in its voyage, the Madleen changed course near the Greek island of Crete after receiving a distress signal from a sinking migrant boat.

Activists rescued four Sudanese migrants who had jumped into the sea to avoid being returned to Libya. The four were later transferred to an EU Frontex vessel.

Launched in 2010, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is a coalition of groups opposed to the blockade on humanitarian aid for Gaza that Israel imposed on March 2 and has only partially eased since.

Israel has faced mounting international condemnation over the resulting humanitarian crisis in the territory, where the United Nations has warned the entire population of more than two million is at risk of famine.