Middle East latest: German and French foreign ministers seek ‘new beginning’ with Syria
The German and French foreign ministers are heading to Damascus to send what the German minister said is a clear signal that a “political new beginning” between Europe and Syria is possible.
Germany’s Annalena Baerbock and France’s Jean-Noel Barrot are expected to meet the leader of the group that toppled Bashar Assad, Ahmad al-Sharaa, and representatives of Syrian civil society on Friday.
Baerbock said there can be a “new beginning” only if the new Syrian society gives all people, regardless of ethnic or religious group, “a place in the political process” as well as rights and protection.
In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes on Thursday and Friday killed at least 50 people, including an attack on a sprawling tent camp that Israel has repeatedly bombed despite designating it a humanitarian safe zone. Israel said the strike targeted a high-ranking police officer, and blames Hamas for civilian deaths.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed over 45,500 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who say women and children make up more than half the fatalities. The officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their tally.
The war was sparked by Hamas-led militants’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel. They killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 that day. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
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Here’s the latest:
French foreign minister visits long-shuttered French Embassy in Syria
DAMASCUS — French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot visited the long-shuttered French Embassy in Damascus on Friday as part of the first visit to Syria by top diplomats from European Union countries following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad by opposition rebels.
Barrot and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock are expected to meet with Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist former insurgent group that is now the de facto ruling party in Syria.
“It was with great emotion that I am today at the site of the French Embassy in Damascus,” Barrot said as he inspected the damage that has occurred at the embassy during 13 years of closure.
“A little less than a month ago, new hope was born thanks to the mobilization of Syrians, the hope of a sovereign, stable and peaceful Syria,” he said. “It is a real hope, but it is a fragile hope.”
Barrot earlier visited the Christian neighborhood of Bab Touma and met with Patriarch John Yaziji.
Since Assad’s fall, Damascus has experienced a flurry of visits from Arab and Western countries that had cut off relations with Assad’s government during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war.
Death toll rises after more airstrikes on Gaza
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip – At least 30 people, including children, were killed in Gaza by strikes overnight, hospital staff said Friday.
Staff at the Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital said 10 women and seven children were among those killed in strikes on various locations in Central Gaza, including Nuseirat, Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah.
The strikes come a day after dozens of people were killed across the enclave, bringing the total of fatalities since Thursday to 56.
The strikes on Thursday hit Hamas security officers and an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone.
The Israeli army, which did not immediately comment on the strikes, says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths.
French and German foreign ministers visit Syria to show a ‘new beginning’ is possible between Europe and Syria
DAMASCUS — The foreign ministers of France and Germany are headed to Damascus on the first official visit to Syria by top diplomats from European Union countries after the fall of former President Bashar Assad, in what the German minister said is a clear signal that a “new beginning” between Europe and Syria is possible.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who began the visit Friday with a meeting with Christian religious leaders in Damascus, said in a statement on the social media platform X that the two countries “want to promote a peaceful and urgent transition in the service of Syrians and for regional stability.”
He and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock are expected to meet with Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the Islamist former insurgent group that is now the de facto ruling party in Syria.
Baerbock said there can be a “political new beginning between Europe and Syria” only if the new Syrian society gives all people, regardless of ethnic or religious group, “a place in the political process” as well as rights and protection.
She said those rights should not be undermined by an overly long transition to elections or by “steps toward the Islamification of the justice or education system,” that there should be no acts of revenge against entire groups of the population, and that extremism should have no place.
Since Assad’s ouster in a lightning offensive by opposition forces, Damascus has experienced a flurry of visits from Arab and Western countries that had cut off relations with Assad’s government during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war.
However, Western countries have so far not lifted sanctions placed on Syria under Assad or removed the designation of HTS as a terrorist group, although the United States lifted a $10 million bounty it had previously placed on al-Sharaa.
Israel says missile fired from Yemen set off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and central Israel
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says a missile fired from Yemen has set off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and central Israel.
The attack early Friday woke millions of people and sent people scrambling to air raid shelters.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, though a faint explosion, likely either from the missile or from interceptors, could be heard in Jerusalem.
The Israeli Defense Forces later reported that a missile launched from Yemen into Israeli territory was intercepted. A report was received regarding shrapnel from the interception that fell in the area of Modi’in in central Israel. The details are under review.
Israel has carried out a number of long-range airstrikes in Yemen, some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away. But the strikes have failed to stop the attacks.
The Houthis have pledged to continue striking Israel until the war in Gaza ends.
A wave of Israeli strikes kills at least 24 people in Gaza
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes in the Maghazi and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza killed at least 24 people late Thursday and early Friday.
They were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, bringing the day’s death toll to at least 50 people.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the strikes, but says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths.
Earlier Israeli strikes killed dozens more people throughout central and southern Gaza, including inside a sprawling tent camp that Israel designated a humanitarian safe zone but has repeatedly targeted. Israel’s military said that strike killed a high-ranking police officer who was involved in gathering intelligence used by Hamas’ armed wing in attacks on Israeli forces.
WHO says Israel must let more sick and wounded people leave Gaza
GENEVA — The head of the U.N. World Health Organization says Israel is still allowing only a trickle of sick and wounded people in the Gaza Strip to travel abroad for life-saving medical treatment.
At least 5,383 patients have been evacuated with the WHO’s help since the war broke out in October 2023, leaving more than 12,000 Palestinians still waiting to leave Gaza, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement Thursday.
The rate of evacuations plunged when the Rafah border crossing shut down in May after Israeli troops took it over — since then, only 436 patients have left Gaza, Tedros said.
“At this rate, it would take 5-10 years to evacuate all these critically ill patients, including thousands of children,” Tedros said. “In the meantime, their conditions get worse and some die.”
He urged Israel to increase the approval rate for medical evacuations, including no denials of child patients, and to allow all possible corridors and border crossings to be used. Israel controls all the entry and exit points for Gaza.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency in charge of humanitarian affairs for Palestinians, has said it does everything it can to approve medical evacuations, which are contingent upon a security check. It did not respond when asked for comment on the latest WHO figures.