Egypt rejects any moves undermining Syria's security, safety after killing 333 civilians in Latakia clashes
In an official statement, Egypt affirmed its supportive stance towards the Syrian state, its national institutions and its stability in the face of security challenges.
Egypt voiced its rejection of any moves that would affect the security, safety and stability of the Syrian people, the statement added.
Egypt reaffirmed the importance of combating all forms of violence, the necessity of putting the Syrian national security into all considerations, and working to overcome this critical transitional phase in Syria.
Egypt reiterated the importance of launching a comprehensive transitional political process that ensures the participation of all segments of the Syrian people without exclusion and guarantees the rights of all sects in sisterly Syria.
Clashes have taken place between the current Syrian government's forces and pro-Assad forces in the coastal city of Latakia since Thursday, March 6, 2025. Since then, 333 civilians were killed in the clashes based on a sectarian and regional basis in Syrian coastal areas and Latakia mountains, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Saturday. On Friday, curfew was declared in three areas of Latakia, Homs and Tartus.
In his speech regarding the clashes in Latakia, Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa vowed to pursue the pro-Assad forces and hold them accountable for their crimes.
'By your heinous act of killing those who protect Syria and stay up to serve it, storming hospitals and terrorizing the innocent, you have attacked all Syrians, by doing so, you have committed a great and unforgivable sin, and you have received a response that you cannot bear, so, throw away your weapons and surrender before it is too late,' Sharaa said in his televised speech on Friday.
He added: 'We will hunt remnants of the deposed regime, those who refused to do anything but continue in their oppression and tyranny, those who committed crimes against the people, and those who seek to undermine security and civil peace.'
A security source in Latakia to the Syrian state news agency (SANA) that another attack by remnants of the former regime targeted the National Hospital in Latakia, noting that the General Security Forces are confronting this attack.
Another source in the Ministry of Defense told SANA that the current regime's forces thwarted an attack by pro-Assad forces on the naval forces command in Latakia, and restored stability to the region.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Egypt Independent
10 hours ago
- Egypt Independent
Here's what Putin really wants from Trump – and it's not peace in Ukraine
Anchorage, Alaska — Alaska is unlikely to have been on many peoples' bingo cards as the venue for a key summit between the leaders of the United States and Russia. Yet America's biggest, remotest state is where Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are now set to meet for one of the most potentially consequential encounters of their presidencies. That's certainly the view from Moscow, where pro-Kremlin propagandists are already flushed with anticipation at the benefits this much-anticipated face-to-face meeting will deliver. Or, more specifically, will deliver for Putin. Firstly, the fact a summit with the US president is being held at all is a massive win for the Kremlin. 'No one is talking about Russia's international isolation anymore, or about our strategic defeat,' wrote Alexander Kots, a prominent pro-Kremlin military blogger on his popular social media channel. He added that the Alaska meeting had 'every chance to become historic.' He may be right. A presidential summit allows Putin to be seen back at the top table of international diplomacy, while thumbing his nose at critics and nations who want him shunned if not arrested on charges of war crimes in Ukraine. And a summit in the US state of Alaska, of all places, is red meat to resurgent Russian nationalists who still bluster about the territory being rightfully theirs. Just across the Bering Strait from the Chukotka region in the Russian Far East, Alaska was once a remote possession of the Russian Empire before being sold to the United States in 1867 for what was, even then, a paltry sum of $7.2 million, about 2 cents an acre. The idea that Moscow got a raw deal still lingers and a visit to 'our Alaska,' as one prominent Russian state TV host dubbed it, bolsters Putin's nationalist credentials. Video clips of Trump misspeaking at a White House news conference ahead of the summit, saying he was going to 'Russia' to meet Putin, have also been trending on Russian social media with captions saying the US president had finally 'admitted it is ours.' For the rest of the world, though, the sole focus of this presidential summit is the war in Ukraine and whether Russia is prepared to make any concessions to end it. The White House has said Trump expects to focus squarely on ending the war in Ukraine, leaving other issues Moscow has said could be up for discussion for another time. A US Air Force plane takes off on July 22 from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, the venue for a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Friday. Airman 1st Class Eli A. Rose/Alamy On Wednesday, Trump promised 'very severe consequences' if Putin doesn't agree to end his war, following a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders. But so far there's been little sign of real compromise from the Kremlin, which regards itself as having the upper hand on the grinding Ukrainian battlefield. As recently as last month, on a phone call with Trump, Putin reportedly reiterated that Russia would 'continue to pursue its goals to address the root causes' of the conflict in Ukraine – these 'root causes' having previously included long-held Russian grievances that include Ukraine's existence as a sovereign state, and NATO's eastward expansion since the end of the Cold War. On Wednesday, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said the country's position on Ukraine was 'unchanged,' state media reported. More likely, Putin is up to something else. Details have emerged of a Russian peace offer reportedly made to US presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, before the Alaska summit was hastily arranged. In essence, the proposals involve Kyiv surrendering territory in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, in exchange for a ceasefire, an idea the Ukrainian leadership has firmly ruled out. 'I am not going to surrender my country because I have no right to do so,' said Zelensky ahead of the summit, which he was not invited to. 'If we leave Donbas today, our fortifications, our terrain, the heights we control, we will clearly open a bridgehead for the preparation of a Russian offensive.' But Trump, who is expected to discuss the idea with Putin in Alaska, appears to like the sound of a land-for-peace deal, even one so unpalatable to Ukraine and its European partners. That clear difference of opinion represents an opportunity for Putin to portray the Ukrainians and the Europeans – not Russia – as the real obstacle to peace, potentially undermining Trump's already shaky support for the Ukrainian war effort. Trump has lost patience with Zelensky before, the Kremlin will have noted, and may do so again. If he were to cut off the remaining US military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv, Ukraine would struggle to continue its fight even with bolstered European support. Ahead of the summit, the White House appeared to downplay expectations of a peace deal, characterizing the high-stakes meeting as a 'listening exercise.' That may suit Putin just fine. Top Kremlin economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev, pictured ahead of a meeting with a US delegation in Saudi Arabia in February, is one of those traveling to Alaska for the summit. Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters It was, after all, the Kremlin who solicited the summit, according to the White House – possibly as a way of heading off a threat of US tariffs and secondary sanctions that Trump said would kick in last week. Keeping Trump talking may be an effective way of pushing back that deadline indefinitely. More broadly, Putin sees a unique opportunity with Trump to fundamentally reset relations with Washington, and separate Russian ties with the US from the fate of Ukraine, a scenario that would also divide the Western allies. For months, Kremlin officials have been talking up possibilities for economic, technological and space cooperation with the US, as well as lucrative deals on infrastructure and energy in the Arctic and elsewhere. The fact the Kremlin's top economic envoy, Kirill Dmitriev – a key interlocutor with the Trump administration – is part of the Russian delegation to Alaska suggests that more talk of US-Russian deal-making will be on the agenda. And, if Putin gets his way in this summit, the 'Ukraine question' may find itself relegated to just one of many talking points between the powerful leaders of two great powers – and not even the most pressing one.
Al-Ahram Weekly
13 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
UN commission finds violence against Syria Alawites likely included 'war crimes' - Region
A UN commission investigating sectarian bloodshed in Syria's Alawite heartland documented systematic violence at the hands of government forces and allied groups, warning Thursday that some of the acts could constitute war crimes. The violence in March unfolded along Syria's predominantly Alawite Mediterranean coast, where security personnel and their allies were accused of carrying out summary executions, mostly targeting civilians from the religious minority, with a war monitor saying more than 1,700 people were killed. The UN commission said in its report Thursday that the violence committed by "members of the interim government forces and private individuals operating alongside or in proximity to them... followed a systematic pattern across multiple, widespread locations". "The violations included acts that likely amount to war crimes," it said. The commission documented cases of "murder, torture and inhumane acts related to the treatment of the dead, widespread looting and burning of homes all of which displaced tens of thousands of civilians". Syria's new authorities have accused gunmen loyal to ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad of instigating the violence by launching deadly attacks that killed dozens of security personnel. The UN commission also found that pro-Assad forces were implicated in the violence. Around 200,000 pro-government military reinforcements converged on the area, according to Damascus. Human rights groups and international organisations have said entire families were killed, including women, children and the elderly. Gunmen stormed homes and asked residents whether they were Alawite or Sunni before killing or sparing them, they said. The UN commission documented similar cases in which men were "identified as belonging to the Alawi sect and then separated from the women and children before being led outside to be shot". 'Deeply disturbing' During his rule, Assad -- who is himself an Alawite -- had cultivated an image as a defender of minorities, even as his authoritarian tendencies plunged the country into civil war. Since his December ouster at the hands of Islamist-led rebels, violations like those on the coast have raised questions about the new authorities' ability to provide security and manage sectarian tensions. The UN commission -- which said it had been granted "unfettered access" to the area by the post-Assad government -- based its findings on more than 200 interviews with victims and witnesses. It said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that members of the security forces and other private individuals engaged in "serious violations of international human rights law". "The scale and brutality of the violence documented in our report is deeply disturbing," said commission chair Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, urging the government to hold those responsible to account. "While dozens of alleged perpetrators of violations have reportedly since been arrested, the scale of the violence documented in our report warrants expanding such efforts." The commission said it "continues to receive information about ongoing violations in many of the affected areas, including abductions of women, arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances". It said it had "found no evidence of a governmental policy or plan to carry out such attacks", though their systematic nature "in certain locations may be indicative of an organisational policy within certain factions or groups". Commissioner Lynn Welchman called for greater protections for affected communities, as well as screening processes to keep perpetrators out of the ranks of the security forces. In its own inquiry, a Syrian committee formed by the authorities documented "serious violations against civilians on March 7, 8 and 9, including murder, premeditated murder, looting, destruction and burning of homes, torture and sectarian insults", according to a report released last month. The committee confirmed "the names of 1,426 dead, including 90 women", and identified "298 individuals by name" who were suspected of involvement in the violations. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
2 days ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
DR Congo army accuses M23 of 'multiple attacks' despite ceasefire deal - Africa
The Congolese army accused the Rwanda-backed M23 militia on Tuesday of "multiple attacks" on its positions in the east, where several days of fighting have threatened a US-brokered ceasefire deal. The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a region bordering Rwanda with abundant natural resources but plagued by non-state armed groups, has suffered extreme violence for more than three decades. Since taking up arms again at the end of 2021 the M23 armed group has seized swathes of land in the restive region with Rwanda's backing, triggering a spiralling humanitarian crisis. A fresh surge of unrest broke out early this year when the M23 captured the key cities of Goma and Bukavu, setting up their own administrations. The Congolese government and the M23 signed a declaration of principles on July 19 in Qatar that included a "permanent ceasefire" aimed at halting the conflict. It followed a separate peace deal between the Congolese and Rwandan governments signed in Washington the previous month. But violence has continued on the ground, with fighting becoming more intense since Friday around the town of Mulamba in South Kivu province, where the front line had been relatively stable since March. The M23 attacked positions between held by pro-Kinshasa militia and army forces and pushed them back several kilometres, local and security sources said. The "almost daily" attacks constitute an "intentional and manifest violation" of the Washington peace deal and the declaration of principles agreed in Doha, Congolese army spokesman Sylvain Ekenge said in a statement. The army said it was ready to respond "to all provocations from this coalition, accustomed to violating agreements". M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said in a post on X on Monday that the DRC's government was continuing "offensive military manoeuvres aimed at full-scale war". Rwanda denials After a lull in the morning, fighting resumed in Mulamba on Tuesday afternoon, according to local sources. Both sides had rushed reinforcements to the territory on Sunday, the sources added. Any breakthrough by the M23 in the mountainous region would give the armed group control of many mining sites, most of them gold and run by Chinese businesses. Neither side has provided a toll from the clashes. Dozens of ceasefires and truces have been brokered and broken in recent years without providing a lasting end to the conflict. At the beginning of August, UN human rights chief Volker Turk accused the M23 of having killed at least 319 civilians in July, insisting the fighters were "backed by members" of the Rwandan army. Rwanda on Monday branded the UN's accusations its army had helped kill civilians "unacceptable". Kigali has consistently denied proving the M23 military support. A report from UN experts in July however found that Rwanda's army played a "critical" role in the M23's conquest of Goma and Bukavu, capital of the North and South Kivu provinces respectively. More than two million people have fled the violence in both North and South Kivu since the beginning of 2025, according to a late July report from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Rwanda has long maintained that it faces an existential threat from the FDLR, a militia founded in the Congolese east by ethnic Hutu leaders involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide of Tutsis. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
