This concludes our live coverage for today. Be sure to come back for more updates about the events in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza.
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The acting director general of the General Security, General Elias Baissari, ordered the deportation to Syria of several Syrians arrested on Sunday in the Kesrwan district in Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported. The Syrians were expelled via the Arida border crossing, the NNA added.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations on Monday issued what he called a final warning to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants to end their missile attacks on Israel, saying they risked the same "miserable fate" as Hamas, Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if they persisted.
He also warned Tehran that Israel could strike any target in the Middle East, including Iran, adding that Israel would not tolerate attacks by Iranian proxies.
French Ministers of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, and of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, began their visit to Lebanon with a stopover in Yarzeh, where they met with the commander of the Lebanese army, General Joseph Aoun, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The three men discussed the general situation in Lebanon and the region, ways to strengthen cooperation relations between the armies of the two countries and to continue supporting the Lebanese army in the current context. The latter must notably take advantage of the two-month cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, which began to take effect on Nov. 27, to deploy in the regions from which the party is required to withdraw.
The Pentagon said a cease-fire between Turkey and U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces around the Syrian city of Manbij is still holding, Reuters reported.
"The ceasefire is holding in that part of northern Syria," Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said.
Washington had brokered an initial ceasefire earlier this month after fighting erupted as rebel groups advanced on Damascus and toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad. However, on Dec. 19, a Turkish Defense Ministry official said there were no talks on a cease-fire agreement between Ankara and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Syria's new foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, called on Kuwait to reopen its embassy in Damascus and resume diplomatic relations with Syria, Reuters reports.
"We call on our brothers in Kuwait to open their embassy in Damascus and resume diplomatic relations very soon," he said at a press conference attended by Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Ali al-Yahya.
The latter urged the international community to reconsider the sanctions imposed on Syria.
"This visit shows our willingness to open a new page of regional cooperation ... we also appreciate the receptiveness of the new administration in Syria to these efforts," he added.
The Civil Defense extracted the body of a 25th victim from the rubble in the town of Khiam, according to L'Orient Today correspondent. The body was transferred to the government hospital in Marjayoun.
The search operations and overall field investigation will resume tomorrow morning at the same location until all missing persons are found.
France condemned Israeli military operations targeting several hospitals in Gaza, including that of Kamal Adwan, which is now out of service.
In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry expressed its concern about the situation of the hospital director, patients and healthcare staff.
"France reminds Israel of its obligation to respect international humanitarian law, which provides in particular for the protection of hospital infrastructure. Faced with the absolute humanitarian emergency in Gaza, where the situation of civilians has been unacceptable for too long, France calls on the parties to negotiate without delay an immediate and lasting cease-fire, which alone will allow the massive entry of humanitarian aid through all access points to the Gaza Strip, the release of all hostages and the protection of all civilians," it stated.
L'Orient Today's correspondent in Bekaa reported that explosions were heard coming from the Lebanese army's firing range in Taybeh, where demining teams are destroying unexploded rockets from the Israeli aggression in the region.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his UAE counterpart Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed over the phone the developments in Palestine and the wider region, according to a statement from the Directorate of Communications in Turkey.
Erdogan stressed the importance of establishing a Syrian state where national unity would be achieved. Turkey's Directorate of Communication clarified that President Erdogan would continue his efforts to end the ongoing massacre in Palestine as soon as possible.
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on Palestine, urged health professionals around the world to cut ties with Israel in direct response to the destruction of Gaza's health system.
“I urge health professionals around the world to sever all ties with Israel in order to forcefully denounce Israel’s total destruction of the Palestinian health system in Gaza, a key tool of the ongoing genocide,” Albanese told X.
Kuwait's Foreign Minister, Abdallah al-Yahya, and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jassim Mohammad al-Boudaiwi, have arrived in Syria, reports the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry.
The al-Jazeera channel broadcast images of the Kuwaiti diplomats meeting Syria's de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa.
Palestinian fighters have been killed in ambushes in Gaza's northern district, according to an Israeli army statement.
“They were killed by tank fire and shelling from troops waiting to ambush them, following preliminary intelligence that they were planning to flee the neighborhood,” the army said.
Israeli forces continue to operate in the area, locating weapons and destroying tunnels and military infrastructure.
Gaza
Following on from Amnesty, the World Health Organization (WHO) also called on Israel to release Houssam Abou Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, who was arrested after a major raid on the facility.
“The hospital has been out of service since the raid, the forced evacuation of patients and staff and the detention of its director. His whereabouts are unknown. We call for his immediate release,” wrote WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X. “Gaza's hospitals have once again become battlefields and the health system is under serious threat,” he added.
Syria
Former rebels have been promoted to officer ranks in the future Syrian army, according to a decree issued by the country's new leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, including foreign jihadists, according to experts.
The new government, formed by a coalition led by radical Islamists, had last week unveiled an agreement with “all armed groups” to disband them, and “integrate them under the Defense Ministry.” The decree lists 49 names, including those of Syrian rebels and former army officers who deserted early and joined the Islamist rebellion.
“The majority of these promotions concern personalities from Ahmad al-Sharaa's inner circle,” Rami Abdel Rahmane, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), told AFP.
Gaza
Human rights organization Amnesty International has called on Israel to immediately and unconditionally release Kamal Adwan hospital director Dr. Houssam Abou Safiya.
“We are extremely concerned about his fate,” Amnesty International said on X, following his arrest on Dec. 27 by the Israeli army, during a deadly raid on the hospital. “For months, Dr. Abu Safiya has been the voice of Gaza's decimated health sector, calling for the protection of his hospital and working in inhumane conditions,” added the organization, which recalls that the doctor's son was killed by Israel. “Hospitals and health professionals are not targets,” added Amnesty.
Gaza
The Gaza government press office has announced that the number of people who have died as a result of the cold in the enclave has risen to seven. This figure is expected to rise, the statement added, “due to the tragic conditions faced by displaced people... who are living in tents.”
Gaza
Gaza's Health Ministry has announced that at least 27 people have been killed in the last 24 hours in the Palestinian territory, the scene of more than 14 months of war with Israel.
This brings the total death toll to 45,541, it said in a statement, adding that 108,338 people had also been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Pro-Iranian Iraqi factions, which withdrew from Syria earlier this month ahead of the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad, are repositioning further away from the Syrian border this week following regional and international pressure, the newspaper The New Arab, reported yesterday.
According to a military official, this is the first such action by the factions since their return to Iraq. The factions, which were initially positioned in the border towns of al-Qaim, Hassiba el-Gharbiya and al-Roummana, will now move to secure a “sufficient distance” from Syrian territory, the official said.
In an interview on the Al-Arabiya channel yesterday, Syria's new leader Ahmad al-Shareh said Saudi Arabia had a major role to play in his country's future. “Saudi Arabia has a major role to play in Syria's future and I am proud of everything it has done for us,” he said, adding that he had spent his early childhood in Riyadh and hoped to visit the city again. In particular, he highlighted Saudi “investment opportunities” in Syria.
South Lebanon
The Israeli army continues to blow up houses in South Lebanon, despite the cease-fire agreement that came into force on Nov. 27. Last night, it dynamited buildings in Mais al-Jabal, in the Marjayoun district.
In Maroun al-Ras, in the Bint Jbeil district, a huge explosion was heard after the Israeli army had blown up what was left of the village mosque, already heavily damaged, according to our correspondent Mountasser Abdallah.
Syria
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy was received in Damascus by the new Syrian leader who ousted Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad, announced the official Sana news agency quoted by AFP. The fall of Assad on December 8 was a serious setback for Russia, which has been at war with Ukraine since 2022 and maintains military bases in Syria.
“The leader of the new administration Ahmad al-Sharaa is holding talks with a high-ranking Ukrainian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Andriï Sybiga,” Sana reported.
Syria
Ongoing fighting in northern Syria between Turkish-backed groups and Kurdish-dominated forces has left 31 fighters on both sides dead since yesterday, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
At the end of November, Syrian Proturk factions launched an offensive against the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the north of the country. This fighting was triggered in parallel with a lightning offensive launched from the northeast by a coalition of rebels, dominated by radical Islamists, which enabled them to reach Damascus and seize power.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East, including the war in Gaza, which has entered its 451st day, and its repercussions in the region, notably in Lebanon and Yemen. We'll also be following the latest developments in Syria, three weeks after the fall of the Assad regime.
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