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Tunisian Judges Extend Strike over Sackings

A view shows an empty courtroom during a strike by Tunisian judges in a protest against a purge of their ranks, in Tunis, Tunisia, June 6, 2022. (Reuters)
A view shows an empty courtroom during a strike by Tunisian judges in a protest against a purge of their ranks, in Tunis, Tunisia, June 6, 2022. (Reuters)
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Tunisian Judges Extend Strike over Sackings

A view shows an empty courtroom during a strike by Tunisian judges in a protest against a purge of their ranks, in Tunis, Tunisia, June 6, 2022. (Reuters)
A view shows an empty courtroom during a strike by Tunisian judges in a protest against a purge of their ranks, in Tunis, Tunisia, June 6, 2022. (Reuters)

Tunisian judges decided on Saturday to extend their national strike for a third week in protest against a decision by President Kais Saied to sack dozens of them, judges said.

Saied dismissed 57 judges on June 1, accusing them of corruption and protecting terrorists - charges that the Tunisian Judges' Association said were mostly politically motivated.

Judges suspended their work in courts on June 4 and said the president's decisions were designed to control the judiciary and its use against his political opponents.

"The judges decided unanimously to extend the strike for a third week ... to hold a day of rage in which the judges will protest in the streets in their uniforms," Mourad Massoudi, the head of the Young Judges Association, told Reuters.

He said members of judges had decided to stage a hunger strike against the decision to dismiss them. Another judge, Hamadi Rahmani, confirmed the decisions.

Saied's move heightened accusations at home and abroad that he has consolidated one-man rule after assuming executive powers last summer. He subsequently set aside the 2014 constitution to rule by decree and dismissed the elected parliament.

Saied says his moves are needed to cleanse the judiciary of rampant corruption and that does not aim to control the judiciary.

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Assad Loyalists Kill at Least 13 Police Officers in Ambush on Syrian Forces in Coastal Town

Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Assad Loyalists Kill at Least 13 Police Officers in Ambush on Syrian Forces in Coastal Town

Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Vehicles of members of Syria's new authorities security forces block a road in al-Sanamayn, in the southern province of Daraa, during a reported large scale military campaign on March 5, 2025. (AFP)

Gunmen ambushed a Syrian police patrol in a coastal town Thursday, leaving at least 13 security members dead and many others wounded, a monitoring group and a local official said.

The attack came amid tensions in Syria’s coastal region between former President Bashar Assad’s minority Alawite sect and members of armed groups. Assad was overthrown in early December in an offensive of opposition factions led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the ambush in the town of Jableh, near the city of Latakia, killed at least 16. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the monitoring group, said the gunmen who ambushed the police force are Alawites.

“These are the worst clashes since the fall of the regime,” Abdurrahman said.

A local official in Damascus told The Associated Press that 13 members of the General Security directorate were killed in the ambush. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release security information to the media.

Conflicting casualties figures are not uncommon in the immediate aftermath of attacks in Syria’s 13-year conflict that has killed half a million people.

The pan Arab Al-Jazeera TV broadcaster said its cameraman Riad al-Hussein was wounded while covering the clashes.

The SANA state-news agency reported that large reinforcements were being sent to the coastal region to get the situation under control.

The Syrian Observatory said helicopter gunships took part in attacking Alawite gunmen and Jableh and nearby areas. It added that fighters loyal to former Syrian army Gen. Suheil al-Hassan, also known as Tiger, took part in the attacks against security forces.

Tensions have been on the rise in Syria with reports of attacks by militants against Alawites who had led the rule in Syria for more than five decades under the Assad family.