Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa reached an agreement on Tuesday with former rebel faction chiefs to dissolve all groups and consolidate them under the defence ministry, according to a statement from the new administration. Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir had said last week that the ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Bashar al-Assad's army.

Syrian Ex-Rebel Factions Agree to Merge Under Defence Ministry | Reuters

A Christmas tree was set on fire in Syria, HTS immediately arrested those responsible, then a HTS leader relit the tree.

Exclusive: Russia, Reeling from Syrian Regime’s Collapse, Bets on Chaos to Preserve Its Foothold - The Moscow Times

Can't say HTS aren't trying to maintain order and be fair, thus far, it seems Iran and Russia have other ideas though.

The fake news is working

Protests in Syria after ‘old’ video shows attack on Alawite shrine

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/25/protests-in-syria-after-old-video-shows-attack-on-alawite-shrine

Thousands of people have protested in several cities across Syria after a video circulates showing an attack on an Alawite shrine in the north, a war monitor and witnesses say.

Syria’s new rulers said the video was “old” and “unknown groups” were behind the attack, saying “republishing” the video served to “stir up strife”, a day after hundreds protested in Damascus against the torching of a Christmas tree.



Syria says 14 policemen killed in ambush by forces loyal to al-Assad

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/26/syrian-security-personnel-killed-in-ambush-by-former-regime-forces

Members of the Syrian police have been killed in an “ambush” by forces loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad in Tartous governorate in the latest security challenge for the new administration that came to power about two weeks ago.

Interior Minister Mohammed Abdul Rahman said on Thursday that “remnants” of the al-Assad government in Tartous had killed 14 police members and wounded 10 others, promising to crack down on “anyone who dares to undermine Syria’s security or endanger the lives of its citizens”.

Security forces launched an operation on Thursday against pro-al-Assad “militias” in Tartous, state news agency SANA reported, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting arrests of several people in connection with the deadly ambush.

The operation had already succeeded in “neutralising a certain number” of armed men loyal to toppled President al-Assad, SANA said.

The attack came as protests took place in several cities after a video showing the vandalising of an Alawite shrine in the city of Aleppo circulated online on Wednesday. Police had imposed curfews in Homs, Latakia, Jableh and Tartous until 8am (05:00 GMT). Al Jazeera could not confirm if the curfew has been lifted.

Huge reinforcements brought

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Damascus, described the situation in Syria as extremely delicate now, with flashpoints over the last 48 hours particularly in the Alawite heartland of Latakia and Tartous, as well as Homs and Aleppo.

Hashem said the new administration has brought huge security reinforcements to try to reduce tension in the areas.

“Yesterday, late at night, there were high-level meetings of the new administration about how to move forward, and one of the options is a crackdown on what they describe to be remnants of the old regime, members of the Fourth Division, [which] was the elite presidential guard loyal to Maher al-Assad, brother of the former president,” he said.

Situation tense in Manbij

Mohamed Vall, reporting from northeast Syria’s Manbij, said clashes were reported around the city 24 hours ago as the Kurdish forces, who have been pushed east of the Euphrates River, are trying to retake it.

“It’s a very tense situation. The picture is not very clear here. People fear things could change in the city at any moment,” he said.

Kurdish fighters backed by the United States have largely been in control of the region for nearly a decade. Now the Syrian National Army, supported by Turkiye, is trying to widen its area of control.

“It’s a matter of national security for Turkiye, as Ankara considers the Kurdish YPG militia – the main component of the United States-allied Syrian Democratic Forces – as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK],” he said.

The PKK has waged a rebellion against the Turkish state since 1984. On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Kurdish fighters in Syria to either lay down their weapons or “be buried”.

In Quneitra, nobody can celebrate al-Assad’s fall amid Israel’s invasion

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/26/in-quneitra-nobody-can-celebrate-al-assads-fall-amid-israels-invasion

Ibrahim al-Dakheel, 55, watched in despair as an Israeli bulldozer demolished his 40-year-old home, claiming it was necessary to secure borders.

“It was 6:30am when I heard the explosion,” he told Al Jazeera, pointing to the spot where a Syrian military post once stood near his destroyed house.

He and his family live in al-Rafid, a village in the Quneitra governorate. Al-Dakheel used to sit in his front yard, enjoying the lush green fields and a flowing spring nearby. Nothing brought him greater joy, he said. But now, he and his family are seeking refuge at his parents’ house in the village while he continues to watch Israeli forces advance.



“I saw them moving through the village – trucks and tanks arrived at the town hall along with bulldozers,” he said.

On December 8, Israel launched a military campaign targeting sites across Syria and advancing into Quneitra under the pretext of searching for weapons and collaborators with the Lebanese group Hezbollah and Iran.

Israeli forces set up checkpoints, uprooted trees, and destroyed the village’s only military post, which al-Dakheel said was merely a small station housing a few officers. Israeli forces have also fired stun grenades, tear gas and live bullets at demonstrators unhappy at their encroachment into Syria.

The most recent incident came on Wednesday when Israeli forces fired on a protest against their destruction of several structures in two Quneitra villages and injured three people.

Israel’s incursion comes after Syria’s longtime autocratic president, Bashar al-Assad, was toppled by a lightning opposition offensive earlier in December. Days later, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s presence in Syria would be “temporary”, yet he later clarified that Israel would illegally remain on Syrian soil until a new security arrangement is reached with Syria’s new authority.

Uneasy calm settles over Syria’s Homs after brief outbreak of violence

Syria’s new security forces checked IDs and searched cars in the central city of Homs on Thursday, a day after protests by members of the Alawite minority erupted in gunfire, stirring fears that the country’s fragile peace could break down.

A tense calm prevailed after checkpoints were set up throughout the country’s third-largest city, which has a mixed population of Sunni and Shia Muslims, Alawites and Christians.

The security forces are controlled by the former armed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the charge that unseated former President Bashar al-Assad. On the road from Damascus, security teams at the checkpoints waved cars through perfunctorily, but in Homs, they checked IDs and opened the boot of each car to look for weapons.

Armed men blocked the road leading to the square formerly named for al-Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, where one foot was all that remained of a statue of him that once stood in the centre of the traffic roundabout. The square has been renamed Freedom Square, although some call it “the donkey’s square,” referring to al-Assad.

Protests erupted there on Wednesday among Alawite members – the minority sect to which the al-Assad family belongs – after a video circulated showing an Alawite shrine in Aleppo being vandalised. Government officials later issued a statement saying that the video was old.

Wednesday’s protests began peacefully, said Alaa Amran, the newly installed police chief of Homs, but then “some suspicious parties … related to the former regime opened fire on both security forces and demonstrators, and there were some injuries.”

Security forces flooded the area and imposed a curfew to restore order, he said.

Mohammad Ali Hajj Younes, an electrician who has a shop next to the square, said the people who instigated the violence are “the same ‘shabiha’ who used to come into my shop and rob me, and I couldn’t say anything,” using a term referring to al-Assad-supporting militia members.

The protests were part of a larger flare-up of violence on Wednesday. Fighters backing the fallen Assad regime attacked members of the new security forces near the coastal town of Tartous, killing 14 and wounding 10, according to the Interior Ministry in the transitional government.

In response, security forces launched raids “pursuing the remnants of Assad’s militias”, state media reported. The state-run SANA news agency reported late on Thursday that clashes broke out in the village of Balqasa in a rural part of Homs province.

_{A member of the security forces of the new government checks the ID of a driver at a checkpoint}

Main events on December 26th

Israeli army strikes junction connecting Lebanon to Syria

Israel’s army has claimed an attack on the route that connects Syrian territory to Lebanon, saying it “struck infrastructure that was used to smuggle weapons via Syria to the Hezbollah terrorist organization”.

According to the military statement, Israeli Air Force fighter jets hit targets at the Janta crossing, located in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

In a separate statement, the army also said more than 85,000 weapons including missiles belonging to Hezbollah were confiscated in southern Lebanon. It also repeated its claim that the Lebanese group was preparing to launch an attack on Israel dubbed “Conquer the Galilee”.

Since a ceasefire agreement went into effect between Israel and Hezbollah last month, Israel has continued carrying out military operations, including near-daily bombings, on Lebanese territory.

Israeli attorney general orders investigation of PM Netanyahu’s wife: Report

The Associated Press news agency reports that Israel’s attorney general has ordered police to open an investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife on suspicion of harassing political opponents and witnesses in the Israeli leader’s corruption trial.

Israel’s Justice Ministry made the announcement in a terse message late on Thursday, saying the investigation would focus on the findings of a recent report by the Uvda investigative programme into the activities of Sara Netanyahu.

The programme uncovered a trove of WhatsApp messages in which she appears to instruct a former aide to organise protests against political opponents and to intimidate Hadas Klein, a key witness in her husband’s corruption trial.

The announcement of the investigation did not mention Sara Netanyahu by name, and the Justice Ministry declined further comment. However, Prime Minister Netanyahu blasted the Uvda report as “lies”.

WFP says UN air service crew member injured in Israeli attack on Yemen airport

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has confirmed that one of its humanitarian aircrew personnel was injured by the Israeli attack on Yemen’s Sanaa airport.

WFP said the aircrew member is currently receiving medical treatment and reminded Israel that “humanitarians are not a target”, in a post on social media. The UN food relief agency said it was “deeply concerned about the targeting” of Sanaa airport, which affected the UN’s humanitarian air service.

The UN’s humanitarian air service “is a critical lifeline for the humanitarian community in Yemen and around the world”, WFP added.

#Yemen: WFP is deeply concerned about the targeting of Sana'a Airport affecting @WFP_UNHAS operations.

One WFP-contracted aircrew member was injured during the incident and is currently receiving medical treatment. Humanitarians are #NotATarget.

UNHAS is a critical lifeline…

— World Food Programme (@WFP) December 26, 2024

Israeli attack on Yemen’s Sanaa airport was ‘a very close call’ for UN staff

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is travelling out of the country. He is on holiday. But we were told that he has been briefed multiple times throughout the day on the situation in Yemen.

Here at the UN headquarters in New York, they are also spending many hours trying to gather details about what transpired. We were told that shortly after the attack on the airport in Sanaa, the WHO’s Dr Tedros and his staff were evacuated out to safety, and they are safe at this hour.

The UN tells us that all of their staff are accounted for. But make no mistake about it, this was a very close call.

WHO chief says injured colleague evacuated from Yemen after Israeli attack

WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said a staff member from the World Food Programme has been evacuated from Yemen after his injury in a series of Israeli air attacks on Thursday.

“We are now in Jordan, where he will receive further medical treatment. Deepest gratitude to the UNHAS (United Nations Humanitarian Air Service) team for their service and swift evacuation from Yemen, where we were on a UN mission to negotiate for the release of detained colleagues,” Ghebreyesus wrote on X.

“Attacks on civilians and humanitarians must stop, everywhere.”

On Thursday, Ghebreyesus said a wave of Israeli air strikes hit Sanaa airport just as he was about to board his flight along with his team, injuring a UN plane crew member.

Israeli military says missile fired from Yemen intercepted

Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen before it entered the country’s airspace. The attack is the latest in what has become near-nightly strikes by Yemen’s Houthis against Israel.

The Yemeni group pledged late on Thursday that it would respond after Israeli warplanes bombed several sites in Yemen earlier in the day, including Sanaa’s international airport, the port of Hodeidah and oil infrastructure, killing at least six people.

Ambulance service says 18 people treated as Israel intercepts Houthi missile

A Houthi missile launched from Yemen has been intercepted by Israeli air defences and caused no damage or casualties, though a number of people were hurt in the rush to take shelter, emergency workers said.

Paramedics with Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said that about 18 people required medical treatment after they were injured in the rush to get to air attack shelters, with two people suffering panic attacks.

Operations at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport were also interrupted with the arrival of planes suspended as efforts were made to intercept the incoming missile, which the Israeli military said was destroyed before entering Israeli airspace.

_{People take shelter in a staircase of a hotel following an air raid alarm, in Tel Aviv, Israel, early on Friday}

Protests in London, Turin against Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza



Dolls splattered with a red solution to resemble blood are piled up in the San Federico Gallery in Turin, Italy to symbolise the thousands of Palestinian children killed by Israel’s military in Gaza

West Jerusalem protests demanding ceasefire in Gaza


_{Protesters called for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government}

_{Israeli police intervene as demonstrators gather in West Jerusalem}


‘I wonder how they manage to sleep at night’: UN special rapporteur on Palestinian rights

The UN’s Francesca Albanese has asked how many people, particularly in the West, “manage to sleep at night” with a genocide taking place in Gaza.

Commenting on being named UN person of the year by the PassBlue news organisation – which focuses on the UN – Albanese said that she had only responded as a “normal” person would when faced with a genocide.

“Like other accolades that I have received lately, speak not so much to my actions over the past 14 months – the normal opposition of a sentient human to a genocide – but rather to the silence of the many, particularly in the West, who should have spoken and acted against Israeli crimes and have chosen not to,” said Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestine territories.

Of those who had not spoken out, she said: “I wonder how they manage to sleep at night.”

Albanese received the award from PassBlue for her advocacy work over the last 14 months highlighting “widespread abuses such as forced displacement, unlawful killings and the denial of basic rights”, which form “reasonable grounds” to conclude that Israel is engaged in an ongoing genocide in Gaza, the media organisation said.

Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), was runner up as person of the year.

Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent observer at the UN, was named UN diplomat of the year.