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Muslims Pray at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa at Start of Ramadan

Palestinians attending the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city, 24 March 2023. (EPA)
Palestinians attending the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city, 24 March 2023. (EPA)
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Muslims Pray at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa at Start of Ramadan

Palestinians attending the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city, 24 March 2023. (EPA)
Palestinians attending the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city, 24 March 2023. (EPA)

Tens of thousands of worshippers attended Friday prayers at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the first in the holy month of Ramadan, AFP correspondents said, amid heightened tensions in the region.

Authorities said the prayers at Islam's third holiest site passed peacefully despite concerns over a recent surge in violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The mosque compound in the Israeli-annexed Old City of east Jerusalem has previously seen clashes and violence between Palestinians and Israelis, particularly during Ramadan.

Azzam al-Khatib, head of the Jordanian Waqf Islamic affairs council which administers the compound, told AFP "the prayers went peacefully and everything went well."

Israeli officials estimated the number of worshippers at more than 80,000 while the Waqf said 100,000 had attended the afternoon prayer.

Israeli police said it had deployed 2,300 officers across the city for the day.

A massive crowd streamed through the Bab al-Silsilah entrance to the compound with prayer mats in hand, an AFP correspondent said, while some posed for photos in front of the iconic golden Dome of the Rock.

The holy Muslim site is built on top of what Jews call the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

An AFP photographer saw a masked man waving the flag of the armed wing of the Hamas movement, Al-Qassam Brigades, while a Hamas banner was unfurled from one of the compound's porticos.

Aboud Hassan, 62, had travelled early on Friday morning from the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

"Ramadan is the most important month of the year, and nothing matters to me except Al-Aqsa," he said.

"Nobody can stop us from praying at Al-Aqsa, thank God. The prayers today went smoothly and without problems, thank God."

An AFP photographer saw huge queues at Qalandiya checkpoint, one of the main crossing points from the occupied West Bank into Israel, after Israeli authorities had eased restrictions on West Bank Palestinians visiting Jerusalem for prayer.

Worshipper Ebtissam Barrak, 26, said "nearly all the roads" in the area were blocked.

"Of course, we fear escalation but we hope that Ramadan will be peaceful... and that Muslims will be able to enter Al-Aqsa to pray without any problems between Jews and Arabs," she added.

Last week Hamas warned Israel it would react to any "violations" at the compound during Ramadan.

Any attempt by Israel to "impose" its policies during Ramadan would be met with the "reaction of our people", said a statement attributed to Saleh al-Aruri, deputy head of the Gaza-based group's political bureau.

Since the start of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 87 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians.

Fourteen Israeli adults and children, including members of the security forces and civilians, and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

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Arab World

Syria Authorities Arrest Official behind Saydnaya Death Penalties

Syria has been at war since Assad cracked down on democracy protests in 2011 - AFP
Syria has been at war since Assad cracked down on democracy protests in 2011 - AFP
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Syria Authorities Arrest Official behind Saydnaya Death Penalties

Syria has been at war since Assad cracked down on democracy protests in 2011 - AFP
Syria has been at war since Assad cracked down on democracy protests in 2011 - AFP

Syria's new authorities have arrested a military justice official who under ousted president Bashar al-Assad issued death sentences for detainees in the notorious Saydnaya prison, a war monitor said Thursday.

The confirmation by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights of his detention came a day after deadly clashes erupted in the coastal province of Tartus, an Assad stronghold, when gunmen sought to protect him.

Mohammed Kanjo Hassan is the highest-ranking officer whose arrest has been announced since Assad's ousting on December 8.
Assad fled for Russia after an opposition-led offensive wrested from his control city after city until Damascus fell, ending his clan's five-decade rule and sparking celebrations in Syria and beyond.
The offensive caught Assad and his inner circle by surprise and while fleeing the country he took with him only a handful of confidants.

Many others were left behind, including his brother Maher al-Assad, who according to a Syrian military source fled to Iraq before heading to Russia.

Other collaborators were believed to have taken refuge in their hometowns in Alawite regions that were once a stronghold of the Assad clan.

- Thousands of death sentences -

According to the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Saydnaya Prison, Kanjo Hassan headed Syria's military field court from 2011 to 2014, the first three years of the war that began with Assad's crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired democracy protests.

He was later promoted to chief of military justice nationwide, the group's co-founder Diab Serriya said, adding that he sentenced "thousands of people" to death.

The Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomised the atrocities committed against Assad's opponents.

The fate of tens of thousands of prisoners and missing people remains one of the most harrowing legacies of his rule, according to AFP.

After 13 years of civil war, Syria's new leaders from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) face the monumental task of safeguarding the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country from further collapse.

With its roots in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda, HTS has moderated its rhetoric and vowed to ensure protection for minorities, including the Alawite community from which Assad hails.

With 500,000 killed in the war and more than 100,000 still missing, the new authorities have also pledged justice for the victims of abuses under the deposed ruler.

They also face the substantial task of restoring security to a country ravaged by war and where arms have become ubiquitous.

- Hate or revenge -

During the offensive that precipitated Assad's ousting, opposition factions flung open the doors of prisons and detention centres around the country, letting out thousands of people.

In central Damascus, relatives of some of the missing have hung up posters of their loved ones in the hope that with Assad gone, they may one day learn what happened to them.

World powers and international organizations have called for the urgent establishment of mechanisms for accountability.

With the judiciary not yet reorganized since Assad's toppling, it is unclear how detainees suspected of crimes linked to the former authorities will be tried.

Some members of the Alawite community fear that with Assad gone, they will be at risk of attacks from groups hungry for revenge or driven by sectarian hate.

On Wednesday, angry protests erupted in several areas around Syria, including Assad's hometown of Qardaha, over a video showing an attack on an Alawite shrine that circulated online.

The Observatory said that one demonstrator was killed and five others wounded "after security forces... opened fire to disperse" a crowd in the central city of Homs.

On Thursday, the Observatory reported deadly clashes in Homs province between security forces and gunmen from a gang allegedly involved in murders and kidnappings under the former government.

State news agency SANA reported that the fighting erupted when "outlawed groups affiliated with Assad's militias" attacked the new authorities' forces.

- 'We want peace' -

On Thursday, the information ministry introduced a ban on publishing or distributing "any content or information with a sectarian nature aimed at spreading division and discrimination".

In one of Wednesday's protests over the video, large crowds chanted slogans including "Alawite, Sunni, we want peace".

Assad long presented himself as a protector of minority groups in Sunni-majority Syria, though critics said he played on sectarian divisions to stay in power.

In Homs, where the authorities imposed a nighttime curfew, 42-year-old resident Hadi reported "a vast deployment of HTS men in areas where there were protests".

"There is a lot of fear," he said.

In coastal Latakia, protester Ghidak Mayya, 30, said that for now, Alawites were "listening to calls for calm", but that putting too much pressure on the community "risks an explosion".

Noting the anxieties, Sam Heller of the Century Foundation think tank told AFP that Syria's new rulers had to balance dealing with sectarian tensions while promising that those responsible for abuses under Assad would be held accountable.

"But they're obviously also contending with what seems like a real desire on the part of some of their constituents for what they would say is accountability, maybe also revenge, it depends on how you want to characterize it," he said.