Region

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel said Tuesday it killed a senior Hizbollah militant responsible for drones and missiles, even as it freed Lebanese prisoners as a "goodwill" gesture to the country's new president.

Despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah, Israel has continued to carry out air strikes in Lebanon, claiming they are necessary to prevent the Iran-backed militant group from rearming or re-establishing a presence along its northern border.

"Earlier today, the IAF (air force) conducted a precise intelligence-based strike in the area of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, eliminating Hassan Abbas Ezzedine, the head of Hizbollah's aerial array in the Bader regional unit," the military said in a statement.

It said it carried out a second strike on Tuesday in the Froun area, targeting several militants.

"Several terrorists were identified in a site used by Hizbollah in the area of Froun in southern Lebanon," the military said. "An IAF aircraft struck the suspects."

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that two people were killed in the Israeli strikes.

"An enemy Israeli drone strike targeting a car on the Deir El-Zahrani road resulted in one fatality," the news agency said, citing the health ministry.

It later reported that a second person was killed in an Israeli air strike on a vehicle in the Froun area.

Although a truce reached on November 27 largely ended more than a year of hostilities - including two months of full-scale war in which Israeli ground troops crossed the border - Israel has continued to launch periodic strikes in Lebanese territory.

Israel was initially expected to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18, after missing a January deadline, but it has maintained a presence in five strategic locations.

The ceasefire also required Hizbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

Border disputes 

In a separate development on Tuesday, Israel announced it had agreed to release five Lebanese citizens detained during its war with Hizbollah.

"In coordination with the United States and as a gesture to Lebanon's new president, Israel has agreed to release five Lebanese detainees," a statement from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said. 

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's office said four of the prisoners had been freed on Tuesday and the fifth would follow on Wednesday.

Their release followed a meeting earlier Tuesday in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura, attended by representatives of Israel, Lebanon and mediators France and the United States.

"During the meeting, it was agreed to establish three joint working groups aimed at stabilising the region," the prime minister's statement said. 

"These groups will focus on the five points controlled by Israel in southern Lebanon, discussions on the Blue Line and remaining disputed areas, and the issue of Lebanese detainees held by Israel."

The Blue Line is the UN-patrolled demarcation line that has served as de facto border since 2000.

In an interview with Lebanese news channel Al Jadeed, US Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus emphasised Washington's efforts to resolve the border issue.

"We want to get a political resolution, finally, to the border disputes," Ortagus said.

"When it comes to the border agreement, the land border agreement, there are 13 points -- I think that six are still problematic," she said.

Ortagus said Israel had "withdrawn from over 99 percent of the territory".

"I feel fairly confident that... we can have final resolution on the five points and ultimately on the remaining issues related to the Blue Line".

DAMASCUS — A fact-finding committee formed by Syria's new authorities to investigate a wave of deadly violence said on Tuesday the country was determined to "prevent unlawful revenge".

A wave of violence broke out last Thursday, mainly along the Mediterranean coast, the worst since former president Bashar Al Assad was ousted in December.

The UN Human Rights Office on Tuesday said it had documented "summary executions" that appeared "to have been carried out on a sectarian basis".

"In a number of extremely disturbing instances, entire families -- including women, children and individuals hors de combat -- were killed, with predominantly Alawite cities and villages targeted in particular," it said.

At a press conference in Damascus, fact-finding committee spokesman Yasser Al Farhan said, "The new Syria is determined to enshrine justice and the rule of law, protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens, prevent unlawful revenge and guarantee that there is no impunity."

Farhan said the committee was working on "gathering and reviewing evidence" related to the wave of violence.

He added the committee would "listen to the eyewitnesses" and establish mechanisms for people to contact the investigators, as well as gather and verify video evidence.

The findings will be submitted to the presidency and the judiciary, Farhan said.

 Seven arrests 

The presidency announced on Sunday the formation of the committee to "investigate the violations against civilians and identify those responsible for them".

It said it would present its findings within 30 days and that those found to be responsible for violations would be referred to the judiciary.

The violence began on Thursday, after the attempted arrest of a wanted suspect, with an attack by Assad loyalists against security spiralling into clashes.

Farhan said the committee would investigate events that occurred between Thursday and Saturday.

The authorities have announced the arrest of at least seven individuals since Monday accused of having committed violations against civilians, according to SANA.

UN rights commissioner Volker Turk has called for accountability for the deadly violence.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday also called on Syria's new authorities to ensure accountability for the mass killings of hundreds of civilians in recent days in the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority.

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories - For Gazan teacher Abdullah Mortaja, Israel's decision to cut off electricity to the war-battered territory was "a joke", having already lived with little power supply since war began more than 16 months ago.

The announcement Sunday by Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen followed a decision to block the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip in a bid to pressure Hamas to extend a fragile ceasefire on Israel's terms.

But for many in the Palestinian territory where Israel had imposed a "complete siege" at the start of the war in October 2023, living without electricity has become the norm.

"What electricity do they want to cut?" said Mortaja, 40.

"There is no electricity in Gaza".

Of the nearly dozen high-voltage power lines cut at the start of the war -- along with food and water supply -- one was reconnected by Israel in November to restart Gaza's main water desalination plant.

On Monday, employees at the facility in the central city of Deir el-Balah filled large tanks with water that had been treated before the cut-off, which brought the plant to a near-complete halt.

Around 600,000 people -- about a quarter of Gaza's population -- rely on the plant's supply of drinking water, according to UN figures.

Solar panels, which together with fuel-powered generators have become key sources of electricity in Gaza, allow only for extremely limited activity at the desalination plant, said a UN source.

Instead, many people are now left to rely on brackish well water or the occasional supply of potable water from international humanitarian aid groups, added the source involved in work in the Gaza Strip.

Power grid ravaged 

Announcing the electricity cut on the eve of a new round of ceasefire negotiations in Qatar, Cohen said Israel "will use all the tools at our disposal" to secure the release of hostages held by Gaza militants since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.

Hamas called Cohen's decision "cheap and unacceptable blackmail" as the sides fail to agree a path toward a permanent end to their war.

The first phase of the fragile Gaza truce began on January 19 and ended in early March, with no agreement yet on subsequent stages.

More than 15 months of intense Israeli bombardment and fighting before the truce began had left electricity pylons collapsed and mangled across Gaza.

One official from the Gaza Electricity Company, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Israeli attacks "destroyed 70 percent of the electricity distribution networks".

At night, the territory is plunged into almost total darkness.

In the relatively few buildings left standing, the odd window is illuminated by a small square of white LED light.

The war has displaced nearly all of Gaza's 2.4 million inhabitants and triggered widespread hunger, according to the UN, with hundreds of thousands living in tents as their homes were damaged or destroyed.

"Cutting electricity will only worsen our suffering," said Jihan Khalil, 35, who has taken shelter in a school building in Nuseirat refugee camp.

'Went back to 50 years ago' 

For 47-year-old Baha Al Helou, living conditions were as if "we went back to 50 years ago".

"We sleep without electricity, wash our clothes by hand, cook with wood, and there is no gas for cooking," he told AFP.

"Now our lives depend on wood, fire and candles."

From apartment blocks to hospitals, fuel-powered generators have been a common alternative for years in Gaza, where the electricity supply was precarious even before the war, in part due to a crippling Israeli-led blockade.

Israel's power supply to Gaza depended on payments from the Palestinian Authority -- based in the occupied West bank, a separate territory, and dominated by political rivals of Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority had previously withheld funds as a means of exerting pressure on Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.

Carpenter Hani Ajour said he had little choice but to use a public generator in the street.

But that option is expensive, and he can only afford to plug in his machines for a few minutes a day.

Some Gazans rely on solar panels, but these are less efficient and sell for around $2,000, a fortune in the impoverished territory.

For the most destitute, street vendors offer to charge telephones on a multi-socket cable for a few Israeli shekels, the equivalent of several quarter dollars.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israel's military said on Tuesday that its warplanes struck southern Syria overnight, targeting air defence systems and other military sites in the latest attack on the neighbouring country.

Syrian state media had said Israel hit the southern province of Daraa, with a war monitor reporting at least 17 strikes on positions of the former Syrian army, including an observation platform and tanks.

A statement from the Israeli military said its "fighter jets struck radars and detection assets used for constructing aerial intelligence assessments" as well as "command positions and military sites containing weapons and military equipment belonging to the Syrian regime".

Since the overthrow of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria and deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the strategic Golan Heights.

The Israeli military statement said that the targets hit overnight "were struck in order to eliminate future threats".

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, warning that his government would not accept the presence of the forces of the new Islamist-led government near its territory.

Even before Assad's fall, during Syria's civil war which broke out in 2011, Israel carried out hundreds of strikes in the neighbouring country, mainly on government forces and Iranian-linked targets.

DAMASCUS — The Syrian presidency announced on Monday an agreement with the head of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to integrate the institutions of the autonomous Kurdish administration in the northeast into the national government.

Syria's new authorities under interim President Ahmed Al Sharaa have sought to disband armed groups and establish government control over the entirety of the country since ousting long-time leader Bashar Al Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war.

The new accord, which is expected to be implemented by the end of the year, comes after days of violence that has posed the most serious threat yet to the country's stability since Assad's fall.

The presidency published a statement on Monday signed by both parties laying out the agreement on "the integration of all the civilian and military institutions of the northeast of Syria within the administration of the Syrian state, including border posts, the airport, and the oil and gas fields".

State media released a photo of Sharaa shaking hands with SDF leader Mazloum Abdi following the signing of the agreement.

The statement said "the Kurdish community is an essential component of the Syrian state", which "guarantees its right to citizenship and all of its constitutional rights".

It also rejected "calls for division, hate speech and attempts to sow discord" between different segments of Syrian society.

The SDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment by AFP.

'Supporting the state' 

The SDF serves as the de facto army of the de facto autonomous Kurdish administration that controls large swathes of northern and eastern Syria, including most of the country's oil and gas fields, which may prove a crucial resource for the new authorities as they seek to rebuild the country.

The new agreement also references "supporting the Syrian state in its fight against Assad's remnants and all threats to [the country's] security and unity".

Marginalised and repressed 

Marginalised and repressed during decades of Assad family rule, the Kurds were deprived of the right to speak their language and celebrate their holidays and, in many cases, of Syrian nationality.

The SDF took advantage of the withdrawal of government forces during the civil war which broke out in 2011 to establish de facto autonomy in the north and northeast.

The US-backed SDF played a key role in the fight against the Daesh terror group, which was defeated in its last territorial stronghold in 2019.

Since Assad's overthrow, the Kurds have shown a degree of willingness to engage with the new authorities, but they were excluded from a recent national dialogue conference over their refusal to disarm.

The agreement comes nearly two weeks after a historic call by jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Ocalan for the militant group to lay down its weapons and disband.

The SDF maintains it is independent from the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish government.

It is dominated, however, by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as an offshoot of the PKK.

The Turkish government, which is close to Syria's new authorities, has designated the PKK a terrorist organisation, as have the United States and the European Union.

The Turkish army, which has troops deployed in northern Syria, regularly carries out strikes on areas controlled by Kurdish forces, and Turkish-backed groups have been attacking SDF-held areas of northern Syria since November.

GAZA CITY, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — Balanced calmly on top of what was once a refrigerator door, fisherman Khaled Habib uses a makeshift paddle to propel himself through the waters of Gaza City's fishing port.

Israeli bombardment over more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas has destroyed most of the boats in the harbour, wrecking the fishermen's means of making a living.

"We're in a very difficult situation today, and struggling with the fishing. There are no fishing boats left. They've all been destroyed and tossed on the ground," Habib told AFP.

"I made this 'boat' from refrigerator doors and cork, and thankfully it worked."

So he could continue feeding his family, Habib came up with the idea of stuffing cork into old fridge doors to make them buoyant.

He covered one side with wood and the other with plastic sheeting to help make the makeshift paddleboard waterproof.

Habib also crafted a fishing cage out of wire because of the lack of nets, but admitted that his resulting catch was "small".

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said in December that the conflict had taken Gaza's "once thriving fishing sector to the brink of collapse".

"Gaza's average daily catch between October 2023 to April 2024 dropped to just 7.3 percent of 2022 levels, causing a $17.5 million production loss," the FAO said.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,458 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

The UN considers these casualty figures to be reliable.

 'Learn how to swim' 

Using dough as bait, Habib now fishes mainly inside the small port area.

Despite the fragile ceasefire that came into force on January 19, and which largely halted the fighting, Habib said that fishing outside the port is not allowed. 

"If we go (outside the fishermen's harbour), the Israeli boats will shoot at us, and that's a problem we suffer from a lot."

Habib said he catches enough fish to feed his family and tries to help others by selling the rest at an affordable price.

After dividing his catch into small plastic bags, the fisherman sells some at the harbour market where prices can be high.

The first phase of the Gaza truce, which ended on March 1, had enabled the entry of vital food, shelter and medical assistance into the Palestinian territory.

Israel announced on March 2 that it was blocking aid deliveries to Gaza, where Palestinians say they fear food shortages and price hikes.

Several other fishermen, particularly the younger generation, have also taken to using the new makeshift floating platforms.

Habib sees the home-made paddleboards as having a dual purpose.

"If we wanted to raise a new generation to learn how to swim, boats should be made for them from refrigerator doors, and then everyone would learn how to swim, row and sail," he said.

"Thank God, now they've learned how to swim," he added, looking out over the water at children trying to keep their balance.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/ WASHINGTON — Israel's energy minister Eli Cohen on Sunday said he had given instructions to stop supplying electricity to Gaza, a week after Israel blocked all aid into the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

"I have just signed the order to stop supplying electricity immediately to the Gaza Strip," Cohen said in a video statement, adding: "We will use all the tools at our disposal to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after" the war.

Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump's plan to remove Palestinians from war-battered Gaza was "taking shape", despite widespread rejection by governments in the region.

"This plan is taking shape, with ongoing actions in coordination with the (US) administration," Smotrich told an event in the Israeli parliament, adding that preparations were underway to form a managing body that would oversee displacement.

"This has the potential to create a historic change in the Middle East and for the state of Israel," said Smotrich, who has repeatedly backed resuming the war against Hamas and has expressed support for re-establishing permanent Israeli presence in the territory.

The plan proposed by Trump would require finding countries willing to take in at least some of the Gaza Strip's 2.4 million people, Smotrich noted.

"It involves identifying key countries, understanding their interests -- both with the US and with us -- and fostering cooperation," he said.

Implementing the plan, which other Israeli leaders have welcomed but Palestinians, Arab governments and some world leaders have condemned, would be a massive logistical operation, said Smotrich.

"Just to give you an idea -- if we remove 10,000 people a day, seven days a week, it will take six months," he said.

"If we remove 5,000 people a day, it will take a year. Of course, this is assuming we have countries willing to take them, but these are very, very, very long processes."

Experts have said that forcibly removing Gazans would amount to a violation of international law.

Just days after he took office, Trump triggered global outrage when he suggested the US take over Gaza and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East", while forcing its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.

Last week, an Arab counterproposal to Trump's plan was put forward, with several Islamic nations and European governments endorsing it.

The Arab proposal aims to rebuild Gaza without displacing Gazans, who endured more than 15 months of devastating war before a fragile ceasefire took effect on January 19.

The US envoy who held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas said Sunday the meeting had been "very helpful" and he was confident a hostage release deal could be reached "within weeks."

Speaking to CNN, Adam Boehler -- a Jewish American -- acknowledged it had been "odd" sitting face-to-face with leaders of a group that the United States has listed as a "terrorist" organization since 1997, but did not rule out further meetings with the Palestinian militants.

Boehler said he understood Israel's "consternation" that the US had held talks at all with the group, but said he had been seeking to jump-start the "fragile" negotiations.

"In the end, I think it was a very helpful meeting," he said, adding: "I think something could come together within weeks... I think there is a deal where they can get all of the prisoners out, not just the Americans."

Boehler suggested there was a chance of further talks with the militants, telling CNN: "You never know. You know sometimes you're in the area and you drop by."

LATAKIA, Syria — Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa called for national unity and peace on Sunday, after hundreds were reportedly killed along the country's Mediterranean coast in the worst violence since the overthrow of Bashar Al Assad.

"We must preserve national unity [and] civil peace as much as possible and, God willing, we will be able to live together in this country," Sharaa said from a mosque in Damascus.

The interior ministry said on Sunday that government forces were conducting "sweeping operations in Qadmous and the surrounding villages" in Tartus province to "pursue the remnants of the toppled regime".

State news agency SANA quoted a defence ministry source as saying there were violent clashes ongoing in Tanita, another Tartus village.

An AFP photographer in the city of Latakia reported a military convoy entering the Bisnada neighbourhood to search homes.

Defence ministry spokesman Hassan Abdul Ghani said on Saturday the security forces had "reimposed control" over areas that had seen attacks by Assad loyalists.

 Roads blocked 

Education Minister Nazir Al Qadri announced that schools would remain shut on Sunday and Monday in both Latakia and Tartus, while SANA reported a power outage throughout Latakia province due to attacks on the grid by Assad loyalists.

A defence ministry source told SANA that troops had blocked roads leading to the coast to prevent "violations", without specifying who was committing them.

Latakia province security director Mustafa Kneifati told the news agency: "We will not allow for sedition or the targeting of any component of the Syrian people."