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.



Survivors, Bodies Recovered from Capsized Red Sea Tourist Boat

25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)
25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)
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Survivors, Bodies Recovered from Capsized Red Sea Tourist Boat

25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)
25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)

Rescuers on Tuesday recovered five survivors and four bodies from a dive boat that capsized off Egypt's eastern coast a day earlier, Red Sea governor Amr Hanafi said.  

A military-led team rescued two Belgians, one Swiss national, one Finnish tourist and one Egyptian, the governor said, bringing the total number of survivors from the accident to 33.  

The "Sea Story" had been carrying 31 tourists of multiple nationalities and a 13-member crew when it was hit by a large wave near Marsa Alam in southeastern Egypt early on Monday, causing it to capsize.

The four bodies recovered on Tuesday have not yet been identified, and eight people are still missing after 28 were rescued on Monday.

A government source close to rescue operations said the five survivors were found on Tuesday morning inside the boat, which the governor said had been thrown on its side by an early morning wave but had not completely sunk.  

The group had spent at least 24 hours in the overturned vessel after authorities first received distress calls at 5:30 AM (0330 GMT) on Monday.  

"Rescue operations are ongoing today, supported by a military helicopter and a frigate in addition to multiple divers," the Red Sea governor told AFP Tuesday, declining to provide any further details about the operation.  

The four bodies recovered on Tuesday were also located inside the stricken vessel.  

The boat had embarked on a multi-day diving trip on Sunday and had been due to dock on Friday at the town of Hurghada, 200 kilometers (124 miles) north.  

The governor on Monday said it capsized "suddenly and quickly within 5-7 minutes" of the impact with the wave, leaving some passengers -- among them European, Chinese and American tourists -- unable to set out of their cabins in time.  

- Still missing -  

Rescuers from the military and a passing tourist boat pulled 28 people from the water on Monday.  

According to a source at a hospital in Marsa Alam, six tourists and three Egyptians were admitted with minor injuries and discharged on Monday.   

According to the governor's office, the boat was carrying tourists from Belgium, Britain, China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.  

Among the missing are two Polish tourists and one from Finland, according to both countries' foreign ministries.  

Authorities in Egypt have said the vessel was fully licensed and had passed all inspection checks. A preliminary investigation showed no technical fault.  

There were at least two similar boat accidents in the Marsa Alam area earlier this year, but no fatalities.  

The Red Sea coast is a major tourist destination in Egypt, a country of 107 million that is in the grip of a serious economic crisis.  

Nationally, the tourism sector employs two million people and generates more than 10 percent of its GDP.  

Dozens of dive boats crisscross between Red Sea coral reefs and islands off Egypt's eastern coast every day, where safety regulations are robust but unevenly enforced.