With Help from Hezbollah, Syrian Officers Arrested for ‘Collaborating with Israel’

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeting the Aleppo International Airport in Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeting the Aleppo International Airport in Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
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With Help from Hezbollah, Syrian Officers Arrested for ‘Collaborating with Israel’

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeting the Aleppo International Airport in Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeting the Aleppo International Airport in Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

The Syrian air and military intelligence kicked off a wide wave of arrests against regime officers in Damascus and Aleppo on charges of “collaborating with hostile parties”, revealed the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The crackdown was launched in early September.

Sources said dozens of the detained were held on charges of collaborating with and sending coordinates over to Israel, which had recently struck airports in Aleppo and Damascus.

The detained include officers from the air defense and others in the military units that are active at the two airports. Others were held in Masyaf and Tartus.

The arrests were made with the help of the Lebanese Hezbollah party, whose intelligence agents are active in Syria.

Some of the detained were released after interrogation. Twenty-seven remain held.

Director of the Observatory, Rami Abdulrahman, said that out of the 27 detainees, eleven hold the rank of officer.

Sources added that civilians were also targeted in the crackdown.

The Observatory confirmed the arrest of 15 people in wake of an Israeli raid on an airport on August 31. Some have since been released.

Israel launched a missile attack on Tuesday night targeting Aleppo’s airport for the second time in a week and all flights were diverted to the capital Damascus.

The strike tore large craters in three spots on the facility’s runway, satellite images analyzed Thursday by The Associated Press show.

Israel also launched airstrikes at Aleppo airport last week, damaging its runway and, according to the Observatory, a warehouse that likely stored a shipment of Iranian rockets.

Last week’s strike tore a hole in the runway and also damaged a structure close to the military side of the airfield, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed.

On June 10, Israeli airstrikes that struck Damascus International Airport caused significant damage to infrastructure and runways and rendered the main runway unserviceable. The airport opened two weeks later following renovation work.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.

Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.



Trump Says Must End Conflict in Lebanon

 Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump reacts after complaining about its sound during a campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US November 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump reacts after complaining about its sound during a campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US November 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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Trump Says Must End Conflict in Lebanon

 Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump reacts after complaining about its sound during a campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US November 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump reacts after complaining about its sound during a campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US November 1, 2024. (Reuters)

Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday, speaking to an audience including Arab Americans in the battleground state of Michigan, said it was time to get the Israel-Lebanon conflict over with.

"I know many people from Lebanon and we have to get this whole thing over with," he said.

Trump on Friday met with Arab Americans in Dearborn, Michigan — the nation’s largest Arab-majority city — as the Republican presidential nominee works to court the potentially decisive group despite his history of Islamophobic rhetoric and policy.

Trump was greeted with cheers and applause from a modest crowd at The Great Commoner restaurant in one of his campaign’s final attempts to garner support in the key battleground state.

Metro Detroit is home to the nation’s largest concentration of Arab Americans, with a large chunk of them living in Dearborn. The city — which Democrat Joe Biden won by a 3-to-1 margin in 2020 — has been roiled by political turmoil, with many upset with the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Democrats worry that anger over the war will lead traditionally loyal voters to shift their votes to Trump or third-party candidates like Jill Stein — or skip the top of the ballot altogether. This could prove pivotal in Michigan, a state both parties see as a toss-up.

While the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, has been working through surrogates to ease community tensions, Trump’s visit marked the first by either candidate, according to a local leader, Osama Siblani. Earlier this year, Harris met with the city’s Democratic mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, though their discussion took place outside Dearborn.

The meeting with Arab supporters Friday follows Trump’s rally in Michigan last week, when he brought local Muslims up onstage with him. Trump has also received endorsements from two Democratic mayors of Muslim-majority cities.

"It is time to prioritize our nation’s best interests and foster lasting peace for all," Albert Abbas, an Arab American, said Friday while standing next to Trump. "This current administration has failed miserably in all aspects of humanity."

He added, "We look to a Trump presidency with hope and envisioning a time where peace flourishes, particularly in Lebanon and Palestine."

While many Democratic leaders in the Arab community have not endorsed Harris, they are still deeply negative toward Trump and say his endorsements don’t reflect a majority of the community. They remember his call for a "total and complete shutdown" on Muslims entering the country and his travel restrictions on visitors from Muslim-majority countries. And some point out that Trump has suggested he would give Israel even more leeway to attack its rivals in the region.

Top community leaders in Dearborn, including Hammoud, declined an invitation to meet with Trump while he was in town. Many community leaders say that while Harris has never earned their endorsement, they are still overwhelmingly opposed to Trump.

Siblani, a prominent figure in the community who has engaged with Democratic leaders about ongoing tensions, noted that many "do not trust" Trump because of his past policies and remarks. However, he emphasized the significance of Trump’s visit to Dearborn.

"Kamala should have done this months ago," Siblani said.

Harris defended her record on the issue Friday, telling reporters that she’s "proud to have significant amount of support from the Arab American community," while adding that she continues to push for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages.

Israel invaded Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and last month launched an invasion of Lebanon to suppress Hezbollah, the party that has continuously launched rockets into Israeli territory. At least 43,000 people have died in Gaza, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish in its death toll between combatants and civilians.

Abbas said Trump allies had reached out to him several weeks ago about hosting Trump in Dearborn. Before hosting Trump, Abbas said he wanted to see a statement from Trump that he said showed Trump "has the intentions of ending the war and helping us rebuild Lebanon and helping the displaced and the injured."

That statement came Wednesday, when Trump posted on X that he wanted to "stop the suffering and destruction in Lebanon."

"I will preserve the equal partnership among all Lebanese communities," Trump said on X. "Your friends and family in Lebanon deserve to live in peace, prosperity, and harmony with their neighbors, and that can only happen with peace and stability in the Middle East."

Once Trump put out the statement, Abbas said he agreed to host the event.