Regional
Syria’s Sharaa declared president for transition, consolidating his power
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Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was declared president for a transitional phase on Wednesday, tightening his hold on power less than two months after he led a campaign that toppled Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa was also empowered to form a temporary legislative council for a transitional period and the Syrian constitution was suspended, according to an announcement made by the military command which led the offensive against Assad, Reuters reported.
The decisions emerged from a meeting of military commanders who took part in the assault, a campaign spearheaded by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group – a former al Qaeda affiliate.
Addressing the conference, Sharaa said the first priority in Syria was to fill a vacuum in government “in a legitimate and legal way”.
He also said civil peace must be preserved through transitional justice and preventing displays of revenge, that state institutions – foremost among them military and security forces – be rebuilt, and that economic infrastructure be developed.
Sharaa has pledged to embark on a political transition including a national conference, an inclusive government, and eventual elections, which he has said could take up to four years to hold.
Wednesday’s announcement did not say when the new legislative body might be picked, or provide any new details for a timeline for the transition.
Fawaz Gerges, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, said the declaration had “formalized his status as the strongman ruler”. “My take is that HTS and Sharaa intend to consolidate single-party Islamist rule.”
HTS emerged from the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the Syrian civil war, until it cut ties in 2016
QATAR WELCOMES STEPS
The declaration announced that “Sharaa has assumed the presidency of the country in the transitional phase” and would “carry out the duties of the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic, and represent it in international forums”.
The new legislative council would carry out its tasks until a new constitution is adopted. The parliament elected under Assad last year was formally dissolved.
The declaration also reiterated previous steps dissolving Assad’s Baath Party and his state security apparatus, and said that rebel groups which fought him during 13 years of war were to be dissolved and merged into the state.
The announcements came at a meeting declared “The Conference for Announcing the Victory of the Syrian Revolution”. It was attended by ministers from the interim government appointed by HTS in December, and was not publicly announced ahead of time.
Qatar, which is backs the new administration, issued a statement after the declaration welcoming “moves to restructure the Syrian state and boost consensus and unity among all its parties”.
Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center said the announcement was a raw translation of Sharaa’s newfound power and military control of great parts of Syria including the capital”.
It “does not reflect the political, religious and ethnic diversity of Syria”, he added.
Apparent celebratory gunfire could be heard in central Damascus soon after the announcements.
Regional
Iran says Israel, US ‘cannot do a damn thing’ against Tehran
In 2018, Trump pulled the U.S. out of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
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Iran said on Monday that U.S. and Israeli threats against it were a blatant violation of international law and that they could not “do a damn thing” to hurt Tehran, Reuters reported.
The comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem on Sunday and said their countries were determined to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its influence in the Middle East.
Netanyahu said Israel had dealt a “mighty blow” to Iran since the start of the war in Gaza and that with the support of U.S. President Donald Trump “I have no doubt we can and will finish the job”.
Speaking at a weekly press conference on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei responded: “When it comes to a country like Iran, they cannot do a damn thing”.
“You cannot threaten Iran on one hand and claim to support dialogue on the other hand,” Baghaei said, state media reported.
Trump has expressed an openness to a deal with Tehran while also reinstating the “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that was applied during his first term to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, read the report.
While stopping short of renewing a ban on direct talks with Washington decreed in 2018, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has criticised Trump’s previous administration for not honouring its promises.
In 2018, Trump pulled the U.S. out of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
A year later, Iran reacted by breaching the pact’s nuclear curbs, accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% of weapons grade. It says its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes
Despite spokesman Baghaei’s defiant words, Tehran’s influence throughout the region has weakened severely with its regional allies – known as the “Axis of Resistance” – either dismantled or badly hurt since the start of the Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza and the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria in December, Reuters reported.
The Axis includes not only Hamas but also Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and various Shi’ite armed groups in Iraq and Syria.
Over the 16 months since the Gaza war erupted, Israel has assassinated leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, and Israel and Iran have carried out limited attacks against each other.
Regional
At least 15 dead in stampede at New Delhi railway station
The incident occurred around 8pm local time on two platforms as passengers waited to board trains to Prayagraj city, where the Hindu Maha Kumbh festival is being hosted
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At least 15 people died and another 15 were injured in a stampede at the main railway station in India’s capital New Delhi on Saturday night, the chief minister of the capital territory told reporters early on Sunday.
The incident occurred around 8pm local time on two platforms as passengers waited to board trains to Prayagraj city, where the Hindu Maha Kumbh festival is being hosted, media reports said.
The death toll included 10 women and three children, local media said.
Media showed images and videos of crowds pouring over each other at the station, following the incident, as police and relief teams toiled to ease the congestion, Reuters reported.
Delhi’s chief minister Atishi, who only uses one name, said on X that many of the victims were pilgrims who were going to attend the Maha Kumbh.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some other federal ministers confirmed the stampede incident in posts on X without disclosing the death toll.
“Distressed by the stampede at New Delhi Railway Station. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones,” Modi said on X.
India’s Interior Minister Amit Shah said in a post on X that he had spoken to the railway minister and taken stock of the situation.
An enquiry was ordered into the incident and four special trains were dispatched to evacuate the rush caused at the railway station, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on X, adding that the situation is now under control.
“The entire team is working to assist all those who have been affected by this tragic incident,” he said.
Dozens of people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh in northern India last month as tens of millions of Hindus gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters on the most auspicious day of a six-week festival.
Regional
Three Israeli hostages freed in Gaza, Israel begins releasing 369 Palestinians in exchange
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Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov were freed in Gaza on Saturday and Israel began releasing some 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange, after mediators helped avert a ceasefire collapse.
The three Israelis were led onto a stage with Palestinian Hamas militants armed with automatic rifles standing on each side of them at the site in Khan Younis, live footage showed, before they were taken into Israel by Israeli forces, Reuters reported.
Shortly afterwards, the first bus carrying freed Palestinian prisoners and detainees departed Israel’s Ofer jail in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, live footage showed. The bus arrived in Ramallah to a cheering crowd, some waving Palestinian flags.
The swap of the three Israelis for the 369 Palestinians eased fears that the ceasefire agreement could collapse before the end of the 42-day first stage of a ceasefire deal in effect since January 19.
In what has become known as Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, people broke into cheers and tears when they heard the Red Cross was on its way to deliver the three to Israeli military forces in the Gaza Strip.
They appeared relieved to see that the trio was in apparently better physical condition than another three freed last week who appeared emaciated and weak.
Residents of Israeli kibbutz communities near the Gaza border lined the road cheering and waving Israeli flags as the vehicles carrying the hostages out of Gaza passed by.
Dekel-Chen, a U.S.-Israeli, Troufanov, a Russian Israeli, and Horn, whose brother Eitan was also abducted, were seized in Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities around the Gaza Strip that was overrun by Hamas gunmen on October 7, 2023.
Some of the dozens of masked Hamas fighters deployed at the handover site carried rifles seized from the Israeli military during the October attack, Hamas sources said.
On the handover stage in Khan Younis, the hostages were made to give short statements in Hebrew and militants presented one of them, Iair Horn, with an hourglass and photo of another Israeli hostage still in Gaza and his mother, reading “time is running out (for the hostages still in Gaza)”.
Troufanov was abducted with his mother, grandmother and girlfriend – all of whom were released in the brief November 2023 truce. His father was killed in the attack on Nir Oz, one of the worst-hit communities, where one in four people either died or were taken hostage.
On October 7, Dekel-Chen, 36, left his pregnant wife and two little daughters in the family safe room to go out and fight the gunmen rampaging through the kibbutz. With his release, he will meet his youngest daughter for the first time.
Argentina-born Horn, 46, who managed the Nir Oz pub, was taken captive together with his younger brother Eitan who was visiting that day. Horn appeared to have lost considerable weight in captivity.
“Now, we can breathe a little. Our Iair is home after surviving hell in Gaza. Now, we need to bring Eitan back so our family can truly breathe,” Horn’s family said in a statement.
Nineteen Israeli and five Thai hostages have been released so far, with 73 still in captivity, around half of whom have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.
THREATS
Hamas had earlier threatened not to release more hostages after it accused Israel of violating the terms of the ceasefire by blocking aid from entering Gaza, drawing counterthreats of a resumption of fighting from Israel, which called up reservists and placed its forces on high alert.
The emaciated appearance of the three hostages freed last week and accounts of abuse by other hostages released since January 19 when the truce took effect have set off Israeli protests demanding the government stick to the ceasefire and pursue the next stage to bring all remaining hostages home.
In an apparent effort to head off some of the criticism of hostage mistreatment, Islamic Jihad, the militant group that is allied with Hamas and held Troufanov, released a video of him on Friday, showing him eating and fishing at the Gaza beach.
Prospects for the ceasefire surviving have also been clouded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Palestinians to be moved permanently out of Gaza, and for the enclave to be turned over to the U.S. to be redeveloped. That call was flatly rejected by Palestinian groups, Arab states and Western allies.
Hamas agreed last month to hand over 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children and sick, wounded and older men, in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, during a six-week truce during which Israeli forces would pull back from some of their positions in Gaza.
Before Saturday, 16 of the 33 Israeli hostages had been returned, along with five Thais who were handed over in an unscheduled release. That left 76 hostages still in Gaza, only around half of whom are thought to be alive.
The truce was intended to open the way for a second phase of negotiations to return remaining hostages and complete the withdrawal of Israeli forces before a final end to the war and the rebuilding of Gaza, which now lies largely in ruins, facing shortages of food, running water and electricity.
Israel invaded the coastal enclave after the Hamas-led attack on communities in Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and taking 251 as hostages.
The Israeli military campaign that followed has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, destroyed many of its buildings and left most of the population homeless.
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