Israel yesterday criticized the Syrian government over what it described as attacks against the Kurdish community in Aleppo, just days after the two sides agreed to establish a joint mechanism aimed at lowering bilateral tensions.
“Attacks by the Syrian regime’s forces against the Kurdish minority in the city of Aleppo are grave and dangerous... Systematic and murderous repression of Syria’s various minorities contradicts the promises of a ‘new Syria,’” Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar wrote in Arabic on X.
Deadly clashes erupted this week between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters as the two sides have so far failed to implement a March deal to merge the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration and military into Syria’s new government.
Photo: AFP
The Kurds are pushing for decentralized rule, an idea that Syria’s new authorities have rejected.
Despite assurances from Damascus that all of Syria’s communities would be protected, minorities remain wary of their future under the new authorities.
Saar said that the violence in Aleppo could increase if the international community remains silent.
“The international community in general, and the West in particular, owes a debt of honor to the Kurds who fought bravely and successfully against the Islamic State group,” Saar said.
Earlier this week, Israel and Syria, under US pressure, agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism, an unprecedented step as the two countries edge toward a security agreement after decades of hostilities.
Following discussions in Paris, Israel and Syria agreed to establish “a dedicated communication cell” under US supervision that would seek to lower bilateral tensions.
US President Donald Trump, who met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Washington in November last year, has been pushing for a security deal between Syria and Israel, but Israel remains distrustful of the former jihadist.
After the overthrow of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Israel moved its forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights, and has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria as well as regular incursions.
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
US President Donald Trump on Friday said Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilize the region. Protesters and security forces on Thursday clashed in several Iranian cities, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated. Shopkeepers in Tehran on Sunday last week went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread into a protest movement that has swept into other parts of the country. If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
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