Kurdish-Iranian Fighter Killed in Turkish Strike on Eastern Syria

A Turkey-backed Syrian fighter is pictured at a military position on the outskirts of the town of Kuljibrin, in Syria's northern Aleppo governorate, on August 8, 2022. (AFP)
A Turkey-backed Syrian fighter is pictured at a military position on the outskirts of the town of Kuljibrin, in Syria's northern Aleppo governorate, on August 8, 2022. (AFP)
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Kurdish-Iranian Fighter Killed in Turkish Strike on Eastern Syria

A Turkey-backed Syrian fighter is pictured at a military position on the outskirts of the town of Kuljibrin, in Syria's northern Aleppo governorate, on August 8, 2022. (AFP)
A Turkey-backed Syrian fighter is pictured at a military position on the outskirts of the town of Kuljibrin, in Syria's northern Aleppo governorate, on August 8, 2022. (AFP)

Turkish forced killed a senior commander of the anti-Iran Kurdistan Free Life Party in a drone strike in Syria’s northeaster Qamishli province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights identified the commander as an Iranian, who died of his wounds four day after the strike.

The attack targeted his vehicle in the industrial zone in Qamishli city.

The rights monitor confirmed that the commander was the intended target. He was followed from Syria's Amuda all the way to Qamishli where the strike was carried out.

Reports said Turkish and Iranian intelligence coordinated the attack.

Four other people were killed in the operation including three civilians that included two children. Another member of the Kurdistan Free Life Party was also killed in the strike.

The Kurdish autonomous administration in northeastern Syria confirmed the killing of the Kurdish-Iranian commander, identified as Youssef Mahmoud Rabbani.

It revealed that the attack had taken place on August 7.

It said Rabbani was in the area to hold meetings with people to bridge divides between them.

The Kurdistan Free Life Party was formed in 2004 as an extension of the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Its members fight alongside the PKK and Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria that control large parts of the country’s northeast since 2013.

The autonomous authority rarely declares the death of non-Syrian military members of the YPG or Syrian Democratic Forces.



Israel Says it Will Maintain Control of Gaza-Egypt Crossing

Hamas militants secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Hamas militants secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Israel Says it Will Maintain Control of Gaza-Egypt Crossing

Hamas militants secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Hamas militants secure aid trucks that arrived the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, days after a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel says it will maintain control of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip during the first phase of the ceasefire with Hamas.

A statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu´s office on Wednesday denied reports that the Palestinian Authority would control the crossing.

It said local Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas who had been vetted by Israeli security would merely stamp passports at the crossing. It noted that, under international agreements, this stamp "is the only way Gazans may leave the Strip in order to enter, or be received in, other countries."

According to The AP, the statement said Israeli forces would surround the crossing and that Israel must approve the movement of all people and goods through it. It said European Union monitors would supervise the crossing.

Israel captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing last May, forcing it to shut down. Egypt, a key mediator in more than a year of negotiations that led to the ceasefire, has demanded that Palestinians control the Gaza side.

Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Gaza says trucks from the UN, aid groups, governments and the private sector are arriving and no major looting has been reported -- just a few minor incidents.

Nearly 900 trucks of aid entered Gaza on the third day of the ceasefire Tuesday, the United Nations said. That's significantly higher than the 600 trucks called for in the deal.

Muhannad Hadi, who returned to Jerusalem from Gaza on Tuesday afternoon, told UN reporters by video that it was one of the happiest days of his 35-year humanitarian career to see Palestinians in the streets looking ahead with hope, some heading home and some starting to clean up the roads.

In his talks with families at a communal kitchen run by the UN World Food Program and elsewhere, he said, they all told him they need humanitarian assistance but want to go home, to work and earn money.

"They don´t like the fact that they have been depending on humanitarian aid," Hadi said.

Palestinians talked about resuming education for their children and about the need for shelter, blankets and new clothes for women who have been wearing the same clothes for more than a year. He said a shipment of tents is expected in the coming days.