Russia Confirms Israel’s Bombing of Iranian Stronghold in Syriahttps://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3100721/russia-confirms-israel%E2%80%99s-bombing-iranian-stronghold-syria
Russia Confirms Israel’s Bombing of Iranian Stronghold in Syria
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria, May 10, 2018. (Reuters)
Daraa, London, Moscow - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Russia Confirms Israel’s Bombing of Iranian Stronghold in Syria
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria, May 10, 2018. (Reuters)
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the Syrian air defense forces thwarted, at dawn on Sunday, a strike carried out by two Israeli fighters against the Sayeda Zainab area, south of Damascus, which is known as the stronghold of Iran and its militias in Syria.
General Vadim Kulit, deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, told the Russian news agency TASS that two Israeli fighter jets were intercepted while attacking targets near Damascus early Sunday.
“From 05:40 am to 05:54 am, two F-16 tactical fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force, which stayed outside Syria’s airspace, delivered a strike, from the southwestern direction, with two guided missiles at facilities in the settlement of Sayeda Zainab in the Damascus governorate,” he said, adding that both missiles were downed by the Russian-made Buk-M2E systems of the Syria air defense units.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, for its part, that a violent explosion hit separate areas of the Syrian capital, adding that the people heard the sound of a strong explosion and a cloud of smoke was seen in the air.
This is the third attempt by the Israeli forces to launch an air strike on Syrian territory this week. On July 19, Israeli warplanes launched eight missiles at sites in the Aleppo governorate, and on July 22, four missiles hit facilities in Homs.
Meanwhile, concerns mounted among the residents of the Druze-dominated Suweida region in southern Syria due to a leaked government document that spoke of an imminent ISIS attack as military reinforcements were being brought in to neighboring Daraa.
Activists in the region leaked a document by the Damascus police chief and addressed to the Syrian Minister of Interior, speaking of ISIS plans to infiltrate deep into Suweida to carry out terrorist operations.
Foreign Media Group Disappointed as Israel Court Postpones Gaza Rulinghttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5234626-foreign-media-group-disappointed-israel-court-postpones-gaza-ruling
Buildings lie in ruins amidst the rubble in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 8, 2025. (Reuters)
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Foreign Media Group Disappointed as Israel Court Postpones Gaza Ruling
Buildings lie in ruins amidst the rubble in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 8, 2025. (Reuters)
An international media association expressed disappointment after Israel's supreme court again postponed ruling on a petition seeking free and independent press access to Gaza, in a statement sent to media on Wednesday.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, triggered by an attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas, the Israeli government has barred foreign journalists from independently entering the blockaded territory.
Instead, Israel has allowed only a limited number of reporters to enter Gaza on a case-by-case basis, on embeds with its military.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA) filed its petition in 2024, after which the court granted the government several extensions to submit its response.
The FPA represents hundreds of journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and an AFP journalist sits on its board.
Following its latest hearing on Monday, the court once again postponed ruling on the FPA petition, and said it would give an update by March 31.
- 'Behind closed doors' -
"The Foreign Press Association is deeply disappointed that the Israeli Supreme Court has once again postponed ruling on our petition for free, independent press access to Gaza," the FPA said in its statement.
"All the more concerning is that the court appears to have been swayed by the state's classified security arguments, which were presented behind closed doors and without the presence of the FPA's attorneys.
"This secretive process offers no opportunity for us to rebut these arguments and clears the way for the continued arbitrary and open-ended closure of Gaza to foreign journalists," the statement added.
The FPA said there were no security arguments that justify what it called Israel's "blanket ban" on media access to Gaza.
The ban comes "at a time when humanitarian aid workers and other officials are being allowed into Gaza," it said.
In previous submissions, the government argued that allowing journalists into Gaza posed security risks for the military, particularly while troops were still searching for the remains of the last hostage held there.
However, the remains of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli captive, have now been returned to Israel, which the FPA said opens the way for independent media access to Gaza.
"The FPA urges the court to reconsider its decision and stresses the urgency of free, independent access to Gaza," the association said.
Palestinian fighters took 251 people hostage on October 7, 2023, in an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 others, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 71,662 Palestinians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
Media restrictions and limited access have meant that AFP and other media have been unable to independently verify casualty figures or freely cover all the violence.
Sudanese Slowly Rebuild Their War-Ravaged Capitalhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5234597-sudanese-slowly-rebuild-their-war-ravaged-capital
A view of Sudan's Ministry of Finance building after nearly three years of devastation caused by the war, as efforts to restore the city's infrastructure resumes, in the capital Khartoum on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Sudanese Slowly Rebuild Their War-Ravaged Capital
A view of Sudan's Ministry of Finance building after nearly three years of devastation caused by the war, as efforts to restore the city's infrastructure resumes, in the capital Khartoum on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
A jungle of weeds fills the Sudanese finance ministry's courtyard in central Khartoum, where the army-backed government says it plans a gradual return after nearly three years of war.
Abandoned cars, shattered glass and broken furniture lie beneath vines climbing the red-brick facades, built in the British colonial style that shaped the city's early 20th-century layout.
"The grounds haven't been cleared of mines," a guard warns at the ruined complex, located in an area still classified as "red" or highly dangerous by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS).
Even as war rages in the southern Kordofan region, Prime Minister Kamil Idris has announced that the government will return to Khartoum after operating from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan some 700 kilometers (440 miles) away for nearly three years.
Main roads have been cleared and cranes now punctuate the skyline of a capital scarred by the war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the army, which retook the city last March.
Since then, officials have toured reconstruction sites daily, promising a swift return to normal life.
Government headquarters, including the general secretariat and cabinet offices, have been refurbished. But many ministries remain abandoned, their walls pockmarked by bullets.
The central bank is a blackened shell, its windows blown out. Its management announced last week that operations in Khartoum State would resume, according to the official news agency SUNA.
A member of security stands in front of a destroyed high-rise building, as efforts to restore the city's infrastructure resumes after nearly three years of devastation caused by war, in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
- 'Still empty' -
At a ruined crossroads nearby, a tea seller has reclaimed her usual spot beneath a large tree.
Halima Ishaq, 52, fled south when the fighting began in April 2023 and came back just three weeks ago.
"Business is not good. The neighborhood is still empty," the mother of five told AFP.
Ishaq earns between 4,000 and 5,000 Sudanese pounds a day, less than two euros and about a third of her pre-war income.
More than a third of Khartoum's nine million residents fled when the RSF seized it in 2023. Over a million have returned since the army retook the city.
The UN estimates that rebuilding infrastructure will cost at least $350 million.
"We sell very little," glazier Abdellah Ahmed told AFP.
"People have no money and the big companies haven't come back yet."
Khartoum's international airport has been renovated, but remains closed after an RSF drone strike last September, just weeks before its planned reopening.
Near the city's ministries, workers clear debris from a gutted bank.
"Everything must be finished in four months," said the site manager.
Optimism is also on display at the Grand Hotel, which once hosted Queen Elizabeth II. Management hopes to welcome guests again by mid-February.
While its chandeliered lobby survived, much of the neo-classical building's rear was destroyed, just a few years after it was renovated during Sudan's oil boom in the late 2000s.
Elsewhere, symbols of Khartoum's former ambitions lie in ruins.
Men walk in front of a destroyed high-rise building as efforts to restore the city's infrastructure resumes after nearly three years of devastation caused by war, in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
The tower of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, unveiled when the city aspired to become "Africa's Dubai", stands charred and hollow.
Sudan lost half of its oil revenues during the war, on top of losses following South Sudan's secession in 2011, which removed about a third of the country's oil production.
Life is returning more quickly to the commercial districts of Khartoum's twin city Omdurman. On Liberty Street, Khartoum's main commercial avenue, only a few of the looted shops have reopened.
"Many shopkeepers aren't coming back," said Osman Nadir, an appliance seller.
"Suppliers are demanding repayment for goods destroyed during the fighting," added Nadir, who himself faces legal action.
For residents, restoring water and electricity remains the most urgent task.
- Dark streets -
At night, the streets are "dark and deserted," said Taghreed Awad al-Reem Saeed.
"You don't feel safe," the 26-year-old medical intern told AFP.
Men have returned to work alone, leaving their families elsewhere.
"Before I could go with my friends," Saeed said.
"I want my social life back," she added. "Like before."
"Like before and even better than before," hopes former National Theater director Abdel Rafea Hassan Bakhit, a retiree deeply involved in restoring the building.
Near the Nile, volunteers are repairing the National Theater, once graced by performers such as Umm Kulthum and Louis Armstrong.
The stage remains intact, but sound and lighting systems were destroyed. In recent weeks, official visits have multiplied, each bringing fresh promises of aid.
A few kilometers away, workers are clearing fallen trees from the red and yellow stands of Al-Merreikh Stadium, nicknamed "the Red Castle" and home to one of Africa's oldest football clubs.
Burnt-out cars still line the street outside. The pitch has been levelled, but machinery lies idle. The last match was played a week before the war. Since then, the club has competed in Rwanda's top division.
Qassem's Threat of New War Sparks Outrage in Lebanon https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5234576-qassems-threat-new-war-sparks-outrage-lebanon%C2%A0
Supporters watch a televised speech by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem during a rally to show their solidarity with Iran, in the southern suburb of Beirut on January 26, 2026. (AFP)
Qassem's Threat of New War Sparks Outrage in Lebanon
Supporters watch a televised speech by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem during a rally to show their solidarity with Iran, in the southern suburb of Beirut on January 26, 2026. (AFP)
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem's statements that the party will not remain on the sidelines should Iran come under attack sparked outrage in Lebanon over dragging the country yet again into regional conflicts.
He made his remarks as the Lebanese state has been under intense international and internal pressure to come up with a plan to impose state monopoly over arms, including Hezbollah's arsenal, to avert a new conflict.
Qassem's statements, however, undermined those efforts by declaring that the party will come to Iran's aid in a new war.
Ministerial sources close to the presidency questioned Qassem's statements, saying they give Israel an excuse to escalate its attacks against Lebanon.
They told Asharq Al-Awsat: "He is obviously speaking of a new 'support war'... Hasn't Qassem seen what the first support war did to Lebanon and his party's environment in particular?"
Lebanon is still suffering from the consequences of that war, added the sources, asking: "Should it be dragged into another destructive conflict?"
Hezbollah launched its support war against Israel in 2023 in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. Israel escalated its attacks against the party in 2024, turning into an all-out war that decimated Hezbollah's leadership. The war ended in a November 2024 ceasefire.
Qassem's statements give Israel an excuse to continue to violate the ceasefire that will in turn delay reconstruction efforts and the return of the displaced to their homes, warned the sources.
Outrage
Officials were quick to slam Qassem's renewed war threat. During a parliament session on Tuesday, MP Firas Hamdan urged against "using the residents of the South and Lebanese people for Iran's interests."
Head of the Kataeb party MP Sami Gemayel said on X: "You want to defend your master [Iran], then go there. You want to commit suicide, then do so alone, but just leave Lebanon alone!"
Kataeb MP Ziad Hawat said: "Sheikh Naim Qassem did not learn anything from the support war and the catastrophe that he brought to Lebanon."
"The time of dragging Lebanon to ruin and destruction is over."
Dismissed
Political analyst and Hezbollah critic Ali al-Amine said Qassem wants to wage a new support war this time in support of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat: "He is proving that his party is helpless against the humiliating blows it has been receiving from Israel for over a year."
"He is declaring his embarrassing helplessness against the Israeli attacks on his party and Lebanon, while at the same time saying he is ready to support Iran. This demonstrates that his party is nothing more than an Iranian pawn," he went on to say.
On how Qassem's speech was received by Shiites, who form Hezbollah's widest support base, al-Amine said: "Some Shiites believe that such statements can no longer be taken seriously and that they no longer have any actual impact."
"There are others who react with real concern over such statements, not because they believe them," but because they could drag Lebanon and its people to a new war, he added.
He said that on the surface, Shiites may still be supporting Hezbollah, but this support has not reached the extent to demand it to seriously retaliate to Israel's repeated violations against Lebanon and the party.
"So how would they possibly react to dragging Lebanon to a new conflict because of Iran? Such a step will be met with greater resistance," he noted.
"In general, it's safe to say that the Lebanese people, especially the Shiites, are in agreement that they do not want to be fodder in the wars of others. This position played out on social media where users were quick to dismiss and mock Qassem's statements," al-Amine said.
"Ultimately, Qassem's speech was not convincing to Hezbollah's immediate supporters or Shiites in general. He appeared to be carrying out foreign orders, more so than expressing Lebanon's national interest or even the actual concerns of the environment he should be addressing," he stated.
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