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Israeli army kills 2 Palestinians in West Bank raid
Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians during a military raid in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. A local armed group said the pair were militants.
The deadly raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarem was the latest in Israeli-Palestinian violence that has surged since last year.
The ministry and Tulkarem's branch of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group with connections to President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, identified the pair as Samer El Shafei and Hamza Kharyoush, both aged 22 years.
The Israeli military said the two gunmen were suspected of carrying out a shooting attack at a nearby Israeli settlement earlier this week. An Israeli civilian was injured and vehicles were damaged during the shooting at the Avnei Hefetz Jewish settlement.
Videos circulated on social media purportedly showed the lifeless bodies of the two gunmen lying on a tin roof as what appear to be Israeli security forces searched them. At one point, one of the members of the Israeli forces tried to flip one body as he partially took off the dead man's jeans.
Palestinian media, citing witnesses, said soldiers left after ensuring the two were dead.
The deaths raised to 104 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the start of the year.
Israel has been staging near-nightly arrest raids into West Bank villages, towns and cities for more than a year in an operation prompted by a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year. Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the attacks as further entrenchment of Israel’s 56-year, open-ended occupation of lands they seek for a future independent state.
Some 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the raids were launched. Israel says most have been militants, but stone-throwing youth and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.
During that same time, nearly 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
Iran executes leader of deadly 2018 parade attack: Report
Iran hanged a man who was allegedly behind an attack that killed dozens of people at a military parade in the southern province of Khuzestan in 2018, state media reported on Saturday.
The execution was carried out in Tehran after a top court upheld a death sentence for Farajollah Cha’ab in March, Iran's state TV reported.
He was “the main person in the terrorist attack” at the parade in September 2018, authorities said, and was arrested by Iranian agents in 2020 after he left Sweden for Turkey. He is alleged to be the leader of a separatist group.
Cha’ab, who holds Iranian and Swedish citizenship, disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Turkey in November 2020.
In September 2018, militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual military parade in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan. At least 25 people were killed and 70 wounded, including a 4-year-old boy.
Iran then claimed that Saudi Arabia and Israeli intelligence services supported what it says was an attack by the separatist group.
Israeli forces kill 3 Palestinians behind deaths of British-Israelis
Israeli troops on Thursday killed three Palestinian wanted in connection with a shooting attack that killed a British-Israeli woman and two of her daughters, the Israeli military said, the latest bloodshed in a relentless wave of violence.
In a rare daytime incursion launched as residents were starting their day, the military said forces entered the heart of the flashpoint city of Nablus and raided an apartment where the men were located. Troops and the suspects exchanged fire and the three men were killed.
The military said the men were behind an attack last month on a car near a Jewish West Bank settlement that killed Lucy Dee, the British-Israeli mother and two of her daughters, Maya and Rina. Leo Dee, the woman's widower, told The Associated Press he was “comforted” by the news of their death.
In a statement after the raid, Hamas group said the three men, identified as Hassan Qatnani, Moaz al-Masri and Ibrahim Jabr, were its members and the group claimed responsibility for the April attack.
In a separate incident Thursday near the West Bank town of Hawara, a 26-year-old Palestinian woman who lightly wounded a 20-year-old Israeli in a stabbing attack was killed by Israeli fire.
In Nablus, Israeli shells ripped through the roof of the gunmen’s safe house in the heart of Nablus' Old City, leaving nothing but twisted metal, cement blocks and torn mattresses still stained with blood scattered over the rubble. A couple of hours after the army withdrew, young men collected scores of ejected bullet shell casings from the narrow alleys.
Nablus, the West Bank's commercial capital and second-largest city, has been the scene of repeated Israeli raids over the past year, but few have been conducted during the day because of the increased risk of friction with local residents. Residents have been caught up in previous fighting.
Manal Abu Safiyeh, 57, said she woke up at 7 a.m. to the sounds of the Israeli army vehicles rumbling through the city. Although it wasn’t new to her after a year of intense violence in the Old City, the gunfire sounded closer than she’d ever heard it before. An explosion suddenly blew up her neighbor’s house, she said, killing three people. She said she didn’t know much about her neighbors other than that Ibrahim Jabr had cancer.
A man who identified himself only as Kareem for fear of reprisals said that he spotted older men and a woman in a long overgarment worn by Muslim women who he had never seen before walking through the limestone alleys and knew instantly they were Israeli special forces. He ran to his house and sheltered there until he heard the gunfire stop.
“So many men from the city have been killed,” he said. “We are used to these raids. That’s the story of life in Nablus.”
After the military pulled out, dozens of masked men paraded through the city while shooting into the air, waving Palestinian flags as onlookers honked in support. A sea of mourners at the men's funeral chanted “God is great.”
The violence in Nablus comes at a particularly sensitive time in the region, days after a prominent Palestinian prisoner who was staging a lengthy hunger strike over his detention died in Israeli custody. His death set off a volley of rockets in Gaza and Israeli airstrikes in the coastal enclave that killed one man.
The deadly attack last month on the Israeli car shocked Israelis because in an instant it reduced the Dee family from seven members to four. Hundreds of people packed the funerals and the family's father, Leo, has been a recurring figure in Israeli media, saying he bears no hatred toward the killers of his family and calling for national unity amid a deep societal rift.
“We’re grateful to God that this was done in a way that protected the lives of the soldiers and caused minimal if no civilian casualties, as far as we know. And of course, that’s very important to us that innocent Palestinians were not injured in this operation,” Leo Dee told The Associated Press from his home in the Jewish West Bank settlement of Efrat.
Israeli officials said the raid showed attackers would be hunted down eventually.
“Our message to those who harm us, and those who want to harm us, is that whether it takes a day, a week or a month – you can be certain that we will settle accounts with you,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Israel has been staging near-nightly arrest raids into West Bank villages, towns and cities for more than a year in an operation prompted by a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year.
Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the attacks as further entrenchment of Israel's 56-year, open-ended occupation of lands they seek for a future independent state. Israel captured those territories — the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip — in the 1967 Mideast war.
Some 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the raids were launched, but stone-throwing youth and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.
The raids have been met by a surge in Palestinian attacks. Since last spring, nearly 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
Iran's president holds rare meeting with Assad in Syria
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi Wednesday met Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus in a bid to boost cooperation between the two allies, state media reported.
Tehran has been a main backer of Assad's government since an uprising turned into a full-blown war in March 2011 and has played an instrumental role in turning the tide in his favor.
Iran has sent scores of military advisers and thousands of Iran-backed fighters from around the Middle East to fight on Assad's side. With the help of Russia and Iran, Syrian government forces have controlled large parts of the country in recent years.
In an interview with pan-Arab television channel Al-Mayadeen, Raisi called for reconstruction efforts and for refugees who fled the country's war to return to the country.
Raisi, who is a leading a high-ranking political and economic delegation in a two-day visit to Syria, was received on arrival at Damascus International Airport Wednesday by Syrian Economy Minister Samer al-Khalil.
“Syria’s government and people have gone through great hardship," Syrian state media quoted Raisi telling Assad during the meeting. "Today, we can now say that you have overcome all these problems and were victorious despite the threats and sanctions imposed against you.”
He is also set to visit the Sayida Zeinab and Sayida Ruqayya shrines, both holy sites in Shiite Islam, as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a monument dedicated to Syrian soldiers killed in battle.
The last Iranian president to visit Syria was President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2010.
The Iranian president's visit comes as some Arab countries, including regional powerhouses Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have been opening up to Assad and their foreign ministers have visited Damascus in recent weeks. Syria’s foreign minister also visited the Saudi capital of Riyadh in April, the first such visit since the two countries cut relations in 2012.
In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia, a main backer of Syrian opposition fighters, reached an agreement in China to re-establish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions.
The reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia is likely to have positive effects on regional states where the two countries fought proxy wars, including Syria.
Syria was widely shunned by Arab governments over Assad’s brutal crackdown on protesters and the breakdown in relations culminated with Syria being ousted from the Arab League in 2011. The conflict has since killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million.
“America and its allies failed on all fronts against the resistance, and could not achieve any of their goals,” Iran’s new ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari told Iran’s state news agency on Tuesday.
Like Syria, Iran is under western sanctions, which alongside decades of mismanagement, has plunged its national currency to new lows. Months of anti-government protests failed to unseat ruling clerics and return to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which lifted sanctions in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program.
In 2015, Iran’s currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar when it signed a nuclear accord with world powers. In February it hit a record low of 600,000.
The Iranian president's visit also comes a week after its Minister for Road and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash met Assad in Damascus, where he delivered a message from the Iranian president supporting the expansion of economic relations between the two countries, according to Iran’s state news agency.
Iran’s military presence in Syria been a major concern for Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment along its northern border. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years — but rarely acknowledges them. Since the beginning of 2023, Syrian officials have attributed a dozen strikes on Syrian territory to Israel, the latest of which came early Tuesday and put the international airport of the northern city of Aleppo out of service.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard seizes tanker in Strait of Hormuz
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the second-such capture by Tehran in under a week amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.
The taking of the oil tanker Niovi renewed concerns about Iran threatening maritime traffic in the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude passes. It also comes amid the disappearance of a crude oil tanker in southeast Asia believed to be carrying Iranian crude oil amid reports it may have been seized by the U.S.
The U.S. Navy published pictures of a dozen Guard vessels swarming the tanker. Those ships “forced the oil tanker to reverse course and head toward Iranian territorial waters off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran,” the Navy said.
“Iran’s actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability,” the 5th Fleet said in a statement. “Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are unwarranted, irresponsible and a present threat to maritime security and the global economy.”
Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to the Guard, reported the paramilitary force had seized a tanker it described as a “violator,” without elaborating.
Shipping registries show the Niovi as managed by Smart Tankers of Piraeus, Greece. A woman who answered the phone at the firm declined to immediately comment on the seizure.
Last week, Iran seized an oil tanker carrying crude for Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California. amid wider tensions between Tehran and the U.S. over its nuclear program. The Advantage Sweet had 23 Indians and one Russian on board.
Iran has accused the Advantage Sweet of colliding with another vessel, while offering no evidence to support its claim. Iran has offered a variety of unsupported claims in the past when seizing foreign-flagged ships amid tensions with the West.
The taking of the two tankers in under a week comes amid the disappearance of the Marshall Island-flagged Suez Rajan, which had been in the South China Sea off Singapore for over a year after a report alleged it to smuggling sanctioned Iranian crude oil. Tracking data for the Suez Rajan last showed it off East Africa, moving in a direction that could take it to the Americas.
The Financial Times, as well as the maritime intelligence firm Ambrey, both have reported the Suez Rajan was seized on order of American authorities. The ship's manager has not responded to queries from The Associated Press about the status of the ship. U.S. officials also have not commented.
The seizure by Iran of the two ships in the last week was the latest in a string of ship seizures and explosions to roil the region.
The incidents began after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Also, the U.S. Navy has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021.
Tehran denies carrying out the attacks, but a wider shadow war between Iran and the West has played out in the region’s volatile waters. Iranian tanker seizures have been a part of it since 2019. The last major seizure before recent days came when Iran took two Greek tankers in May 2022 and held them until November.
Fraught US-Israel ties on display as Knesset reconvenes
Israeli lawmakers are reconvening after a month-long parliament recess on Monday, resuming the fight over a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary that has split Israelis and drawn concern from Israel’s most important ally, the United States.
The tensions will be on full display when the highest-ranking Republican politician in the U.S., House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, addresses the Knesset later Monday.
Israel’s government has portrayed McCarthy’s visit as a nod to bipartisan U.S. support for Israel as it marks 75 years since its creation. Critics say the rare honor given to McCarthy — he’s only the second House speaker to address the Knesset, after Newt Gingrich in 1998 — is a pointed jab at Democratic President Joe Biden. Biden has publicly voiced concern about the legal overhaul and, largely because of it, has so far denied Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a typically customary invitation to the White House after his election win late last year.
McCarthy’s speech underscores the fraught ties between Netanyahu and the Biden White House, driven in part by the legal overhaul and the nationalistic character of the Israel’s furthest-right government in its history. It is also a sign of the gradual transformation of Israel from a bipartisan matter into a wedge issue in U.S. politics. The trend goes back a decade, when Netanyahu began openly siding with Republicans against Democrats. In parallel, some younger progressive Democrats have become more critical of Israel.
McCarthy is addressing the Knesset at a time when both Republicans and Democrats are steeling for presidential nomination races. Republicans are seeking to portray themselves to voters, especially to evangelical Christians, as the best ally to Israel.
McCarthy and Netanyahu met face to face ahead of the Knesset address and the Republican lavished praise on the Israeli leader, saying his “leadership, character and courage” inspire Americans. Netanyahu said the Knesset would welcome McCarthy “with open arms.”
Before parliament’s break, Netanyahu paused judicial overhaul plans under intense pressure, which has included large weekly protests, a labor strike and threats by military reservists to stop showing up for duty. Biden waded into the criticism, saying Netanyahu “cannot continue down this road.” While Netanyahu and Biden have known each other for decades, their relationship has soured since Netanyahu returned to office late last year after a brief break as opposition leader. The Biden administration has voiced unease about Netanyahu’s government, made up of ultranationalists who were once at the fringes of Israeli politics and now hold senior positions dealing with the Palestinians and other sensitive issues.
Over the years, Netanyahu, a lifelong conservative with American-accented English and deep ties to the U.S., hasn’t hidden his Republican leanings even as he’s spoken of the importance of keeping Israel a bipartisan issue. In 2015, he delivered a speech to Congress against the Iran nuclear deal which was widely seen as a slight against the Obama administration, which had negotiated the agreement. He was accused of backing Republican Mitt Romney’s candidacy for president and was one of President Donald Trump’s closest international supporters. That Republican tilt has tested ties with American Jews, most of whom lean Democratic. Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations, said there’s been “serious damage” to Israel’s ties to Washington, and that Netanyahu himself “broke the bipartisanship” surrounding Israel. The McCarthy visit, he said, was a way for both Republicans and Netanyahu to stick it to Biden.
“It’s a counterweight to Biden,” he said. “Netanyahu thinks that if McCarthy visits here it will put pressure on the White House to invite him. Republicans are fighting over who’s the greatest supporter of Israel.”
The White House snub is another sore point for the embattled leader, whose legal plan has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises, sent his Likud party tanking in public opinion polls and tarnished the 73-year-old leader’s legacy. In an interview Sunday with the conservative Israel Hayom daily, McCarthy said that if Biden doesn’t invite Netanyahu to the White House, he will invite him to Congress.
The month-long parliamentary break has allowed Israelis to take stock of the tensions set off by the legal plan, which had been proceeding at a feverish pace in the previous session and had reached a boiling point after Netanyahu dismissed his dissenting defense minister.
The future of the plan isn’t clear. Netanyahu said he was temporarily suspending the drive to change Israel’s judicial system to allow the coalition and the opposition to come to a negotiated compromise. But the talks don’t appear to have produced many agreements and Netanyahu’s allies are pushing him to move ahead if the talks fail.
He’s also facing pressure from the streets — tens of thousands of people who support the overhaul filled the area near parliament on Thursday as a show of force in favor of the legal changes. Protests against the overhaul have continued for 17 weeks, including during the parliament recess, with as much intensity. At a meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu struck a conciliatory tone.
“We are making every effort to resolve this debate through dialogue. With goodwill by both sides, I am convinced that it is possible to reach agreements — and I give this my full backing,” he said.
As parliament reconvenes, Netanyahu is expected to keep a focus on less divisive issues in the coming weeks, such as passing a budget at a time when Israel’s economy is on shaky ground and inflation is rising.
But he will also face hurdles. He is up against a court-ordered deadline in July, which requires the government to legislate a military draft law about the near-blanket exemptions enjoyed by members of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community. Instead of serving in the country’s compulsory military, like the majority of secular Jews, ultra-Orthodox men are allowed to study religious texts. Experts say this system keeps the growing community cloistered and does not encourage its integration into the workforce, something seen as necessary to safeguard the future of Israel’s economy.
Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, and his allies say the overhaul is necessary to rein in an interventionist legal system that has taken power away from elected politicians. They want to weaken the Supreme Court, have the government control who becomes a judge and reduce judicial oversight on legislation.
Critics say the changes will upend Israel’s fragile system of checks and balances and imperil the country’s democratic foundations.
Palestinians: Israeli forces shoot, kill teen in West Bank
Israeli forces shot and killed a teenager in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The shooting came during confrontations between Israeli forces and stone-throwing Palestinians in a village near the town of Bethlehem, according to Palestinian media reports. The ministry identified the teenager as Mustafa Sabah, 16, adding he was shot in the chest.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Footage posted on social media shows people carrying the teen's body after the shooting and shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic.
The Israeli-Palestinian fighting has surged to heights unseen in years.
Earlier Friday, the army raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank and arrested several Palestinians suspected of involvement in attacks against Israelis, the military said. Palestinian media reported that two youths were wounded in ensuing clashes with the military there.
So far in 2023, more than 97 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank, according to a tally by The Associated Press, at least half of them affiliated with militant groups. During that time, 19 people were killed in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek those lands for a future independent state.
Iran TV airs footage of commandos seizing US-bound tanker
Masked Iranian navy commandos conducted a helicopter-borne raid to seize a U.S.-bound oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, footage aired by Iran's state television showed Friday.
The capture on Thursday of the Turkish-managed, Chinese-owned Advantage Sweet represents the latest seizure by Iran amid tensions with the U.S. over advancing nuclear program. While Tehran says the tanker was seized over it running into another Iranian vessel, it has provided no evidence yet to support the claim — and the Islamic Republic has taken other ships as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West.
The footage showed the commandos descending on the deck of the Advantage Sweet by ropes from a hovering helicopter. A photograph showed one commando with his fist in the air after apparently taking the vessel.
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet has said the Iranian seizure was at least the fifth commercial vessel taken by Tehran in the last two years.
“Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy,” it added.
The vessel’s manager, a Turkish firm called Advantage Tankers, issued a statement acknowledging the Advantage Sweet was “being escorted by the Iranian navy to a port on the basis of an international dispute.” All the ship’s 24 crew members are Indian.
“The safety and welfare of our valued crew members is our No. 1 priority,” the firm said. “Similar experiences show that crew members of vessels taken under such circumstances are in no danger.”
As Assad returns to Arab fold, Syrians watch with hope, fear
Syrians living on opposite sides of the largely frozen battle lines dividing their country are watching the accelerating normalization of ties between the government of Bashar Assad and Syria's neighbors through starkly different lenses.
In government-held Syria, residents struggling with ballooning inflation, fuel and electricity shortages hope the rapprochement will bring more trade and investment and ease a crippling economic crisis.
Meanwhile, in the remaining opposition-held areas of the north, Syrians who once saw Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries as allies in their fight against Assad's rule feel increasingly isolated and abandoned.
Also Read: Moscow hosts more Turkey-Syria rapprochement talks
Turkey, which has been a main backer of the armed opposition to Assad, has been holding talks with Damascus for months — most recently on Tuesday, when the defense ministers of Turkey, Russia, Iran and Syria met in Moscow.
And in recent weeks, regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia — which once backed Syrian rebel groups — has done an about-face in its stance on the Assad government and is pushing its neighbors to follow suit. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan visited Damascus last week for the first time since the kingdom cut ties with Syria more than a decade ago.
The kingdom, which will host a meeting of the Arab League next month, has been coaxing other member states to restore Syria’s membership, although some holdouts remain, chief among them Qatar. The League is a confederation of Arab administrations established to promote cooperation among its members.
Also Read: Saudi foreign minister visits Syria as relations thaw
A 49-year-old tailor in Damascus who gave only his nickname, Abu Shadi (“father of Shadi”) said he hopes the mending of ties between Syria and Saudi Arabia will improve the economy and kickstart reconstruction in the war-battered country.
“We’ve had enough of wars — we have suffered for 12 years,” he said. “God willing, relations will improve with not just the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but with all the Gulf countries and the people will benefit on both sides. There will be more movement, more security and everything will be better, God willing.”
Read More: Syria, Saudi Arabia move toward restoring embassies, flights
In the country's opposition-held northwest, the rapprochement is a cause for fear. Opposition activists took to social media with an Arabic hashtag translating to “normalization with Assad is betrayal,” and hundreds turned out at protests over the past two weeks against the move by Arab states to restore relations with Assad.
Khaled Khatib, 27, a worker at a non-governmental organization in northwest Syria, said he is increasingly afraid that the government will recapture control of the remaining opposition territory.
“From the first day I participated in a peaceful demonstration until today, I am at risk of being killed or injured or kidnapped or hit by aerial bombardment,” he said. Seeing the regional warming of relations with Damascus is “very painful, shameful and frustrating to the aspirations of Syrians,” he said.
Rashid Hamzawi Mahmoud, who joined a protest in Idlib earlier this month, said the Saudi move was the latest in a string of disappointments for the Syrian opposition.
“The (U.N.) Security Council has failed us — so have the Arab countries, and human rights and Islamic groups,” he said.
Syria was ostracized by Arab governments over Assad’s brutal crackdown on protesters in a 2011 uprising that descended into civil war. However, in recent years, as Assad consolidated control over most of the country, Syria’s neighbors have begun to take steps toward rapprochement.
The overtures picked up pace since a deadly Feb. 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, and the Chinese-brokered reestablishment of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which had backed opposing sides in the conflict.
The Saudi-Syria rapprochement is a “game changer” for Assad, said Joseph Daher, a Swiss-Syrian researcher and professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.
Assad could potentially be invited to the next Arab League summit, but even if such an invitation isn't issued for May, “it’s only a question of time now,” Daher said.
Government officials and pro-government figures in Syria say the restoration of bilateral ties is more significant in reality than a return to the Arab League.
“The League of Arab States has a symbolic role in this matter,” Tarek al-Ahmad, a member of the political bureau of the minority Syrian National Party, told The Associated Press. “It is not really the decisive role.”
George Jabbour, an academic and former diplomat in Damascus, said Syrians hope for “Saudi jobs … after the return to normal relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia.”
Before 2011, Saudi Arabia was one of Syria's most significant trading partners, with trade between the countries reaching $1.3 billion in 2010. While economic traffic did not halt altogether with the shuttering of embassies, it dropped off precipitously.
However, even before the warming of diplomatic relations, trade had been on the uptick, particularly after the 2018 reopening of the border between Syria and Jordan, which serves as a route for goods going to and from Saudi Arabia.
The Syria Report, which tracks the country's economy, reported that Syria-Saudi trade had increased from $92.35 million in 2017 to $396.90 million in 2021.
Jihad Yazigi, editor-in-chief of the Syria Report, said the restoration of direct flights and consular services following the current Saudi-Syrian rapprochement could bring some further increase in trade.
But Syrians who are looking to Saudi Arabia as a “provider of finance either through direct investment in the Syrian economy or through funding of various projects, especially concessionary loans for infrastructure projects," may be disappointed, he said. Such investments will be largely off limits for now because of U.S. and European sanctions on Syria.
Even in the opposition-held areas, some greeted the normalization with a shrug.
Abdul Wahab Alaiwi, a political activist in Idlib, said he was surprised by the Saudi change in stance, but “on the ground nothing will change ... because the Arab countries have no influence inside Syria,” unlike Turkey, Russia, Iran and the U.S., all of which have forces in different parts of the country.
He added that he does not believe Damascus will be able to meet the conditions of a return to the Arab League or that Turkey and Syria would easily come to an agreement.
Mohamad Shakib al-Khaled, head of the Syrian National Democratic Movement, an opposition party, said Arab countries had never been allies to the “liberal democratic civil movements” in the Syrian uprising but threw their support behind “factions that took a radical Islamic approach.”
The Syrian government, on the other hand had “genuine allies who defended it,” he said, referring to the intervention by Russia and Iran that turned the tide of the war.
But in the end, he said, “No one defends a land except its people.”
US Navy sails first drone through Mideast's Strait of Hormuz
The U.S. Navy sailed its first drone boat through the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies where American sailors often face tense encounters with Iranian forces.
The trip by the L3 Harris Arabian Fox MAST-13, a 13-meter (41-foot) speedboat carrying sensors and cameras, drew the attention of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, but took place without incident, said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins. Two U.S. Coast Guard cutters, the USCGC Charles Moulthrope and USCGC John Scheuerman, accompanied the drone.
The trip saw the drone safely pass with the accompanying ships through the strait, a busy waterway between Iran and Oman which at its narrowest is just 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide. A fifth of all oil traded passes through the strait, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.
"The Iranians observed the unmanned surface vessel transiting the strait in accordance with international law," Hawkins told The Associated Press. He said an Iranian drone and at least one Houdong-class fast-attack vessel operated by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard observed the MAST-13 drone.
The U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet patrols Mideast waters, particularly the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, to keep open the waterways for international trade, as well as protect American interests and allies. However, Iran views the Navy's presence as an affront, comparing it to its forces running patrols in the Gulf of Mexico.
Iranian state media did not acknowledge the drone voyage. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 5th Fleet launched a special drone task force last year, aiming to have a fleet of some 100 unmanned drones, both sailing and submersible, operating in the region with America's allies.
Iran briefly seized several of the American drones being tested in the region in late August and early September, though there hasn't been any similar incident since.
The MAST-13 now is operating in the Gulf of Oman, where a maritime shadow war has played out as oil tankers have been seized by Iranian forces and suspicious explosions have struck vessels in the region, including those linked to Israeli and Western firms. Iran has denied involvement in the explosions, despite evidence from the West to the contrary.
The MAST-13's video feeds can transmit images back to shore and to ships at sea, helping sailors see ships before approaching them, Hawkins said. That can come in handy, particularly as the Navy and Western allies have increasingly seized weapons it believes were from Iran bound for Yemen.
"It puts more eyes out on the water, enabling us to better monitor what is happening," Hawkins said.