(DAMASCUS, SYRIA) — Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.
Meanwhile, the ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group. The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza.
Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides.
64 patients at Kamal Adwan Hospital still facing relentless bombing
The Kamal Adwan Hospital has been facing relentless and continuous bombing injuring more people in the building.
“The third floor was set on fire, and the water tank was destroyed. The intensive care unit was also targeted while the patients were inside. There were terrifying sounds in the hospital courtyard, and we saw a military vehicle advancing towards the hospital. Barrels were placed, and three of them exploded, causing panic and terror in the hospital,” Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, director of the hospital, told ABC News.
“Drones are constantly dropping bombs on the hospital. Anyone moving in the hospital risks being injured or killed. So far, there is no electricity, water or oxygen at all,” the director said.
Israel will occupy Gaza Strip, defense minister says
Israel will have security control over the Gaza Strip, effectively occupying it, Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X Tuesday.
“After we defeat Hamas’ military and governmental power in Gaza, Israel will have security control over Gaza with full freedom of action, just as in Judea and Samaria,” Katz said.
“We will not allow any terrorist organization against Israeli communities and Israeli citizens from Gaza. We will not allow a return to the reality of before October 7th,” Katz said.
Katz’s predecessor, Yoav Gallant, repeatedly insisted that Israel wanted to avoid the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip.
Ceasefire deal ‘possible’ if Israel does not add new conditions, Hamas says
Amid reports that a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel may be edging closer, Hamas said a “prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation stops putting new conditions.”
More than 45,000 people were killed and over 100,000 injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry
Over 90% of Gaza’s 2.1 million people have been displaced, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham head Ahmed al-Sharaa — also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani — told The Times in a new interview that the transitional government in Damascus does “not want any conflict, whether with Israel or anyone else.”
Israel is continuing airstrikes across Syria and has occupied parts of a buffer zone — demilitarized in a 1974 bilateral deal — running between the two nations. Israeli leaders say their military operations are intended to prevent “extremists” from launching attacks into Israel.
But Sharaa said the new administration “will not let Syria be used as a launchpad for attacks.”
“The Syrian people need a break, and the strikes must end and Israel has to pull back to its previous positions,” he added.
Sharaa has asked the international community to pressure Israel to stop its strikes, withdraw from the buffer zone and respect the 1974 agreement.
-ABC News’ Bruno Nota and Joe Simonetti
‘Massive’ Damascus graves could hold 100,000 bodies, NGO says
Mouaz Moustafa, the head of the U.S.-based Syrian advocacy organization, the Syrian Emergency Task Force, told ABC News there are believed to be well over 100,000 bodies in a “massive” burial site discovered 25 miles north of Damascus.
Moustafa told ABC News from the Syrian capital that the site in al-Qutayfah consists of “massive graves” where “lines or trenches were 6 to 7 meters deep, 3 to 4 meters wide and 50 to 150 meters long.”
“In my conversation with the gravediggers, they told me that four tractor trailer trucks each carrying over 150 bodies came twice a week from 2012 until 2018,” Moustafa said.
“The bulldozer excavator driver described how intelligence officers forced workers to use the bulldozer to flatten and compress the bodies to make them fit and easier to bury before digging the next line or trench,” he added.
The mass grave contained men, women, children and the elderly “tortured to death” by former President Bashar Assad’s regime, Moustafa said.
The overthrown president was in power from 2000 to his ousting on Dec. 8. In his first statement since fleeing Syria, Assad on Monday blamed a “terrorist onslaught” for his defeat. His toppling marked the end of a 14-year conflict between Damascus and a collection of rebel groups.
Opposition groups and rescue workers are still uncovering evidence of the regime’s human rights abuses. SETF believes it has identified three other mass graves so far, as well as two “smaller ones,” Moustafa said.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Israel to have ‘full freedom of action’ in Gaza after war, minister says
Israel “will have security control over Gaza with full freedom of action” after the fighting in the devastated Palestinian territory ends, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post to X on Tuesday.
Katz added that Israeli access to the strip will be comparable to its access to the occupied West Bank, which is nominally controlled by the Palestinian Authority but in coordination with Israel.
“We will not allow any terrorist organization against Israeli communities and Israeli citizens from Gaza,” Katz wrote. “We will not allow a return to the reality of before Oct. 7.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has faced domestic and international criticism for its failure to present a clear vision for post-war Gaza beyond the destruction of Hamas as a ruling force.
President Joe Biden is among the world leaders that have warned Israel against any post-war occupation of Gaza or permanent displacement of Palestinians.
State Department: Search for Tice still possible without team on the ground
The State Department’s lack of boots on the ground in Syria isn’t interfering in its efforts to track down missing American journalist Austin Tice, spokesperson Matthew Miller contended on Monday.
The department has had “more than one communication” with rebel group HTS “over the past week,” he told reporters. It was also in touch with other groups, like the White Helmets, that were helping with the search, he said.
“We feel that right now we are able to get good information,” he said.
Tice, an American freelance journalist and Marine Corps veteran, was kidnapped while reporting in Syria more than a decade ago.
In a recent letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu obtained by ABC News, Tice’s family “urgently” asked the Israelis to pause their strikes in a neighborhood in Damascus where they believe he may be held prisoner and to deploy assets to the area to help search for him.
“I’m going to be looking for help anywhere I can, and what I’ve learned in 12 years and four months is go to the top first,” Tice’s mother, Debra Tice, told reporters on Monday when asked about the outreach.
“I think it would be polite to say the least, that perhaps they’re not bombing as people are trying to clear the prison. That would be my first suggestion,” she added.
ABC News has reached out to the prime minister’s office for comment.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston and Will Gretsky
Israeli defense minister expresses optimism for ceasefire deal
Israeli officials are expressing optimism about the prospects of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
“We are closer to a deal than in any other point since the previous deal, the matter is top priority,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said while addressing the Knesset on Monday, according to the spokesperson of the foreign affairs and security committee.
The remarks come after Mossad chief David Barnea traveled to Doha, Qatar, last week for ceasefire negotiations.
Assad says he fled Syria after drones attacked Russian air base
Former Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday released his first statement since the collapse of his regime, posting a statement to the presidency’s official Telegram channel.
“My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur in the final hours of the battles,” Assad said. “As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Latakia in coordination with our Russian allies to oversee combat operations.”
“Upon arrival at the Khmeimim air base that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen,” the statement continued.
“As the field situation in the area continued to deteriorate, the Russian military base itself came under intensified attack by drone strikes.”
“With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base’s command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia,” Assad wrote.
“This took place a day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the final military positions and the resulting paralysis of all state institutions,” he added.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian, Ghazi Balkiz and Joe Simonetti
Gaza death toll passes 45,000, officials say
A series of Israeli airstrikes across Gaza over the weekend and into Monday morning pushed the total death toll in the strip since Oct. 7, 2023, to more than 45,000 people, according to data from the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Per ministry figures, more than 2% of Gaza’s total pre-war residents of 2.23 million people have been killed in 14 months of conflict with Israel.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Israel has ‘no interest’ in Syria conflict, Netanyahu says as strikes continue
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his nation has no interest in conflict with the incoming Syrian government, though indicated that Israeli airstrikes and occupation of Syrian territory will continue.
“We have no interest in a conflict with Syria,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “We will determine Israeli policy regarding Syria according to the reality on the ground.”
“I recall that for decades Syria was an active enemy state toward Israel,” he said. “It has attacked us repeatedly.”
Speaking of former President Bashar Assad’s close ties with Iran and its proxies, Netanyahu continued, “It allowed others to attack us from its territory. It allowed Iran to arm Hezbollah through its territory.”
The prime minister issued the statement after another night of heavy airstrikes across Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday there have been around 473 Israeli airstrikes on the country since Assad’s fall on Dec. 8.
“Over the course of several days, we have destroyed the capabilities that the Assad regime took decades to build,” Netanyahu said. “We have also struck the weapons supply routes through Syria to Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu said he and Defense Minister Israel Katz had instructed the Israel Defense Forces “to thwart the potential threats from Syria and prevent terrorist elements from taking control close to our border,” a reference to Israeli occupation of a buffer zone between the two nations established in a 1974 peace deal.
“We are committed to preventing the rearming of Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said. “This is a prolonged test for Israel, which we must meet, and which we will meet. I unequivocally declare to Hezbollah and to Iran: In order to prevent you from attacking us, we will continue to take action against you as necessary, in every arena and at all times.”
Over the weekend, Netanyahu’s government also approved a plan to double the territory of the Golan Heights, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967 but is still recognized as Syrian territory by the vast majority of the international community.
“We will continue to hold onto it, cause it to blossom and settle in it,” Netanyahu said.
Israel unilaterally annexed the strategic area — which overlooks Damascus from the southwest — in 1981. The U.S. recognized Israeli sovereignty over the region in 2019.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
US embassy tells Americans to leave ‘volatile’ Syria
The U.S. Embassy in Damascus — which suspended operations in 2012 — said in a Monday post to X that the “security situation in Syria continues to be volatile and unpredictable with armed conflict and terrorism throughout the country.”
U.S. citizens, it said, “should depart Syria if possible. U.S. citizens who are unable to depart should prepare contingency plans for emergency situations and be prepared to shelter in place for extended periods.”
U.S. officials have said they are in touch with the most prominent rebel groups now building a transition government after toppling former president Bashar Assad’s regime, but the eventual shape of U.S.-Syrian relations remains unclear.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — the most prominent of the rebel groupings — has roots in al-Qaeda and is still listed as a terrorist organization in the U.S. and European Union. Its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, is still the subject of a $10 million U.S. bounty.
The U.S. government “is unable to provide any routine or emergency consular services to U.S. citizens in Syria,” the embassy said. “U.S. citizens in Syria who are in need of emergency assistance to depart should contact the U.S. Embassy in the country they plan to enter.”
The embassy urged citizens in Syria to be “prepared to shelter in place should the situation deteriorate” and to ensure access to all required travel documents.
Netanyahu says he spoke with Trump on Syria
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night released a video in Hebrew addressing Israel’s actions in Syria. He says he discussed this with President-Elect Trump “last night.” He called it a “very friendly, very warm and very important conversation,” and said they spoke about “the need to complete Israel’s victory,” as well as freeing the hostages in Gaza.
On Syria, Netanyahu said he has instructed the Israel Defense Forces “to thwart potential threats from Syria, and to prevent terrorist elements from taking over near our border.” He also said the IDF’s airstrikes in Syria have destroyed “capabilities that the Assad regime had built over decades,” as well as the “arms supply routes from Syria to Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu said Israel has “no interest in confronting Syria” but also said Israel will continue to act to stop Hezbollah from rearming “as much as necessary, in every arena and at any time.”
-ABC News’ Bruno Nota
US aircraft carrier strike group enters Middle East
The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the Middle East, according to U.S. Central Command.
On Dec. 14, the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HSTCSG) consisting of the flagship USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75); Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 with nine embarked aviation squadrons; Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 28; the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, USS Gettysburg… pic.twitter.com/mtfsiBvCyh
(SEOUL) — Over 12,000 North Korean troops are estimated to be fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Camille Shea told the United Nations Security Council last week.
Of those dispatched to the region, an estimated 300 North Korean soldiers in Russia have died and over 2,700 have been wounded, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service’s closed briefing to the National Assembly on Monday.
North Korean defectors who finished their almost decade-long military service in their 20’s have shared their mixed sentiments and analysis with ABC News.
“So unfortunate, that’s all I can say,” North Korean defector Lee Cheol-eun said with a grimace after watching footage of North Korean soldiers fighting in Kursk, Russia, against the Ukrainian forces.
The 37-year-old served in the Korea People’s Army security department until he escaped the regime in 2016, meaning he knows better than anyone about having to follow orders in a system that one does not believe in.
“They do not know why they have to bleed and lose lives on that battlefield, I feel empty watching them,” Lee said.
“The soldiers dispatched to Russia must be the ones who are best trained about modern warfare and should have received the basic adaptation training upon arrival. The fact that they’ve been pushed into a situation where they have no choice but to die breaks my heart,” Defector Jang Seyul, who served in the North Korean People’s Army’s intelligence agency that focuses on cyber warfare simulations, told ABC News.
The North Korean soldiers on the Kursk frontlines are the infamous “Storm Corps,” according to South Korea’s National Intelligence.
North Korea is estimated to be training at least 40,000 to as many as 80,000 Storm Corps soldiers who spend 13 years serving in the military and cut off from the outside world.
Jang recalled how dominant they were during joint battle drills.
“People would refer to them as murder weapons. They received high-level training that the regular soldiers couldn’t imagine,” said Jang.
Jang says the Storm Corps were provided with slightly larger rations of food and that they are compensated better once they are discharged considering their longer tenure of service and harsh training.
The Storm Corps are not only prepared to be physically stronger but also highly indoctrinated, according to the retired Lieutenant General Chun In-bum of the South Korean Army, referring to them as “an elite force that is one grade above the average North Korean unit.”
However, in spite of their reputation, the Storm Corps soldiers in North Korea have been seen flailing helplessly under Ukrainian drone attacks, according to footage provided by Ukrainian forces.
Seoul’s intelligence service briefed lawmakers in a closed-door briefing on Monday, saying the main reason for mass casualties is due to the North Korean soldiers’ lack of understanding in modern warfare, such as drone target shots and charging without rear fire support.
General Chun In-bum said that it may be too early to determine if the North Korean soldiers were insufficiently trained, explaining that drone warfare is new to everyone on the frontlines.
“The North Koreans will be unaccustomed to the flatlands and the Ukrainian front, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be adapting, especially if they are experiencing high casualties. It’s a great motivator when you see that your life is on the line,” Chun told ABC News.
Seoul speculates that North Korea may dispatch more troops in the near future. Chun believes the same.
“So even for just rotational purposes, I think there is a high probability that more soldiers will be deployed there. Whatever the situation is, the relationship between Putin and Kim Jong Un is going to solidify and, to a degree, I’m sure the Russian people are going to appreciate that the North Koreans are sending soldiers at a moment when they are in a very difficult situation,” General Chun said.
The dispatch of North Korean soldiers’ to Russia is still an open secret within the secluded regime which has limited access to news from the outside world. Defectors and experts on North Korea in Seoul having different opinions about how the North Korean public will react once they are aware.
General Chun assumes that for the family members of the deceased North Korean soldiers, the regime will compensate them with all the benefits possible in hopes they will come to appreciate their sons’ sacrifice for their country.
But Jang, on the other hand, sees the North Korean people as less loyal than the generation before them, suggesting the regime would have to put in greater effort into explaining the soldiers’ deaths.
“Average North Korean people are unaware of the dispatch. But people who secretly communicate with the outside world, and those who listen to the propaganda broadcasting signals sent from the South probably know what is going on,” Lee told ABC News. “I hope the survivors of the Russia dispatch will return home and inform others of the injustice of the North Korean system based on their experience abroad.”
(LONDON) — Azerbaijani authorities investigating last week’s Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Kazakhstan are probing the “disturbing” possibility that Russian air traffic controllers may have directed the damaged plane out over the Caspian Sea, a source with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have all opened investigations into the cause of the Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 crash.
The source — who did not wish to be identified given the sensitivity of the ongoing Azerbaijani investigation — said Azerbaijani authorities have “very little doubt” that flight J2-8243 was damaged by a Russian Pantsir anti-aircraft system over Chechnya on Dec. 25.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev suggested on Sunday that the plane was shot down by Russia unintentionally, that it “was damaged from the outside on Russian territory” and was “rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare.” He cited fire from the ground for serious damage to the tail section of the aircraft and apparent shrapnel holes in its fuselage.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the plane crashing, but stopped short of saying Russia was behind a strike.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday said, “The investigation into the air accident is ongoing. And we do not think we have a right to give any assessments and will not do so until conclusions are drawn based on the results of the investigation. We have our own aviation authorities that can do it, and this information may come only from them.”
The source with knowledge of the investigation said the subsequent conduct of air control officials after what they suspect to be a Russian strike on the plane was a focus of the ongoing investigation into the incident, in which 38 of the 67 people on board were killed.
The aircraft was heading northwest from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to Grozny in Russia — the capital city of Russia’s Chechen Republic — when the incident occurred. At the same time, Ukrainian drones were attacking targets in Chechnya, prompting a response from Russian anti-aircraft units.
Early explanations for the crash included a collision with birds and heavy fog in the area. Some Russian media organizations also suggested Ukrainian drones collided with the plane during their attack on targets in Chechnya.
Russian authorities did not immediately close Chechen airspace, the source said, adding that this decision may have been negligent but does not appear to prove any intent by Russia to shoot down the incoming Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft.
The doomed plane flew east across the Caspian Sea to the Kazakh city of Aktau some 280 miles away — rather than landing in Chechnya or another closer airport, which was “puzzling” for investigators, according to the source.
The area was blanketed in heavy fog at the time of the incident, survivors said, forcing the aircraft to make two landing attempts at Grozny airport before it was rocked by apparent explosions on its third approach.
Russia’s Rosaviatsia air transport agency said Friday that the captain was offered other airports at which to land on account of the fog and drone alerts, but chose Aktau. It was not immediately clear which airports had been offered or why the plane didn’t land at one of them.
The investigators’ “most obvious” and “most unfortunate” theory is that Russian air traffic control officials may have directed the plane over the Caspian Sea, the source said.
That explanation, if it turns out to be true, is “disturbing” but possible, the source added.
The aircraft ultimately crashed around 2 miles from Aktau International Airport on the Caspian Sea’s eastern coast.
Putin on Saturday spoke with Aliyev and “apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” a Kremlin readout said.
“At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks,” it added.
On Sunday, Aliyev said Moscow should admit responsibility for the incident and offer compensation.
“The facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian plane was damaged from outside on Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and practically lost control,” Aliyev told state television.
Aliyev said he did not believe the damage was intentional, though expressed disappointment over alternate theories for the crash offered by Russian authorities in the immediate aftermath.
“This openly showed that the Russian side wants to hush up the issue and this, of course, does no one credit,” he said.
“Unfortunately, for the first three days we heard nothing from Russia except crazy versions,” Aliyev said.
Russia and Azerbaijan — which until 1991 was a constituent state of the Soviet Union — are both members of the Moscow-centric Commonwealth of Independent States bloc. The neighboring nations retain close political, economic and security ties.
Bilateral relations have become more important to the Kremlin since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine prompted a collective Western effort to isolate Moscow on the international stage.
Azerbaijan, meanwhile, has pursued non-alignment and a balance in its relations with Russia and the West. The country has notably become an important source of natural gas for Europe, while also serving as a key conduit for Russian oil exports.
ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic, Ines de la Cuetara and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
