Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the army to “prepare to stay” all winter in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria on the top of the Golan Heights. Israel conquered part of it during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. “Due to what is happening in Syria, it is of paramount security importance to maintain our presence at the summit of Mount Herm”wrote the minister in a press release. Follow our live stream.
Virtual G7 meeting scheduled for Friday. The leaders of the G7 countries must meet by videoconference to examine the situation in Syria, where the new power has promised to establish a “Rule of law”. This summit was convened before the fall of Bashar al-Assad and initially planned for the handover of the group's rotating presidency. In Rome, the G7 said it was ready to support a transition towards a government “inclusive and non-sectarian” respecting the rights of women and “religious and ethnic minorities”.
The head of American diplomacy to the Turkish president on the protection of Syrian civilians. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday that Syrian civilians must be protected after Turkey-backed Islamists overthrew the government in Damascus. The head of American diplomacy “reiterated that it is important that all actors in Syria respect human rights, international humanitarian law and take all possible measures to protect civilians, including members of minority groups“, explained the spokesperson for the State Department.
Summit dedicated to Syria on Saturday in Jordan. This meeting, focused on “the development of the situation in Syria”will bring together representatives from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar, as well as their Turkish and American counterparts, the head of the diplomacy of the European Union and the UN special envoy for Syria, said the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A former head of a Damascus prison indicted for torture in the United States. The Syrian Samir Ousman Alsheikh, head of a Damascus prison between 2005 and 2008, and already imprisoned in the United States, was indicted on Thursday for torture, American federal justice announced, a few days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad . This 72-year-old man, who ran the infamous Adra prison before the war in Syria, is accused by Washington of having himself inflicted “severe physical and mental pain” on detainees, or having given the order, according to a press release.
