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Arab League Denounces Israeli Escalation in Palestine

Ahmed Aboul Gheit (The official website of the Arab League)
Ahmed Aboul Gheit (The official website of the Arab League)
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Arab League Denounces Israeli Escalation in Palestine

Ahmed Aboul Gheit (The official website of the Arab League)
Ahmed Aboul Gheit (The official website of the Arab League)

The Arab League (AL) has condemned the recent Israeli escalation in Palestine.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit warned in a press release on Wednesday against targeting and killing Palestinians in cold blood.

He called on the international community to intervene to protect the civilians in the occupied territories and to stop the Israeli “killing machine.”

The secretary-general’s spokesman, Jamal Rushdie, noted that the violence has increased since the beginning of this year.

In his statement published on the AL website, Rushdie said five Palestinians were killed in separate incidents by Israeli orces on Tuesday.

Aboul Gheit linked the systematic escalation to the rise of the Israeli right wing and its dominance over Israeli politics.

He warned that “highly extremist members” have preoccupied the political scene in Israel, warning that this could have “dangerous” consequences.

The secretary-general considered that jeopardizing the Palestinians’ security and depriving them of any political prospect could ignite the situation in a manner “that serves no one”.

His statement came amid the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people which falls on November 29.

The Arab League witnessed several events on this occasion in addition to the release of official statements from the UN and some countries calling for relaunching the peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.

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US Eases Restrictions on Syria While Keeping Sanctions in Place

A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Eases Restrictions on Syria While Keeping Sanctions in Place

A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)

The US on Monday eased some restrictions on Syria's transitional government to allow the entry of humanitarian aid after opposition factions ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last month.

The US Treasury issued a general license, lasting six months, that authorizes certain transactions with the Syrian government, including some energy sales and incidental transactions.

The move does not lift sanctions on the nation that has been battered by more than a decade of war, but indicates a limited show of US support for the new transitional government.

The general license underscores America's commitment to ensuring its sanctions “do not impede activities to meet basic human needs, including the provision of public services or humanitarian assistance,” a Treasury Department statement reads.

Since Assad's ouster, representatives from the nation's new de facto authorities have said that the new Syria will be inclusive and open to the world.

The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaeda, and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first US diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad’s ouster. The US and UN have long designated HTS as a terrorist organization.

HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.

Much of the world ended diplomatic relations with Assad because of his crackdown on protesters, and sanctioned him and his Russian and Iranian associates.

Syria’s infrastructure has been battered, with power cuts rampant in the country and some 90% of its population living in poverty. About half the population won’t know where its next meal will come from, as inflation surges.

The pressure to lift sanctions has mounted in recent years as aid agencies continue to cut programs due to donor fatigue and a massive 2023 earthquake that rocked Syria and Türkiye. The tremor killed over 59,000 people and destroyed critical infrastructure that couldn’t be fixed due to sanctions and overcompliance, despite the US announcing some humanitarian exemptions.