Syrian Opposition Delegation in US, Calls Against Normalizing Ties with Regime

The Syrian delegation meets with American officials in Washington. (National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces of Syria)
The Syrian delegation meets with American officials in Washington. (National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces of Syria)
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Syrian Opposition Delegation in US, Calls Against Normalizing Ties with Regime

The Syrian delegation meets with American officials in Washington. (National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces of Syria)
The Syrian delegation meets with American officials in Washington. (National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces of Syria)

A delegation from the National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces of Syria and the Syrian Negotiations Commission held talks with Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations Richard Mills in Washington on Tuesday.

Discussions touched on the latest developments in the political process in Syria.

The delegation included Coalition President Salem al-Meslet, head of the Syrian Negotiations Commission Badr Jamous, co-chair of the Constitutional Committee Hadi al-Bahra, head of the Syrian interim government Abdurrahman Mustafa, and members of the Negotiations Commission Ibrahim Berro and Fadwa al-Ujaili.

In a statement, the Coalition said the meeting focused on the need to revive the political process, implement UN Security Council Resolution 2254 to reach a real political transition in Syria, and pressure Bashar al-Assad's regime to seriously engage in the political process.

The delegation underscored the importance of maintaining the sanctions imposed on the regime under the Caesar Act and preventing any attempt to normalize ties with it.

Moreover, it stressed that the tepid response to the regime’s crimes encouraged Iran to intervene in the region and Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.

The delegation also underlined the need to ensure accountability, seek the release of detainees and the forcibly disappeared in regime prisons, and ensure humanitarian access to Syrians in need.



Hezbollah Chief Says ‘Ceiling’ of Negotiations Between Lebanon and Israel Is ‘Reciprocal Security’

 Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, as seen from Nabatieh, following Israeli strikes reported by local residents, in Lebanon, June 17, 2026. (Reuters).
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, as seen from Nabatieh, following Israeli strikes reported by local residents, in Lebanon, June 17, 2026. (Reuters).
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Hezbollah Chief Says ‘Ceiling’ of Negotiations Between Lebanon and Israel Is ‘Reciprocal Security’

 Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, as seen from Nabatieh, following Israeli strikes reported by local residents, in Lebanon, June 17, 2026. (Reuters).
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, as seen from Nabatieh, following Israeli strikes reported by local residents, in Lebanon, June 17, 2026. (Reuters).

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Wednesday that the "ceiling" ‌to ‌be reached ‌in ⁠negotiations between Lebanon and ⁠Israel was a situation ⁠of "reciprocal security".

In ‌a televised ‌address, Qassem ‌said ‌the group rejects pilot zones ‌agreed in the US-brokered ⁠talks ⁠between Lebanon and Israel.

Qassem said that an understanding reached between Tehran and Washington to end the regional war was a "great victory", and urged Lebanon to seize the moment to expel Israeli forces.

"We congratulate the Iranian people, the resistance and the countries and peoples of the region and the world who yearn for independence and freedom on this great victory," he said in a televised address, urging Lebanon to "benefit from this pivotal point".


More Than 1,000 People Have Been Killed in Gaza During Ceasefire, Health Ministry Says

A boy sweeps through the rubble of a building that was destroyed following Israeli bombardment after an evacuation order, at the Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 12, 2026. (AFP)
A boy sweeps through the rubble of a building that was destroyed following Israeli bombardment after an evacuation order, at the Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 12, 2026. (AFP)
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More Than 1,000 People Have Been Killed in Gaza During Ceasefire, Health Ministry Says

A boy sweeps through the rubble of a building that was destroyed following Israeli bombardment after an evacuation order, at the Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 12, 2026. (AFP)
A boy sweeps through the rubble of a building that was destroyed following Israeli bombardment after an evacuation order, at the Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on June 12, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip have killed 1,005 Palestinians since a ceasefire was reached between Israel and the Hamas group last October, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

The enclave has seen near-daily strikes, as well as shelling and gunfire along the boundary that divides Gaza into Israeli and Palestinian-controlled zones. The most recent deaths were recorded after a series of Israeli drone strikes in the past few days on towns and refugee camps in central Gaza and Gaza City.

Israel has said it is continuing to operate against Hamas and allied fighters in Gaza and has expanded the amount of territory it controls inside the strip.

In a statement Wednesday, the Israeli military said that it killed two fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in strikes over the weekend.

Gaza’s Health Ministry on Sunday said the death toll from the Israel-Hamas war had surpassed 73,000 in Gaza. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.


Israel Approves Settler Building Plans in Palestinian West Bank City

 Israeli soldiers stand by as Palestinian women look on as Israeli bulldozers demolish a Palestinian home, which the Israeli authorities say was built without permission, in Ar-Rifaiyya village, south of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron on June 17, 2026. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers stand by as Palestinian women look on as Israeli bulldozers demolish a Palestinian home, which the Israeli authorities say was built without permission, in Ar-Rifaiyya village, south of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron on June 17, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Approves Settler Building Plans in Palestinian West Bank City

 Israeli soldiers stand by as Palestinian women look on as Israeli bulldozers demolish a Palestinian home, which the Israeli authorities say was built without permission, in Ar-Rifaiyya village, south of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron on June 17, 2026. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers stand by as Palestinian women look on as Israeli bulldozers demolish a Palestinian home, which the Israeli authorities say was built without permission, in Ar-Rifaiyya village, south of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron on June 17, 2026. (AFP)

Israel on Wednesday approved the expansion of a Jewish school for settlers living in the center of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, in a construction push that Palestinians say violates a decades-old agreement.

Israel's finance minister announced the plans a day after saying he had scrapped a deal that gave the Palestinian municipality control over certain planning and construction around Hebron's historic core, home to ‌a flashpoint holy ‌shrine.

The enclave around the Cave ‌of ⁠the Patriarchs - revered ⁠by Muslims, Jews and Christians - is home to more than 1,000 Jewish settlers who live among tens of thousands of Palestinians under complete Israeli security control.

Under the 1997 Hebron Agreement, Israeli troops remain deployed in the area, but construction has generally required approval from the Palestinian ⁠municipality, including around the shrine.

The religious heritage of ‌the city has made ‌it a focal point for Israeli settlers, who are determined ‌to expand the Jewish presence.

Bezalal Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance ‌minister, said construction of a 1,000 square meter building for a Jewish school in Hebron's historic core had been approved.

"We are continuing to build the Land of Israel in ‌practice and to implement practical sovereignty in the settlements," Smotrich, who has said he wants ⁠to bury ⁠the idea of Palestinian statehood, said in a statement.

Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist who lives in Hebron, said he feared Israel's dismantling of parts of the Hebron Agreement would leave Palestinian residents of the city without basic services.

He said that move was aimed at making life miserable for Palestinians and forcing them to leave.

"It means ethnic cleansing of Palestinian families from their homes, and more displacement," he said, describing Israel's actions as stealing Palestinian dreams to have a state "and to live without violence, without fear, with peace".