Jia Kurd to Asharq Al-Awsat: Moscow Meeting Legalizes Turkish Occupation


The head of Foreign Relations at the Kurdish The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syrian (AANES), Badran Jia Kurd (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The head of Foreign Relations at the Kurdish The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syrian (AANES), Badran Jia Kurd (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Jia Kurd to Asharq Al-Awsat: Moscow Meeting Legalizes Turkish Occupation


The head of Foreign Relations at the Kurdish The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syrian (AANES), Badran Jia Kurd (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The head of Foreign Relations at the Kurdish The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syrian (AANES), Badran Jia Kurd (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Badran Jia Kurd, a Kurdish official who heads the foreign relations department of The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syrian (AANES), has warned that the new agreements between Damascus and Ankara "will be at the expense of the Syrian people."

On Tuesday, the quartet meeting at the level of deputy foreign ministers of Türkiye, Russia, Iran, and Syria agreed to continue consultations regarding Syria.

Jia Kurd explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that without clear criteria for a comprehensive political solution to the Syrian situation, any consensus would lead to the political legitimization of the Turkish occupation.

He stressed that these meetings target the Kurdish Autonomous Administration project, saying it was a new attempt to push Syria towards civil war.

The official said the recent meeting in Moscow comes in a preliminary context to improve diplomatic relations between Damascus and Ankara and is a continuation of the Astana meetings.

He noted that the Syrian people do not have high hopes for such meetings, noting that the crisis has become "global," and bilateral or tripartite meetings cannot determine the basic features of the final political solution, especially since the Syrian decision has been usurped.

The meetings are "a waste of time" and a "lost bet on time," said Jia Kurd, adding that such "suspicious meetings cannot bring about a political solution that guarantees the rights of all Syrians."

He believes the talks would further complicate matters in light of Türkiye's destructive role in Syria.

The Kurdish official indicated that the authorities agreed with Damascus in demanding the complete and total withdrawal of Turkish forces from the Syrian territories and the need to stop interfering in internal affairs.

He explained that any process of reconciliation and normalization must occur under international law and the standards governing relations between countries, which would otherwise legitimize the occupation.

Jia Kurd called on the Syrian regime to launch a genuine dialogue with all the Syrian factions, urging Syria to be an active country and engage with its regional and global regions.

The Syrian regime needs to overcome the internal crisis and formulate a new policy for the country, setting guarantees and creating conditions for the return of all Syrians to their areas of origin.

However, the official ruled out reaching "new consensuses" under the current circumstances saying the conditions are not appropriate and not ready for such talks amid the ongoing Turkish occupation of the Syrian lands.

Jia Kurd denied that these meetings would turn overnight into a stabilizing factor and offer solutions amid Türkiye's continued occupation and the endless support for terrorist and extremist groups that commit massacres daily against the people.



Israel Military Opens Probe into West Bank Baby’s Killing

Fahd Abou Haikal, a Palestinian man comforts his elder son Kinan Abou Haikal after burying his seven-month-old baby Sam Fahd Abou Haikal, in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank on June 6, 2026. (AFP)
Fahd Abou Haikal, a Palestinian man comforts his elder son Kinan Abou Haikal after burying his seven-month-old baby Sam Fahd Abou Haikal, in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank on June 6, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Military Opens Probe into West Bank Baby’s Killing

Fahd Abou Haikal, a Palestinian man comforts his elder son Kinan Abou Haikal after burying his seven-month-old baby Sam Fahd Abou Haikal, in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank on June 6, 2026. (AFP)
Fahd Abou Haikal, a Palestinian man comforts his elder son Kinan Abou Haikal after burying his seven-month-old baby Sam Fahd Abou Haikal, in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank on June 6, 2026. (AFP)

The Israeli military has opened an investigation into the killing of a seven-month-old infant by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank, it said Sunday.

Sam Fahd Abou Haikal died and his parents sustained light injuries when Israeli forces opened fire on the family's car in the city of Hebron, according to Palestinian sources.

Shortly after Friday's incident, the military said its forces had fired after "soldiers perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them".

However, an initial inquiry found the three Palestinians were "uninvolved civilians".

On Sunday, the military said it was opening an investigation into the incident.

"Based on the findings of the preliminary examination, it was decided to open an investigation by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division," the military said in a statement.

"Upon its conclusion, the findings will be transferred to the Military Advocate General's Office."

Since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023 with Hamas's attack on Israel, near-daily violence has also rocked the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,080 Palestinians since then, including both fighters and civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry data.

Official Israeli figures show that at least 46 Israelis, both civilians and soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period.


Israel Kills Nine in Gaza as Egypt Hosts New Ceasefire Talks

Palestinians look at the wreckage of a car hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on June 7, 2026. (AFP)
Palestinians look at the wreckage of a car hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on June 7, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Kills Nine in Gaza as Egypt Hosts New Ceasefire Talks

Palestinians look at the wreckage of a car hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on June 7, 2026. (AFP)
Palestinians look at the wreckage of a car hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on June 7, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli strikes on a Hamas-run police station and a vehicle in the Gaza Strip killed at least nine people and wounded 20 others, health officials said, as mediators began new efforts to salvage a fragile US-brokered ceasefire deal.

One strike hit a police post adjacent to a large tent encampment of displaced families in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave, killing five people and wounding 16 others, medics said. They did not say how many of the casualties were police.

Israel has stepped up attacks against police headquarters and personnel in the past several months, killing dozens of them, according to Hamas security officials.

Later on ‌Sunday, another Israeli ‌airstrike killed four people and wounded four others when it hit a ‌vehicle ⁠driving through the middle ⁠of Gaza City, medics said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incidents.

Major fighting has been paused since October under a ceasefire after two years of war, but no agreement has been reached to implement a further US-backed plan for Israeli troops to withdraw, Hamas to disarm and Gaza to be rebuilt.

Israeli troops still control more than half of Gaza's territory, where they have ordered residents out and destroyed remaining buildings. Nearly the entire population of 2 million now lives in a tiny strip of land along ⁠the coast, mainly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, under Hamas control.

Hamas' ‌nearly 10,000 police officers have emerged as a sticking point ‌in talks to advance US President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza. Hamas wants them included in a new ‌police force; Israel rejects a role for any Hamas-affiliated personnel.

Egypt began hosting a new round of ‌truce talks with leaders from Hamas and other Palestinian factions, sources from Hamas and other sources close to the negotiations said. The talks are expected to last for a few days.

Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce. Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 950 Palestinians since the start of the ‌truce, while Palestinian attacks have killed four Israeli soldiers.

Last year's deal established a Board of Peace led by Trump to oversee a phased ⁠ceasefire and was ratified ⁠by the United Nations Security Council.

However, many of the toughest areas of dispute, including the disarmament of Hamas, Israeli withdrawal and make-up of a Gaza government, were postponed to later in the process. The Board of Peace negotiators have been talking to both sides on the disarmament issue.

Hamas told envoys from the Board and mediators Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye that ending Israeli attacks in Gaza was essential for any progress, sources from the group and officials close to the talks said.

Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, said on Sunday the group was open to ideas that would lead to ending Israeli attacks in Gaza and reaching common ground over issues of the second phase of the Trump plan. But he said the Board of Peace should stop being "biased" towards Israel.

Nearly 73,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the war started, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel launched its assault after Hamas-led fighters broke across the border, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 Israeli and foreign hostages on October 7, 2023.


Trump Urges More ‘Surgical’ Strikes Against Hezbollah

US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while aboard Air Force One on June 5, 2026 en route to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. (Getty Images/AFP)
US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while aboard Air Force One on June 5, 2026 en route to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Trump Urges More ‘Surgical’ Strikes Against Hezbollah

US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while aboard Air Force One on June 5, 2026 en route to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. (Getty Images/AFP)
US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while aboard Air Force One on June 5, 2026 en route to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. (Getty Images/AFP)

US President Donald Trump called for more "surgical" strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon and said he is not demanding the conflict be included in a peace deal with Iran, in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"I'd like to see a more surgical attack on Hezbollah. I think it should be more surgical," Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press," according to a transcript of the interview recorded Friday.

"I'd like to see Lebanon have a better life," he added.

Israel carried out strikes on Sunday on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, saying it was retaliating for attacks targeting its territory despite a ceasefire that has not stopped the cycle of violence.

Asked whether he was demanding that Lebanon be included in the Iran deal, Trump replied: "No, no."

"Not at all. I'm not demanding," he said. "I think they'd like to see it, but I'm not demanding."

Trump has said previously he would like to "separate" the discussions on Lebanon from the negotiations on an agreement with Iran, while Tehran, on the contrary, wants to link the two conflicts.

Trump confirmed in an interview last week with The New York Post that he had a tense phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during which he reportedly reprimanded his close ally about the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have destroyed numerous buildings and killed more than 3,560 people since the restart of fighting on March 2, according to the latest official figures.

On the Israeli side, 29 soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed in Lebanon, according to the army.

Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the broader Middle East war when it began attacking Israel to avenge Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first wave of the US-Israel offensive.

A ceasefire that was supposed to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on April 17, but has never been fully respected.

In the interview, Trump also said that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa would "love to help" forge an agreement in the Lebanon conflict.

"We can recommend Syria. Syria's doing a very good job of cleaning up their act. They have a very good leader," he said. "And he would love to help."