Israeli military planes pounded military sites in Syria after Israeli troops seized a border buffer zone following the collapse of President Bashar Assad’s regime. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified during his lengthy corruption trial.

Israel denied its forces were advancing toward Damascus. Israeli troops on Sunday entered the buffer zone that was established after the 1973 Middle East war and the army said it would deploy to “several other locations necessary for (Israel’s) defense.”

Netanyahu told Tel Aviv court that charges of corruption, fraud and breach of trust against him were “an ocean of absurdity” and vowed his version would run counter to the prosecution’s case .

Critics have accused him of prolonging the war in Gaza and delaying a ceasefire deal that could free around 100 hostages remaining after 14 months of war sparked by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

The Israeli offensive has killed more than 44,700 Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, according to local health authorities. They say most of the dead are women and children, but do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250, including elderly people and children.

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UN resumes humanitarian operations in two regions of northwest Syria

GENEVA — The United Nations announced the resumption of humanitarian operations in two major areas of northwest Syria, deploying food, medical supplies, fuel and other necessary services and supplies.

Spokesperson Jens Laerke of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that some health facilities were “overwhelmed” – partly due to understaffing – and that many border crossings were closed, disrupting health services. supply chains.

OCHA said humanitarian operations in parts of northwest Syria were suspended at the start of the recent escalation and resumed on Monday.

“As of yesterday, all humanitarian organizations in Idlib and northern Aleppo have resumed operations,” Laerke told reporters at a UN press briefing in Geneva.

He said the three Turkish border crossings used by the UN to deliver aid into Syria remain open and that “we are providing assistance in the northwest, including to those who have been recently displaced.”

Even before the latest escalation, which led President Bashar Assad to flee the country, nearly 17 million people in Syria were in need of humanitarian aid. More than a million people have been displaced in Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Homs since the escalation.

Related story: As Israel advances into Syrian buffer zone, it sees peril and opportunity

Israeli defense minister says Syrian naval fleet destroyed, Israel plans demilitarized zone ‘in southern Syria’

JERUSALEM — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that the Israeli army destroyed the Syrian fleet overnight and intended to establish a demilitarized zone “in southern Syria” to prevent attacks. attacks against Israel.

He also issued a warning to Syrian rebels, saying that “anyone who follows Assad’s path will end up like Assad – we will not allow an extremist Islamic terrorist entity to act against Israel across its border while putting its citizens at risk.” “.

Speaking from a naval base in Haifa, Katz said the Israeli navy “operated last night to destroy the Syrian fleet and with great success.”

A video showing the smoking wreckage of what appears to be small Syrian navy ships in the port of Latakia was broadcast on Tuesday by Saudi television channel Al-Hadath.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has closely followed the conflict since the civil war began in 2011, said Israel had targeted Syrian warships, military warehouses and an air defense installation on the coast.

Katz added that he had asked the military to establish a “defense zone free of terrorist weapons and threats in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence, in order to prevent terrorism in Syria from spreading.” ‘root and organize’. It was unclear whether the demilitarized zone would extend beyond the buffer zone Israel has seized in the border area.

Israel has a long history of conquering territory in wars with its neighbors and indefinite occupation, citing security concerns. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally except by the United States.

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Syrian government to gradually transfer power to interim cabinet

DAMASCUS, Syria — Members of the Syrian government led by ousted President Bashar Assad will gradually transfer power to a new transitional cabinet led by Mohammed al-Bashir.

The outgoing government met with al-Bashir for the first time since Assad fled Damascus over the weekend. Al-Bashir had previously led the “salvation government” that ruled the rebel stronghold in northwest Syria.

Al-Bashir told reporters after the meeting that the ministers discussed the transfer of portfolios to the interim government during the transition period until the beginning of March.

He said that in the coming days the new government would decide on each ministry.