France’s Top Appeals Court Upholds Arrest Warrant for President Bashar al-Assad in War Crimes Case
Prosecutors had argued against the warrant, saying Assad has immunity as a sitting foreign head of state; lawyers for the plaintiffs hailed the decision as a first in a national court acknowledging that an active leader does not have total immunity (BBC)
The case against Assad was filed under the concept of universal jurisdiction, which says crimes of a certain gravity can be tried anywhere (AP)
United States Killed Senior ISIS Official in Syria Air Strike
U.S. Central Command reported that there was “no indication” that civilians were harmed in the strike on Sunday (CNN)
Children of Suspected ISIS Fighters Held Indefinitely in Poor Prison Conditions
Children and adolescents are enduring overcrowding and isolated conditions in prisons and detention camps for suspected self-declared Islamic State fighters and their family members, CNN reported; the head of U.S. Central Command said it presents a risk of radicalization (CNN)
Israeli Strikes Against Syrian Weapons Sites Intensify
Israel increased strikes against weapons sites in Syria linked to Iranian officials and supply routes to hinder the ability of Hezbollah or Iran to operate in Syria (Reuters)
Germany to Deport Syrian Asylum Seekers Found Guilty of Serious Crimes
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the policy today, a shift from a previous stance of avoiding deportations to those countries due to security risks there; immigrants who glorified or condoned terrorism would also be deported, Sholz said (FT)
Meanwhile, Kurds in Syria announced they will delay a planned election set for Monday for the second time, pushing the date to August; it would have been the first local vote since the territorial defeat of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (Al-Monitor)
Turkey had called the elections a threat to its territorial integrity and the United States advised that they were ill-timed (Al-Monitor)
Israeli Airstrikes Near Aleppo Kill Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Officer
The officer is thought to be the first Iranian killed by Israel since the country bombed Iran’s Damascus embassy compound in April; the Syria Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom (UK)-based watchdog, said the target appeared to be a copper factory and a weapons warehouse (NYT)
The IRGC and Iranian government did not immediately comment on the strike (RFE/RL)
Passenger Flights Between Saudi Arabia and Syria Resume for the First Time Since 2012
The move is part of a thaw in bilateral relations (Al-Monitor)
While Syria and its Arab neighbors are putting the divisions of Syria’s civil war behind them, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at an aid conference earlier this week that Syria’s humanitarian needs are at an all-time high (AFP)
The United States Repatriates Eleven Americans from Syrian Detention Camps
According to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “This is the largest single repatriation of U.S. citizens” who were imprisoned in Syrian detention camps due to their familial ties with the Islamic State (NYT)
Syrian Man, Aid Organization Accuse Russia of Violating International Law
In a complaint made public today at the UN Human Rights Committee, Russia was accused of violating international law when it bombed a northern Syrian hospital in 2019 (Reuters)
Rockets Launched From Iraq Toward U.S. Military Base in Northeast Syria
It appeared to be the first such attack against U.S. forces since February when Iran-backed groups in Iraq halted their attacks (AFP)
Trial of Former Syrian General Begins in Switzerland
Former General Mohammed Hamo became the highest-ranking Syrian official to go on trial in Europe today for actions carried out during the Syrian government’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011; he is accused of aiding and abetting war crimes (AFP)
Cyprus Suspends Syrian Asylum Applications
Cyprus will no longer process asylum applications by those arriving from Syria, President Nikos Christodoulides announced, as a large number of people from the war-torn country continue to flee to the island nation; he did not specify how long the suspension will remain in place (DW). People arriving from Syria must remain in the overflowing reception camps for as long as new arrangements are made, DPA reported on Sunday, citing government sources (Reuters). More than 1,000 people have arrived in Cyprus on boats from Lebanon this month amid deepening tensions in the Middle East (Al Jazeera).
Prominent Iraqi Jihadist Killed in Suicide Bombing in Northwest Syria
A leading Iraqi jihadist leader in Syria’s rebel-held northwest who founded a former al Qaeda affiliate was killed on Thursday when a suicide bomber blew himself up in his guest house in the town of Sarmada (Telegraph)
Abu Maria al Qahtani, whose real name is Maysr al Jabouri, was one of the most prominent commanders of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and founded its predecessor, al-Nusra Front; no group has taken responsibility, but HTS has accused ISIS of the killing (France 24)
UN Security Council Fails to Condemn Strike on Iran in Syria
The United States, Britain and France opposed a Russian-drafted U.N. Security Council statement yesterday that would have condemned an attack on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria, which Tehran has blamed on Washington’s ally Israel (Reuters)
Cyprus Seeks Help With Influx of Syrian Refugees from Lebanon
Cyprus indicated it’s capacity to take in refugees was reaching its limit in an appeal for action from the European Union on Wednesday; in the first three months of 2024, more than two thousand refugees arrived on the island, as compared to only seventy-eight over the same period in 2023, while over six hundred Syrian refugees arrived from Lebanon in the past week alone (Middle East Monitor)
Iran Accuses Israel of Killing Commanders in Syria Strike
Iran accused Israel of an attack on its embassy compound in Damascus, Syria, vowing revenge and sparking fears that the ongoing regional conflict is expanding (FT)
At least seven Iranian military personnel and six Syrian nationals were killed in the strike, which destroyed the consulate building, Iranian state media reported; three of those reported killed were senior Iranian commanders (Bloomberg)
Israel did not immediately comment on the attack but has stepped up strikes on Iran-backed militants in Syria since the start of its war with Hamas; this would be Israel’s first attack that has directly hit an Iranian diplomatic facility (Reuters)
Following the attack, Iran summoned the Swiss envoy who represents U.S. diplomatic interests in Iran (CNN)
Washington had no involvement or advanced knowledge of the strike, a National Security Council spokesperson said (NYT)
Dozens Reported Killed in Israeli Air Strikes in Syria
Israeli air strikes in northern Syria today killed at least thirty-eight people, including five fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, three unnamed security sources told Reuters; Israel did not immediately comment on the strikes, which appeared to be its most deadly in Syria in months (Reuters)
Israel has recently targeted sites linked to Iran’s allies in Syria (BBC)
War Monitor: Iranian Commander Killed in Strikes in Syria
An Iranian military commander was among thirteen people killed in air strikes in eastern Syria overnight, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said; there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks (AFP)
United States Gave Syria’s Transitional Government List of Conditions for Sanctions to Be Partially Removed
The conditions include the destruction of any chemical weapons, cooperation on counterterrorism, and a pledge that foreign fighters will not have senior government roles, multiple sources said; Syria’s government did not comment, and a State Department spokesperson said the agency does not “discuss our private diplomatic conversations publicly” (Reuters)
Eleven Killed in Suspected Islamic State Attack in Syria
An attack by the Islamic State killed at least eleven people hunting desert truffles in northern Syria, a war monitor said, in the latest incident of its kind (Voice of America)
There have been at least two other attacks on truffle hunters of the same nature in March 2024 alone, killing at least thirty-four other people (BBC).
UN Appeals for $4 Billion in Aid as Syrian Humanitarian Crisis Deepens
A UN humanitarian official appealed for more than $4 billion in life-saving aid for more than ten million Syrians, saying that the country’s largely forgotten crisis remains “one of the most deadly to civilians in the world” (Washington Post). Adam Abdelmoula, resident coordinator in Syria for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, made the appeal days after Syria marked the thirteenth anniversary of the conflict that has killed nearly a half million people and left large parts of the country destroyed (ABC News).
Syria Nuclear Probe Reactivated after UN Watchdog Meets al-Assad
A stalled investigation into an alleged clandestine military-nuclear facility in Syria was renewed this week, signaling that President Bashar al-Assad may be ready to resolve questions about a site bombed by Israel almost two decades ago (Al Arabiya)
The International Atomic Energy Agency began investigating the Deir al-Zour site in eastern Syria in 2007, weeks after Israeli forces destroyed it in a midnight raid; subsequent years of war and official stonewalling delayed the probe until Tuesday when the IAEA’s Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi met al-Assad in Damascus (Bloomberg).
Israeli Strikes Target Hezbollah Inside Syria
Israel launched missiles at several military targets outside Damascus on Tuesday, Syria’s defense ministry said, in what sources said were stepped-up strikes on fortifications of Lebanon’s Hezbollah (Reuters)
Two Syrian military sources familiar with the strikes said Israel targeted a Hezbollah ammunition depot near the city of Yabroud in the Qalamoun Mountains, northeast of the Syrian capital (Jerusalem Post)
Israel Strikes Several Sites in Syria, Damascus Says
Israeli airstrikes hit several sites in southern Syria early Sunday, wounding a soldier, Syrian state media reported (Newsday)
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israeli strikes also hit two military sites in the Qalamoun mountains northeast of Damascus, an area where the Lebanese group Hezbollah has operations (ABC News)
The observatory said the strikes represented the twenty-fourth time Israel has struck inside Syria since the beginning of 2024; they have killed forty-three fighters with various groups and nine civilians (AP).
UN: Syria Experiencing “Largest Escalation of Violence Since 2020”
A new UN report has warned that in the last six months violence across Syria has been at its worst since 2020 (The New Arab)
The report, released by the UN Syria Commission of Inquiry on Monday, details how violence has proliferated across the country, including an uptick in clashes between armed groups, as well as internal repression by the Assad regime against political activity (OHCHR)