Crisis in Syria: Stay Updated as Developments Unfold
10:40 GMT 10.12.2024 (Updated: 12:36 GMT 10.12.2024)
© AP Photo / Matias Delacroix
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Syrian armed groups captured the national capital of Damascus on Sunday. While Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said that he and 18 other ministers had decided to remain in Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad stepped down and left the country after negotiations with some participants of the conflict, said the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The UN Security Council is united in the need to “preserve the territorial integrity of Syria," Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said after a a closed-door meeting on Monday. “We were talking about the need to work out a document by the Council […] in the coming days," Nebenzia said.
Regarding the status of the Golan Heights, he noted that Russia was recording conflicting messages from Israel.
🧵(1/4) WHAT MAKES THE GOLAN HEIGHTS CRUCIAL FOR ISRAEL?
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) December 9, 2024
Amid the turmoil in Syria, which saw President Bashar al-Assad transfer power to the armed opposition, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered Syrian territory outside the Golan Heights for the first time in 50 years. 👇 pic.twitter.com/bh5EArAOfn
After Israel seized a buffer zone separating the occupied Golan Heights from Syrian-controlled areas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Golan will remain part of his country “for eternity.”
However, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon called the incursion “limited and temporary measures.”
Israeli soldiers sit atop an armoured vehicle near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria Saturday Dec. 7, 2024.
© AP Photo / Matias Delacroix
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it had struck "dozens" of targets to "neutralize" advanced weapons, including anti-aircraft systems, in Syria.
Sputnik’s sources in Syria have denied media reports that speak of Israeli tanks invading areas of the Damascus countryside, near the city of Qatna, southwest of the capital. Israeli forces and tanks are said to be currently present in Quneitra province in southern Syria, 16 km deep into Syrian territory, with residents urged not to leave their homes until the end of military operations in the region.
In response to the developments, Syrian Permanent Representative to the UN Koussay Aldahhak said that his mission has called on the UN secretary-general and the Security Council “to put an end to the Israeli attacks on Syria.”
💥 ISRAEL ENTERS SYRIAN TERRITORY BEYOND THE GOLAN HEIGHTS
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) December 9, 2024
Sputnik's exclusive footage shows Israeli tanks and bulldozers breaching a wall on the border of the Golan Heights region, entering Syrian soil beyond the Golan Heights for the first time in more than 50 years. https://t.co/wg8GorScIv pic.twitter.com/wwAIedFDIZ
US Central Command and its regional allies will “continue to carry out operations to degrade ISIS* capabilities,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said, with over 75 targets struck over the weekend.
The US was working to prevent the use of Syria’s alleged chemical weapons “against civilians or against our US forces or partners in the region.”
The armed opposition in Syria has tasked politician Mohammed al-Bashir with the responsibility of forming a transitional government, Arab media cited sources as saying.
9 December, 17:02 GMT
*ISIS is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries
