Syria army begins withdrawal from Sweida: Defense ministry
The Syrian army 'has begun withdrawing from the city of Sweida in implementation of the terms of the adopted agreement after the end of the sweep of the city for outlaw groups,' a defense ministry statement said, without mentioning the withdrawal of any other government security forces deployed to the city.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Al Arabiya, Syrian Druze religious leader Yousef Jarbou voiced opposition to calls for foreign protection, saying 'we will not lose hope in the Syrian state.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
‘No life without water': settler attacks threaten West Bank communities
KAFR MALIK, Palestinian Territories: From his monitoring station on a remote hill in the occupied West Bank, water operator Subhil Olayan keeps watch over a lifeline for Palestinians, the Ein Samiyah when Israeli settlers recently attacked the system of wells, pumps and pipelines he oversees, he knew the stakes.'There is no life without water, of course,' he said, following the attack which temporarily cut off the water supply to nearby spring, which feeds the pumping station, is the main or backup water source for some 110,000 people, according to the Palestinian company that manages it – making it one of the most vital in the West Bank, where water is in chronic short attack is one of several recent incidents in which settlers have been accused of damaging, diverting or seizing control of Palestinian water sources.'The settlers came and the first thing they did was break the pipeline. And when the pipeline is broken, we automatically have to stop pumping' water to nearby villages, some of which exclusively rely on the Ein Samiyah spring.'The water just goes into the dirt, into the ground,' Olayan said, adding that workers immediately fixed the damage to resume water two days after the latest attack, Israeli settlers – some of them armed – splashed in pools just below the spring, while Olayan monitored water pressure and cameras from a software showed normal pressure in the pipes pulling water from the wells and the large pipe carrying water up the hill to his village of Kafr he said maintenance teams dared not venture down to the pumping station out of fear for their the start of the war in Gaza, deadly settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have become week, settlers beat a 20-year-old dual US citizen to death in the nearby village of Sinjil, prompting US ambassador Mike Huckabee to urge Israel to 'aggressively investigate' the Qassis, chairman on the board of the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, which manages the Ein Samiyah spring, said he viewed the attacks as a tool for Israeli land grabs and annexation.'When you restrict water supply in certain areas, people simply move where water is available,' he said at a press conference.'So in a plan to move people to other lands, water is the best and fastest way,' he the start of the war in Gaza, several Israeli politicians and officials have become increasingly vocal in support of annexing the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since prominent among them is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, who said in November that 2025 would be the year Israel applies its sovereignty over the Palestinian accused Israel's government of supporting settler attacks such as the one on Ein Israeli army said that soldiers were not aware of the incident in which pipes were damaged, 'and therefore were unable to prevent it.'The damage to Ein Samiyah's water facilities was not an isolated recent months, settlers in the nearby Jordan Valley took control of the Al-Auja spring by diverting its water from upstream, said Farhan Ghawanmeh, a representative of the Ras Ein Al Auja said two other springs in the area had also recently been taken Dura Al-Qaraa, another West Bank village that uses the Ein Samiyah spring as a back-up water source, residents are also concerned about increasingly long droughts and the way Israel regulates their water rights.'For years now, no one has been planting because the water levels have decreased,' said Rafeaa Qasim, a member of the village council, citing lower rainfall causing the land to be 'basically abandoned.'Qasim said that though water shortages in the village have existed for 30 years, residents' hands are tied in the face of this challenge.'We have no options; digging a well is not allowed,' despite the presence of local water springs, he said, pointing to a well project that the UN and World Bank rejected due to Israeli law prohibiting drilling in the lands chosen for drilling sit in the West Bank's Area C, which covers more than 60 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli NGO B'Tselem reported in 2023 that the legal system led to sharp disparities in water access within the West Bank between Palestinians and nearly all residents of Israel and Israeli settlements have running water every day, only 36 percent of West Bank Palestinians do, the report Dura Al-Qaraa, Qasim fears for the future.'Each year, the water decreases and the crisis grows – it's not getting better, it's getting worse.'
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Rubio demands Syria prevents further attacks, hold accountable those behind Sweida clashes
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the US has 'heavily involved' over the past couple of days as clashes escalated in southern Syria. 'The US has remained heavily involved over the last three days with Israel, Jordan and authorities in Damascus on the horrifying & dangerous developments in southern Syria,' Rubio said on X. Sectarian clashes between armed Bedouin forces and the Druze in the community's Sweida heartland had drawn in Syria's government, Israel and other armed tribes. US-brokered negotiations have sought to avert further Israeli military intervention, with Syrian forces agreeing to withdraw from the region. Rubio added that 'If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria... they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS,' and other extremist groups from entering the area 'and carrying out massacres.' He called for the Syrian government to 'hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.' 'Furthermore the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately,' Rubio added. Once in control of large swathes of Syria, ISIS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 largely due to the efforts of Kurdish-led forces supported by an international coalition. Violence between the Druze and Bedouin groups that began on July 13 has left an estimated 940 dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. With AFP
Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
Syria interior ministry says Sweida clashes have ‘halted'
DAMASCUS: Tribal fighters have been evacuated from Syria's southern city of Sweida and violent clashes have ceased, the country's interior ministry said late Saturday. 'After intensive efforts by the Ministry of Interior to implement the ceasefire agreement, following the deployment of its forces in the northern and western regions of Sweida Governorate, the city of Sweida was evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city's neighborhoods were halted,' interior ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba said in a post on Telegram. In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the Syrian government's security forces to prevent 'jihadists from entering and 'carrying out massacres' in the conflict-stricken south of the country. 'If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria... they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent Daesh and any other violent terrorists from entering the area and carrying out massacres,' Rubio said in a statement posted to X. Sectarian clashes between armed Bedouin forces and the Druze in the community's Sweida heartland had drawn in Syria's Islamist-led government, Israel and other armed tribes. US-brokered negotiations have sought to avert further Israeli military intervention, with Syrian forces agreeing to withdraw from the region. 'The US has remained heavily involved over the last three days with Israel, Jordan and authorities in Damascus on the horrifying & dangerous developments in southern Syria,' Rubio said. He called for the Syrian government to 'hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.' 'Furthermore the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately,' Rubio added. Once in control of large swathes of Syria, the Daesh was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 largely due to the efforts of Kurdish-led forces supported by an international coalition. Violence between the Druze and Bedouin groups that began on July 13 has left an estimated 940 dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. The count included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 165 of whom were summarily executed, according to the Observatory. The monitor also included 312 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin in the toll.
