World ‘surprised’ by how quickly Assad’s Syria collapsed, Austin says
Ozan Kose via Getty Images
(LONDON) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday that the international community was “surprised to see that the opposition forces moved as quickly as they did” in Syria as President Bashar Assad’s government collapsed in the face of a surprise rebel offensive.
“Everybody expected to see a much more stiff resistance from Assad’s forces,” Austin said while in Japan, during what is expected to be his last trip to the Indo-Pacific region as defense secretary.
The speed of developments, he added, “was surprising, I think, to most everybody in the international community.”
Damascus’ fall to rebel forces on Sunday marked “a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their country,” President Joe Biden said in a post to X, adding, “It is also a moment of risk and uncertainty.”
U.S. forces are already moving to suppress any hint of an ISIS resurgence in central and eastern Syria, where hundreds of American personnel have been active for several years alongside Kurdish forces to defeat the remnants of the jihadist group.
U.S. forces launched 75 strikes on ISIS targets in central Syria on Sunday to “disrupt, degrade and defeat” the group, the head of the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
Austin said the strikes were designed “to keep the pressure on ISIS.”
“As this unfolds, there’s a potential that elements in the area, such as ISIS, could try to take advantage of this opportunity and regain capability,” he explained.
“We’ve been tracking ISIS as a part of our ‘Defeat ISIS’ campaign for some time, as you know, and we’ve seen cells trying to strengthen and develop additional capability out in the Vidalia Desert and those strikes were focused on those cells,” Austin said.
U.S. forces are “still evaluating the results, but I think that we’re going to find that we’ve been pretty successful,” Austin said.
(TEL AVIV, Israel and GAZA STRIP) — Patients are “trapped” inside the last three operational hospitals in northern Gaza as Israeli forces continue to besiege the area, medical staff and international aid organizations warn.
As of Saturday, more than 350 patients are reported to be “trapped” inside Al-Awda Hospital, Indonesian Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital, including pregnant women and people who have just undergone surgical operations, according to Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The Israel Defense Forces issued evacuation orders for northern Gaza on Oct. 6, its spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X, writing at the time: “I remind you that the northern Gaza Strip area is still considered a dangerous combat zone.”
The IDF again ordered evacuations last week of several neighborhoods in the northern Gaza Strip, including Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahia, as it tracks down Hamas fighters it believes to be in the area.
It’s estimated there are between 200,000 and 400,000 people who live in the north in an area that’s now a military zone.
The hospitals are within areas that have been ordered to evacuate, although the IDF will not confirm if the hospitals were ordered to evacuate. Israel has said Hamas terrorists are using civilians as shields and hospitals as cover-ups for their operations.
“While the northern part of the Strip has been under siege for over two weeks, it is absolutely crucial to ensure the protection of the few remaining functional health care facilities,” Anna Halford, emergency coordinator in Gaza for MSF, said Sunday in a statement. “People must be able to continue to access medical care and lifesaving treatments. We call on the Israeli forces to immediately stop their attacks on hospitals in north Gaza.”
In a statement posted Monday morning on X, the IDF spokesperson for the Arab media said Israeli officials continue “to communicate with the international community and the health establishment to maintain the operation of emergency systems in hospitals by transferring medical equipment and a fuel stockpile based on the operational situation.”
The spokesperson also said officials are working to evacuate patients and their companions, as well as medical staff, from hospitals. The IDF did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment about patients being trapped.
Staff members at Indonesian Hospital say they’re without power and have been unable to properly care for patients.
“The water supply has been cut off for patients and staff at the Indonesian Hospital,” Hadeel Obeid, chief nurse at the hospital, said in a message to ABC News on Monday. “They need permission from the [IDF] to operate the electric generator, and there is no food due to the ongoing siege for the fourth consecutive day.”
“We urge all international organizations to take the necessary action to save these wounded individuals and the staff working inside the hospital to support their resilience and steadfastness,” Obeid added.
Medical staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital similarly said there is no food to properly feed families, nor are there safe places to stay.
“There is no milk for children, and mothers [instead] have to mix starch and flour with water and sugar,” Dr. Eid Al Sabah, director of nursing at the hospital, said in a message to ABC News on Monday. “We stay in houses that have previously been bombed. We use tent cloth and wood from furniture [for fires] due to wood and fuel cuts.”
The IDF said Monday in a post on X that it has allowed hundreds of people to safely evacuate the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip via an organized route while arresting dozens of suspects in the area.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) also issued a dire warning about attacks on hospitals and overcrowded conditions in northern Gaza.
In a post Monday on X, the organization said patients in ICUs have died after electricity cuts, and that Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals are operating at minimum capacity due to a shortage of medical supplies and staff.
“The Israeli authorities continue to deny humanitarian missions to reach the north with critical supplies, including medicine and food for people under siege,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA commissioner-general, said Monday in a post on X. “Hospitals have been hit and are left without power while injured people are left without care.”
“Denying & weaponizing humanitarian assistance to achieve military purposes is a sign of how low the moral compass is,” he continued. “Assistance must reach everyone in need in Gaza: civilians, including children and the hostages. No one should beg to assist or to be assisted. A cease-fire is the beginning to putting an end to this endless nightmare.”
Additionally, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a report over the weekend that no aid was allowed into northern Gaza between Oct. 1 and Oct. 14. Since then, only a “token amount” of aid has been allowed in, the group said.
In its report, OHCHR also expressed concern over dwindling amounts of food supplies. Israeli officials have denied that aid is struggling to enter Gaza and have posted photos and videos on social media of trucks with aid waiting to be picked up and distributed at border crossings by nongovernmental and aid organizations.
ABC News’ Guy Davies and Jordana Miller contributed to this report.
U.S. Embassy in London, United Kingdom (L. Toshio Kishiyama/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — A suspicious package was discovered outside the United States embassy in London on Friday morning, police said.
The London Metropolitan Police immediately closed Ponton Road outside of the embassy in “an abundance of caution,” according to their statement, before they destroyed it in a controlled explosion.
“We’re aware of speculation online about an incident in the vicinity of the US Embassy in Nine Elms,” the Met Police said. “Cordons are in place in the area as a precaution while officers investigate a suspect package.”
Authorities updated the situation approximately an hour later after reports of a “loud bang” began circulating online.
“We can confirm that the ‘loud bang’ reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers. Enquiries are still ongoing and cordons will remain in place for the time being,” police said.
The U.S. embassy in London moved to a brand-new purpose-built location in January 2018. The 12-story government office — complete with a moat surrounding it — cost approximately $1 billion to construct and was funded entirely from proceeds of sale from other U.S. government property in London, according to the U.S. government.
(NEW YORK) — Mexico is developing a cellphone app that will allow migrants to inform family members and local consulates if they think they are about to be detained in the United States, the country’s secretary of foreign affairs announced on Friday.
The app is expected to become available in January as President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to launch mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission on Day 1 of his second term, takes office.
The app — dubbed Alert Button — will allow nationals who think they are about to be detained to notify the “consulate closest to their location about situations of imminent detention, notify family members who have previously been selected, as well as report to the Foreign Affairs Secretary,” Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.
The app was developed with the Mexican Digital Transformation Agency for “emergency cases,” Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs, said.
De la Fuente outlined other protective measures ahead of Mexican nationals’ possible detention under the incoming Trump administration.
“The foreign affairs secretary was emphatic in pointing out that to deport someone from the United States you need a court order, a final sentence of deportation or removal, and that is where the consular team will be very aware that due process is complied with,” the release said.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to get started on mass deportations as soon as he enters office.
He’s tapped several immigration hard-liners to serve in key Cabinet positions, including former Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan as “border czar.”
Homan previously discussed his vision for mass deportations, saying they would first concentrate on expelling criminals and national security threats. He didn’t rule out deporting families together.
An estimated 11.7 million unauthorized migrants are living in the U.S. without legal immigration status, including about 4.6 million from Mexico, as of July 2023, according to the Center for Migration Studies.
