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Russia Sponsors New Settlement in Syria’s West Daraa

Destruction in Syria's Daraa. Reuters file photo
Destruction in Syria's Daraa. Reuters file photo
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Russia Sponsors New Settlement in Syria’s West Daraa

Destruction in Syria's Daraa. Reuters file photo
Destruction in Syria's Daraa. Reuters file photo

Syrians living west of the southern Daraa province are patiently waiting for the implementation of a new Russian-sponsored settlement between the Syrian Army’s 4th Armored Division, led by Gen. Maher al-Assad, and the local central committee.

A UK-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that an agreement was reached on Monday between regime officials and representatives of the Daraa security committee in the presence of a Russian forces delegate.

The agreement, according to the Observatory, allows regime forces and the 4th Armored Division to search homes and farms near Tafas city, which is located in the western countryside of Daraa, as of Tuesday morning.

Searches will be conducted in the presence of locals and elders of the area to ensure that no violations are carried out against civilians and their property.

Without setting a specific date, the deal also provided for the reopening of government buildings and regime institutions in Daraa city.

More so, regime forces released 58 detainees from their prisons.

Reliable sources in Daraa told the Observatory that the agreement reached under Russia’s sponsorship aimed at defusing mounting tensions in Tafas.

In Tafas, former opposition fighters and commanders were ordered to hand over heavy weapons they possess.

The two parties to the agreement decided that persons wanted by the regime should leave west Daraa to other places within the province’s borders. The relocation of these persons was guaranteed by their clans’ dignitaries.

According to the new deal, no one will be deported to north Syria, except only one commander called Abu Tareq Al-Subayhi.

Subayhi is a prominent commander from Ataman town in western Daraa, and he will be deported to north Syria alongside former fighters and commanders who expressed their desire to leave the southern province.

The agreement was brokered following a meeting attended by representatives of the Russian-backed 5th Corps, the central committee in Hawaran, and the regime-backed 4th Armored Division.

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Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen's Capital and Port City after Houthi Attack Targets Israel

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
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Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen's Capital and Port City after Houthi Attack Targets Israel

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

A series of intense Israeli airstrikes shook Yemen's Houthi-held capital and a port city early Thursday and killed at least nine people, officials said, shortly after a Houthi missile targeted central Israel.
Thursday’s strikes risk further escalating conflict with the Iranian-backed Houthis, whose attacks on the Red Sea corridor have drastically impacted global shipping. The militants have so far avoided the same level of intense military strikes that have targeted the Palestinian Hamas militant group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fellow members of Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance.”
The Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah said that some of the strikes targeted power stations in the capital, as well as the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. The channel, citing its correspondent in the port city of Hodeidah, said at least seven people had been killed at the nearby port of Salif, while another two had been killed at the Ras Isa oil terminal.
Others suffered wounds at the Hodeidah port as well, it said.
An Israeli military statement offered no specifics on the targets hit, nor any damage assessment.
“The targets struck by the (Israeli military) were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes,” the statement said. “The strikes degrade the Houthi terrorist regime, preventing it from exploiting the targets for military and terrorist purposes, including the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the region.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said the strikes hit energy and port infrastructure, which he alleged the militants “have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military action.”
“Israel will not hesitate to act in order to defend itself and its citizens from the Houthi attacks,” Hagari said.
Houthi-held Hodeidah, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Sanaa, has been key for food shipments into Yemen as its decades long war has gone on. There's also longstanding suspicion that weapons from Iran have been transferred through the port.
The strikes happened just after the Israeli military said its air force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it entered the country’s territory.
“Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling debris from the interception,” the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded near Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas, and a large explosion was heard overhead at the time. The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile attack, but said an important military statement would be issued in the coming hours, following a pattern of how they claim their assaults.
Israel previously struck Hodeidah and its oil infrastructure in July after a Houthi drone attack killed one person and wounded 10 in Tel Aviv. In September, Israel struck Hodeidah again, killing at least four people after a militant missile targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving back to the country.
American forces have also launched a series of strikes on the Houthis over nearly a year due to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor. On Monday, the US military's Central Command said it hit “a key command-and-control facility" operated by the Houthis in Sanaa, later identified as the al-Ardi complex once home to the government's Defense Ministry.
But Israel appears to have carried out Thursday's strikes alone. A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the attacks, said America had no part in them.
The Houthis have targeted some 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Israel's grinding offensive in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say.
The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate US- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.
The Houthis maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.