Iran’s supreme leader blames US, Israel and Turkey for fall of Assad regime in Syria
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that the US and Israel were behind the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, and also appeared to point a finger of blame in the direction of Turkey.
In comments reported by Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Khamenei is quoted as saying:
There should be no doubt that what happened in Syria is the product of a joint American and Zionist plan.
Yes, a neighboring government of Syria plays, has played, and is playing an obvious role in this regard – everyone sees this – but the main conspirator, mastermind, and command centre are in America and the Zionist regime.
We have evidence. This evidence leaves no room for doubt.
Key events
Paraguay’s president Santiago Peña is visiting Jerusalem today. He met with his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog, who said:
It means a lot to the people of Israel, the fact that you’re coming here after a year when the Israeli public, the Israeli people, the Israeli nation has gone through a most challenging time, painful, agonising.
While he is in Israel, Peña is inaugurating a new embassy, situated in Jerusalem. Herzog said:
We are very excited that you will inaugurate the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem, our holy city, united city, the eternal capital of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from the region.
Qatar’s foreign ministry has said it will shortly reopen its embassy in Syria.
Russia has said the security of its bases in Syria is of paramount importance, and criticised Israeli actions in the region.
Tass reports Dmitry Peskov, during his regular daily media briefing, said “We, of course, are closely monitoring everything that is happening in Syria, and we maintain contacts with those who are currently controlling the situation. This is necessary because our bases are there, our diplomatic missions are there.”
Peskov declined to say how many Russian troops were in Syria, insisting that was a matter for Russia’s ministry of defence. He also declined to say how relations with the rebel leadership in Syria were developing, telling journalists “too little time has passed so far … therefore, I cannot say anything in more detail.”
Russia has a major air base in Latakia province and a naval facility at Tartous, which Reuters reports is Russia’s only Mediterranean repair and replenishment hub.
The Kremlin spokesperson said Israel’s actions in the occupied Golan Heights and the buffer zone are unlikely to contribute to the stabilisation of the situation in Syria.
Israel has launched a ground invasion into the UN-patrolled buffer zone that separates Syria from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, territory that Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981.
Pope Francis on Wednesday called on Syria’s new leadership to stabilise the country, and govern in a way that promotes national unity.
In his first public remarks about Syria since the ending of Bashar al-Assad’s rule, Reuters reports the pope called on the country’s diverse religious groups to “walk together in friendship and mutual respect for the good of the nation”.
He said:
I hope they find political solutions that, without other conflicts or divisions, responsibly promote the stability and unity of the country
“Relentless” Israeli airstrikes on Syria are hampering attempts to carry out a smooth transition of power from the collapsed Bashar al-Assad regime, Al Jazeera reports.
Writing from Damascus, Resul Serdar Atas says:
Israel is destroying strategic military infrastructure of Syria. By doing so, they are making sure Syria’s new administration does not have the capability of defending itself.
Israel is reducing Syria into Lebanon, into Gaza. That is a huge challenge to the new administration which is trying to preserve the state apparatus … making sure that there is a smooth political transition.
The relentless Israeli air strikes across the country and, in particular, in the capital, Damascus, are definitely disrupting this process.
At least 31 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza
Israeli strikes in the northern and central Gaza Strip on Wednesday killed at least 31 Palestinians, most of them in Beit Lahia in the north, Reuters reports, citing local medics.
Health officials said an Israeli airstrike on a house in Beit Lahiya killed at least 22 people, including women and children.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said at least 30 people were living in the multi-storey building before it was struck, adding that several members of the family remained missing as rescue operations continued.
Earlier on Wednesday, at least seven Palestinians were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Nuseirat camp
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces have detained three men in Qalqilya in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel’s military has reported that four rockets were fired towards Israel from inside the Gaza Strip in the early hours of the morning. In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the IDF said the rockets were intercepted and there were no reports of casualties.
The IRNA news agency is carrying further quotes from Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei talking about Syria and conflict in the region. It quotes him saying:
You must understand that the more pressure you put on the resistance front [to Israel], the stronger it becomes. The more crimes you commit, the more motivated it becomes. The more you fight it, the more it will expand. By the grace of God, the resistance will expand more than before to cover the entire region.