Fitch cuts Israel’s credit rating to ‘A’ as Middle East tensions rise
Israel’s shekel fell as much as 1.7 percent against the dollar on Monday and stocks ended over 1 percent lower in Tel Aviv as investors fret over a possible attack on Israel
Updated 13 August 2024
Reuters
NEW YORK: Credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded Israel’s credit rating to “A” from “A-plus” on Monday, citing worsening geopolitical risks as the war in Gaza drags on, and kept the rating outlook negative, meaning a further downgrade is possible.
Israel’s war on Gaza, triggered by the Islamist group Hamas-led cross-border attack on Oct. 7, has cost thousands of lives and unfolded into a humanitarian crisis.
“In our view, the conflict in Gaza could last well into 2025 and there are risks of it broadening to other fronts,” the ratings agency said in a statement. “The downgrade following the war and the geopolitical risks it creates is natural,” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X.
Fears that the conflict in Gaza could turn into a broader Middle East war have escalated after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
Israel’s shekel fell as much as 1.7 percent against the dollar on Monday and stocks ended over 1 percent lower in Tel Aviv as investors fret over a possible attack on Israel.
Heightened tensions between Israel and Iran and its allies could imply significant additional military spending, destruction of infrastructure and damage to economic activity and investment, Fitch said.
The ratings agency expects the Israeli government to permanently increase military spending by close to 1.5 percent of GDP versus pre-war levels as the country strengthens its border defenses.
“Public finances have been hit and we project a budget deficit of 7.8 percent of GDP in 2024 and debt to remain above to 70 percent of GDP in the medium term,” Fitch said. It forecast the country’s debt will remain on an upward trend beyond 2025 if higher military spending and economic uncertainties continue.
Germany jails Syrian for 10 years for Assad-era war crimes
Berlin has since warned that Assad’s supporters will continue to face justice in Germany for crimes they committed
Germany, in 2022, jailed former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan for life in the first international trial over state-sponsored torture in Syrian prisons
Updated 51 sec ago
AFP
BERLIN: A German court handed a 10-year jail term to a Syrian former militia leader on Wednesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed under former president Bashar Assad.
The man, named only as Ahmad H., 47, had come to Germany in 2016 at the height of the influx of migrants to Europe.
Assad was toppled last week by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, and Berlin has since warned that his supporters will continue to face justice in Germany for crimes they committed.
Ahmad H. was found guilty of crimes including torture, deprivation of liberty and enslavement, a spokeswoman for the higher regional court in Hamburg told AFP.
Prosecutors said he carried out the crimes between 2012 and 2015 as a local leader of the pro-government “shabiha” militia in Damascus tasked with helping to crush dissent.
The militia operated checkpoints where “people were arrested arbitrarily so that they or their family members could be extorted for money, committed to forced labor or tortured,” they said.
The fighters also plundered the homes of regime opponents, sold the spoils and kept the profits, they added, charging that Ahmad H. took part “personally in the abuse of civilians.”
When Ahmad H. was detained in Germany in July 2023, the Washington-based Syrian Justice & Accountability Center, which tracks human rights abuses in Syria, said its investigations had led to the arrest.
It had launched its probe after a witness told the agency in May 2020 that the suspect was living in Germany.
Europe’s biggest economy, then ruled by chancellor Angela Merkel, granted safe haven to hundreds of thousands of Syrians during the 2015-16 refugee influx.
NGOs warned at the time of the danger that militiamen accused of committing some of the most barbaric atrocities against civilians for Assad’s government were arriving incognito in Europe and obtaining asylum.
Germany has previously used the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows the prosecution of certain grave crimes regardless of where they took place, to try Syrians over atrocities committed during the civil war.
In January 2022, Germany jailed former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan for life in the first international trial over state-sponsored torture in Syrian prisons.
Syria war monitor says 21 pro-Turkiye fighters killed near flashpoint northern town
SDF said that ‘after thwarting the attacks, Manbij Military Council forces initiated a combing operation in the vicinity of the Tishreen Dam and the surrounding area’
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday proposed a ‘demilitarised zone’ in Kobani
Updated 48 min 51 sec ago
AFP
BEIRUT, Lebanon: A Syria war monitor said 21 pro-Turkiye fighters were killed Wednesday after they attacked a Kurdish-held position near a flashpoint northern town despite a US-brokered ceasefire extension in the area.
The fighting between Turkish-backed factions and US-backed Kurdish-led forces comes more than a week after Islamist-led rebels toppled Syria’s longtime strongman Bashar Assad.
“At least 21 members of pro-Turkiye factions were killed and others wounded by fire from the Manbij Military Council after pro-Turkiye factions attacked” a position at the Tishreen Dam, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the town of Manbij, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The United States said on Tuesday it had brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Turkiye.
The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said Wednesday’s attack included “support from Turkish reconnaissance aircraft” and was followed by “heavy clashes with heavy and medium weapons.”
The monitor also reported unspecified casualties among the Manbij Military Council, which is affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, as well as among SDF fighters.
The SDF said in a statement that its forces “successfully repelled” the pro-Turkiye fighters and that “after thwarting the attacks, Manbij Military Council forces initiated a combing operation in the vicinity of the Tishreen Dam and the surrounding area.”
Swathes of north and northeast Syria are controlled by a Kurdish administration whose de facto army, the SDF, spearheaded the fight that defeated Daesh group extremists in Syria in 2019.
Turkiye accuses the main component of the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants at home, whom both Washington and Ankara consider a “terrorist” group.
Ankara has staged multiple operations against the SDF since 2016, and Turkish-backed groups have captured several Kurdish-held towns in the north in recent weeks.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that the Manbij truce, which had recently expired, had been “extended through the end of the week, and we will, obviously, look to see that ceasefire extended as far as possible into the future.”
The extension comes amid fears of an assault by Turkiye on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Manbij.
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday proposed a “demilitarised zone” in Kobani.
The military chief of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the Islamist militant group that led the offensive that ousted Assad, said Tuesday that Kurdish-held areas of Syria would be integrated under the country’s new leadership.
While the Kurdish administration has extended a hand to the new authorities, the long-oppressed community fears it could lose hard-won gains it made during the war, including limited self-rule.
How Damascus residents reclaimed their city after Bashar Assad’s chaotic downfall
Civil society groups and ordinary Syrians closed ranks to clean up the capital after municipal services collapsed
Following the overthrow of the regime, Damascus experienced at least two days of unrest and destruction
Updated 3 sec ago
ANAN TELLO
LONDON: The Syrian capital plunged into chaos after opposition forces swiftly toppled Bashar Assad’s regime earlier this month. Within days, as calm returned to Damascus, residents, driven by renewed pride in their city, joined forces to clean up neighborhoods and restore a semblance of normalcy despite the collapse of municipal services.
On Dec. 8, a coalition of armed opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham seized control of Damascus. The city, already battered by 14 years of war, economic collapse and neglect under the ousted regime, went through a long spell of lawlessness and violence.
Witnesses described “teenagers with guns” and “unidentified armed thugs” shooting indiscriminately and looting in the city and its suburbs.
Jubilant Syrians celebrating Assad’s downfall tore down Baathist icons and posters and toppled statues of the late Hafez Assad. (AFP)
Private businesses, homes and vehicles were vandalized, while universities and public buildings bore the brunt of the unrest. Among the targeted sites were the Opera House, the Central Bank, and the Immigration and Passports building, which was set on fire.
Residents of Damascus turned to social media, urging the Military Operations Administration, the unified central command of the armed coalition, to restore order as hospitals were inundated with hundreds of surgical cases caused by stray gunfire.
The chaos prevented many medical staff from reaching hospitals, placing immense strain on those already on duty, who worked long hours without breaks or food, according to former Health Minister Ahmed Damirieh.
In a statement, Damirieh said that indiscriminate gunfire resulted in at least 450 cases at Al-Mujtahid Hospital alone and highlighted a fuel shortage affecting both public and private medical facilities.
The Military Operations Administration responded by imposing a citywide curfew from dusk to dawn on Dec. 9.
All this was happening as jubilant Syrians celebrating Assad’s downfall tore down Baathist icons and posters and toppled statues of the late Hafez Assad. Their actions contributed to mounting piles of trash in the streets, worsened by the collapse of municipal services.
Meanwhile, Israel launched dozens of airstrikes across Damascus, targeting sites such as the military airport in Mezzeh and the “security square” in Kafar Souseh, home to the General Intelligence and customs buildings, according to Syrian news media. Thick plumes of smoke rose from multiple locations across the city.
“It’s our duty,” said Marwan Alrez, head of Mart Team. “We owe this to our city.” (Supplied)
Although thrilled by the fall of Assad and hopeful for a new chapter in Syria’s history, Damascenes were disheartened by the widespread destruction after two days of chaos. Many volunteered in large numbers to reclaim and clean their neighborhoods, including the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
On Tuesday, civil society groups such as Mart Team, Ammerha Foundation, and Sanad Team for Development, along with community leaders like mosque imams and university professors, organized cleaning campaigns as calm returned to the capital. Volunteers said the efforts were largely funded through their own contributions.
“It’s our duty,” said Marwan Alrez, head of Mart Team. “We owe this to our city.”
“We launched our cleaning initiative on the third day after the fall of the (Assad) regime,” he told Arab News.
“We posted announcements on social media, and a large number of people eagerly volunteered to join.
“On the day we announced the initiative, 200 people reached out to us.”
Mart’s campaign, which continued for several days, focused on areas including the Mezzeh district, the Old City — particularly Al-Miskiyeh Square at the western gate of the iconic Umayyad Mosque — and the Muhajreen neighborhood, home to Assad’s Tishreen presidential palace, which was ransacked in the early hours after his overthrow.
“Our regular team oversaw the new volunteers and the work in general,” Alrez said, emphasizing that the campaign was “self-funded, with each of us contributing what we could.”
Volunteers with the Ammerha Foundation, eager to help restore their city, brought their own cleaning equipment to the effort.
“We launched our cleaning initiative on the third day after the fall of the (Assad) regime.” (AFP)
Mohammad Abdullah Aljaddou, a civil activist and founder of Ammerha Foundation, said that after witnessing the extent of the damage and the piles of garbage in the streets, he and his team “devised a response on the spot.”
“Locals took the initiative and volunteered,” he told Arab News. “They even brought brooms, trash bags, and cleaning supplies.”
“We divided into groups,” he added, emphasizing that “most of the people were locals — not just our regular volunteers.”
The teams focused their cleaning efforts on the Al-Hejaz district, home to the historic Hejaz Railway Station; Yusuf Al-Azma Square, commonly known as Al-Mohafaza; the Al-Mujtahid neighborhood; Baramkeh near the SANA news agency; Jisr Al-Rais; Mouwasat in Mezzeh; and Abbasid Square.
Ammerha’s multi-day initiative also extended to Umayyad Square in the heart of the capital, particularly after large celebrations held there on Friday, Syria’s weekend day.
On Dec. 13, thousands of jubilant Syrians flooded the streets of Damascus, gathering in public areas such as Umayyad Square. They waved the Syrian opposition flag and chanted revolutionary slogans as loudspeakers blared celebratory music marking Assad’s fall.
Aljaddou noted that Ammerha’s efforts extended to hospitals across Damascus, including the Children’s University Hospital, Harasta, Douma, Al-Mujtahid, Al-Mouwasat and the Maternity and Gynecology Hospital.
“We distributed meals to the medical staff, each containing two sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, dates, and juice,” he said. “Local food companies also joined in, providing additional food and beverages.”
“The work was tough, but it was worth it for our beloved country.” (Supplied)
After Syrian rebel fighters freed thousands from the infamous Sednaya prison, dubbed the “human slaughterhouse,” in the Damascus countryside, many detainees — weak and suffering from diseases caused by harsh conditions — were brought to the city’s hospitals.
The influx further strained the healthcare system, already weakened by 14 years of crisis, economic sanctions, and security challenges, as families crowded hospitals and morgues in search of missing loved ones.
Ammerha’s volunteers also focused on universities, including Damascus University’s schools of humanities, law, medicine, economics and agriculture, which suffered significant damage during the first 48 hours after Assad’s fall.
“For now, the city is calm,” Aljaddou said.
Hadeel Alkadi, an agricultural engineering student at Damascus University, shared her excitement at volunteering with Ammerha to help reclaim the city.
“All of this fills us with hope for a better future for Syria.” (AFP)
Describing the cleaning campaigns as “more than wonderful,” she told Arab News: “The young men and women contributing to these campaigns reflect a genuine desire to rebuild their country — even if it’s by cleaning its universities, squares, and streets.”
Noting that some volunteers focused on preparing and distributing meals for medical staff, Alkadi said: “They clearly wanted to give generously to their country, from the bottom of their hearts.
“All of this fills us with hope for a better future for Syria.”
Another volunteer, Rayan Kifo, an architecture student at Damascus University, also joined efforts to restore the city.
She told Arab News that the Sanad Team, where she volunteered, organized much of the work through WhatsApp. “The supervisors would send us the location and time to gather,” she said.
“The campaign was driven by young people eager to create change and improve the country’s situation with the resources available,” Kifo said. “For the first time, we felt that this country is ours, and we are responsible for it.”
She added: “The work was tough, but it was worth it for our beloved country.
“With our determination and capabilities, we will make it better — a country free from favoritism, corruption and nepotism.
Mart volunteers pose for a photo. (Mart Team)
“Our country belongs to all of us Syrians, despite our differences.”
Bayan Alnakshapandy, a microbiology student at Damascus University, reflected on the deepening sense of connection she and her peers experienced while working tirelessly to clean their neighborhoods.
“Our parents always encouraged us to excel in school and university to make our country proud, but it wasn’t until that moment that we truly felt connected to our country and realized we were serving it,” she said.
Alnakshapandy volunteered with both the Sanad Team and the Syrian Community Support Team.
She told Arab News that the volunteers included “people of all ages, all backgrounds and all sects.”
According to her, many were students and highly educated individuals, including civil society leaders and university professors, “who were cleaning with their own hands.”
“Our country belongs to all of us Syrians, despite our differences.” (Supplied)
“One professor even brought his five-year-old son, who helped splash water on the floors and carried a broom twice his size,” Alnakshapandy said with a laugh.
Recalling her involvement, she shared a personal anecdote: “I felt jealous when I heard the teams were going to clean my old street, Pakistan Street, where I had lived for over 15 years before moving to Ain Tarma in the countryside two years ago. I had to be there with them.”
Alnakshapandy added: “I felt a strong sense of belonging because I was cleaning my own street. My heart is full.”
At least 20 die, five rescued as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia
Boat sank off the coast of Sfax city, a major departure point especially for sub-Saharan African migrants
Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the major departure point for Europe
Updated 18 December 2024
Reuters
TUNIS: Tunisia’s coast guard has recovered the bodies of 20 migrants after the boat they were in sank, on Wednesday, in the second migrant drowning tragedy within one week off the Tunisian coast.
Last Thursday, the Tunisian coast guard also recovered the bodies of nine migrants, while six others are still missing, after their boat sank while they were sailing toward Europe.
The coast guard, on Wednesday, rescued five others, from the latest tragedy, and search operations were underway for anyone still missing.
The boat sank off the coast of Sfax city, a major departure point especially for sub-Saharan African migrants.
Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the major departure point for both Tunisians and people from elsewhere in Africa, who are seeking a better life in Europe.
NEW YORK CITY: The UK’s deputy permanent representative to the UN on Wednesday told members of the Security Council that the fall of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and November’s ceasefire agreement in Lebanon offer a moment of hope to the people of the region.
He called for the momentum generated by these developments to be harnessed and used to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, secure the release all Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups, and end the humanitarian crisis and the suffering of civilians in the battered enclave.
Ambassador James Kariuki was speaking during a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the latest report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the implementation of the council’s Resolution 2234. Adopted in 2016, it demands that Israel cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, and calls for immediate steps to prevent violence against civilians, including acts of terror.
Kariuki called on Israeli authorities to halt the illegal expansion of settlements on Palestinian land and to hold violent settlers to account.
“Continued instability and settler violence in the West Bank should not be tolerated by Israel, and the culture of impunity must end,” he said. “This does nothing to bring about peace and security for Palestinians or Israelis.”
The secretary-general’s quarterly report, covering the period from September to December, states that the “relentless bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, the large number of civilian casualties, the blanket destruction of Palestinian neighborhoods, and the worsening humanitarian situation by the day are appalling.”
The Israel’s military operations in Northern Gaza, which has been under siege since early October, “are making the conditions of life untenable for the Palestinian population,” it adds.
Kariuki said northern Gaza must not be cut off from the south.
“The UK is clear: There must be no forcible transfer of Gazans from, or within, Gaza. There must be no reduction of the territory of the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“Israel’s expansion of military infrastructure and the destruction of civilian buildings and agricultural land across the Strip is unacceptable.”
In his report, Guterres condemned Israel’s use of “explosive weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas, that has caused massive casualties and damage to residential buildings, schools, hospitals, mosques and UN premises.”
He again denounced the terror attacks by Hamas that targeted Israeli towns on Oct. 7, 2023, and the taking of more than 250 hostages.
Kariuki echoed this condemnation and reiterated his country’s demand for “the immediate and unconditional release” of all hostages.
The envoy also described the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza as appalling. More than 45,000 Palestinians have died since the Oct. 7 attacks, and the past two months have been the worst for aid efforts since the conflict began, he said.
“The UN has reported a shocking increase in cases of acute malnutrition in children, and that Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees, per capita, in the world,” Kariuki added.
“The UK continues to urge Israel to do much more to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and to abide by their international obligations. This includes facilitating rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian aid and basic services to the Palestinian people.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees plays a crucial role in delivering this life-saving aid, he said, and the UK has committed an additional $16.5 million of funding for the agency, raising its total contributions since April to $52 million.
