SDF, Int’l Coalition Launch Anti-ISIS Campaign in Eastern Syria

 A resident of the city of Raqqa, northern Syria. (AFP)
A resident of the city of Raqqa, northern Syria. (AFP)
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SDF, Int’l Coalition Launch Anti-ISIS Campaign in Eastern Syria

 A resident of the city of Raqqa, northern Syria. (AFP)
A resident of the city of Raqqa, northern Syria. (AFP)

The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the international coalition forces, stormed Friday al-Zarr village in Dier Ezzor countryside as helicopters searched for ISIS cells, a war monitor reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said clashes erupted between the SDF and suspects as some of them escaped to al-Kassar area in northern Deir Ezzor.

Thirteen people were arrested during the operation, nine of whom were released after investigation.

On Tuesday, SOHR activists reported that the SDF, backed by the international coalition forces, carried out a similar operation in al-Baidar village in al-Karamah district in eastern al-Raqqah countryside.

Two ISIS leaders were arrested. Later, clashes erupted between the raiding force and the wanted men, leaving an ISIS member and his son dead, and another son injured.

This coincided with ISIS retaliatory attacks following the Operation Humanity and Security, which was launched by Asayish in the overcrowded refugee camp on August 25, in light of the increase in acts of murder and violence.

The camp, located 45 km east of al-Hasakah city in northeastern Syria, is considered one of the largest refugee camps in Syria. It houses about 56,000 people, most of whom are displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees.

It also includes a special section for ISIS families, housing 10,000 people from 54 Western and Arab countries.

According to SOHR, ISIS carried out 16 retaliatory attacks, leaving 17 people dead, including two civilians, a child, and 14 members of the SDF and other military formations operating in areas run by the Autonomous Administration.



Lebanon's New President Says to Ensure State Has Exclusive Right to Carry Arms

This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
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Lebanon's New President Says to Ensure State Has Exclusive Right to Carry Arms

This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)
This handout photo released by the Lebanese parliament shows Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivering a speech after his election in Beirut, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by LEBANESE PARLIAMENT / AFP)

Lebanon's newly elected President Joseph Aoun told lawmakers on Thursday that he will work to ensure the state has the exclusive right to carry arms, in his first speech at parliament after he was elected.

His comments were seen partly as a reference to Hezbollah's arsenal, which he had not commented on publicly as the former army commander.

In a first round of voting Thursday, Aoun received 71 out of 128 votes but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to win outright. Of the rest, 37 lawmakers cast blank ballots and 14 voted for “sovereignty and the constitution.”
In the second round, he received 99 votes.

In his speech in parliament, Aoun also pledged to carry out reforms to the judicial system and fight corruption.

He promised to control the country’s borders and “ensure the activation of the security services and to discuss a strategic defense policy that will enable the Lebanese state to remove the Israeli occupation from all Lebanese territories” in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military has not yet withdrawn from dozens of villages.

He also vowed to reconstruct “what the Israeli army destroyed in the south, east and (Beirut’s southern) suburbs.”

Thursday’s vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.

Aoun said he would call for parliamentary consultations as soon as possible on naming a new prime minister.