Activists Condemn SDF’s Arrest of 16 Journalists in Syria's Raqqa

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Activists Condemn SDF’s Arrest of 16 Journalists in Syria's Raqqa

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said on Sunday that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) detained at least 16 journalists in Raqqa on July 30.

This came as activists revealed that the Kurdish-led SDF forces have arrested media figures as part of a security campaign in Syria’s northeastern province.

They said the SDF arrested several journalists working in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and in independent media outlets in Raqqa.

The SNHR report said the 16 arrested journalists were held by the SDF’s intelligence apparatus on Saturday under the pretext of “espionage.”

Meanwhile, activists indicated on their Twitter accounts that a large-scale arrest campaign was launched in Raqqa, targeting media professionals including Ruba Al-Ali, an employee at Hawar Agency, Ammar Al-Khalaf from the Euphrates Heritage Agency and formerly at Hawar, Ammar Haidar, who works at North Press and previously at Hawar, Khaled Al-Hassan in the education committee of the Raqqa Civil Council, and Batoul Al-Hassan in the youth media committee and the “Better Tomorrow” organization, in addition to Abdul Karim Al-Raheel, an employee of the Raqqa Civil Council.

According to the Syrian Press Center, the activists said all the detained journalists were from institutions located in the self-styled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, adding that a number of activists in Raqqa are currently hiding over fears of arrest.

SNHR said the SDF follows a policy similar to the Syrian regime forces during arrest operations, which are not based on any prior judicial warrants.

It said the SDF kidnap the journalists from roads, markets, and public places, or they raid the headquarters of the media agencies and civil groups.

The network expressed fear that the arrested journalists will be subjected to torture during the investigation, and they will be among the forcibly disappeared, similar to the fate of 85 percent of detainees and the disappeared.



At Least 20 Killed in Israeli Strike on Lebanon’s Alamat, Ministry Says

People check the damage a day after Israeli airstrikes that targeted the eastern Lebanese village of Knaisseh near Baalbek in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley on November 10, 2024. (AFP)
People check the damage a day after Israeli airstrikes that targeted the eastern Lebanese village of Knaisseh near Baalbek in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley on November 10, 2024. (AFP)
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At Least 20 Killed in Israeli Strike on Lebanon’s Alamat, Ministry Says

People check the damage a day after Israeli airstrikes that targeted the eastern Lebanese village of Knaisseh near Baalbek in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley on November 10, 2024. (AFP)
People check the damage a day after Israeli airstrikes that targeted the eastern Lebanese village of Knaisseh near Baalbek in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley on November 10, 2024. (AFP)

At least 20 people, including three children, were killed and six others injured in an Israeli strike on Alamat in Lebanon's Mount Lebanon province, Lebanon's health ministry said on Sunday.

Aalmat is located north of Beirut and far from the areas in southern and eastern Lebanon where the Hezbollah group has a major presence.

The Health Ministry said a further six people were wounded. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel after war broke out in Gaza in 2023 in solidarity with the Palestinians and its fellow Iran-backed armed group Hamas.

Israel retaliated, and a series of escalations over several months led to all-out war in September, when Israel carried out a wave of heavy strikes and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well as most of his top commanders.

Since then, Israel has struck areas deeper and deeper inside Lebanon, while Hezbollah has expanded its rocket fire from northern to central Israel. The fighting has killed over 3,000 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry, and more than 70 people in Israel.

In videos purporting to show the aftermath of Sunday's strike in Aalmat, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Beirut, people were seen pulling the body of a little girl out of the rubble. The house had been flattened, and several cars nearby were also damaged.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led fighters blew holes in the border fence and stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. They killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel's offensive has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities who do not distinguish between civilians and militants in their count but say over half the fatalities were women and children.