19:00 Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said that the lightning insurgents offensive in Syria against Syria's authorities posed a threat to the whole Middle East.
"If Syria becomes a safe place for terrorists with the return of ISIS and other terrorist groups, it will create a great threat to the region," Araghchi told reporters in Baghdad, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State jihadist group.
Araghchi said Teheran would continue to support Syria "with whatever is needed."
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported Syria and will continue to do so with all its might and with whatever is needed and requested by the Syrian government," Araghchi said.
18:42 Local Syrian militants and former insurgents captured the Liwa 52 army base in Daraa province, near the town of Herak, as clashes escalated toward the country’s southern border with Jordan, two militants sources told Reuters.
They also took control of parts of the Nassib border crossing near the customs area, where dozens of trailers and passenger vehicles were left stranded, the sources added.
18:37 Iran stands poised to quite increase its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium as it has started cascades of advanced centrifuges, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
The comments from Rafael Mariano Grossi came just hours after Iran said it conducted a successful space launch with its heaviest payload ever, the latest for its program that the West alleges improves Tehran’s ballistic missile program.
The launch of the Simorgh rocket comes as Iran’s nuclear program now enriches uranium at 60%, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Iran maintains its program is peaceful.
Grossi, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the International Institute of Strategic Studies’ Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, said his inspectors planned to see just how many centrifuges Iran would be spinning after Tehran informed his agency of its plans.
“I think it is very concerning,” Grossi said. “They were preparing and they have all of these facilities sort of in abeyance and now they are activating that. So we are going to see.”
He added: “If they really make them turn — all of them — it's going to be a huge jump.”
18:05 A large demonstration has taken place in Sana’a in Yemen in support of Gaza.
17:55 Amid the ongoing Israeli war in Gaza, the slow pace of medical evacuations has left thousands of Palestinians, including at least 2,500 critically ill children as young as two, waiting in agony for Israeli permission to leave for treatment.
The delays, often lasting months, have already resulted in numerous deaths as Israel’s opaque and arbitrary security clearance system continues to block their escape.
Doctors warn that without immediate intervention, more lives will be lost, turning Gaza’s destroyed healthcare system into a grim waiting room for patients with no time left.
Islam al-Rayahen, a 12-year-old boy suffering from leukemia, is one tragic example. His family, desperate for his stem cell transplant, requested Israeli permission six times for evacuation, but each request was denied for unexplained security reasons. Just days after a UNICEF official visited him, Islam died.
Osaid Shaheen, who is nearly 2, stands against a wall in Deir al-Balah. He faces having his eyes removed after Israel rejected his evacuation for treatment of cancer in his retinas. AP
17:06 At least 6 Palestinians were killed in ongoing Israeli bombing of Rafah in southern Gaza since dawn, Al Jazeera correspondent reported.
17:00 Armed groups in southern Syria seized control of a border crossing with Jordan from government forces on Friday, a war monitor said.
"Local armed factions seized control of the Nassib border crossing with Jordan, as well as nearby checkpoints and towns," Rami Abdel Rahman who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP.
We reported earlier that Jordan had closed its only passenger and commercial border crossing into Syria.
Lebanon’s General Security Directorate has also said the country is closing all land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus.
According to the Observatory, the Syrian army withdrew from parts of the eastern Deir Ezzor province that were under it control as Kurdish-led forces advanced towards the areas.
Deir Ezzor province is split between Kurdish forces to the east of the Euphrates and the Syrian forces and allies to the west.
Meanwhile, Syrian insurgents entered the central towns of Rastan and Talbiseh early Friday just north of the central city of Homs
16:22 Mexican journalists and journalism students have staged a demonstration of solidarity and protest for their colleagues detained, disappeared, and killed by Israel in Gaza. The protest took place during the 38th edition of the International Book Fair in Guadalajara.
Participants carried photos of the victimized journalists alongside Palestinian flags, calling for justice and an end to violence against media professionals, and decriing Israel's crimes.
As of December 5, 2024, Israel has killed at least 175 journalists and media workers in Gaza since the war began.
Adding to the event's focus on Gaza, Palestinian publisher Samir Mansour was honored with the 2024 International Publishers Association’s (IPA) Prix Voltaire during the 34th International Publishers Congress, held as part of the Guadalajara Book Fair.
The Prix Voltaire recognizes publishers who persevere in publishing controversial works despite facing pressure, threats, and harassment from governments, authorities, or private interests. The IPA award citation lauded Mansour's efforts, stating, "The Samir Mansour Bookshop for Printing and Publishing is a critical part of the local community in Gaza, publishing the works of Palestinian authors and housing thousands of books in various languages.... The bookshop has continued its efforts to bring books to Palestinian youth, visiting evacuation centers and providing books and gift packages to displaced children."
Accepting the award in a video address, Samir Mansour reflected on his resilience: "In 2021, my bookshop was completely destroyed; it was rebuilt in 2022. During the current war, the bookshop was also destroyed again, along with the second branch of the library bookshop. However, I am still continuing my work, which I grew up with and was raised in since my childhood. I am still publishing despite being on the Gaza Strip. God willing, we will continue to publish and print, no matter how difficult the circumstances we are living in today. We will continue."
16:02 Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said that Iraq is intensifying diplomatic efforts to “contain the crisis in Syria due to its clear impact on Iraqi security.”
His remarks came ahead of a meeting between the top diplomats of Iraq, Syria, and Iran to discuss developments in Syria, which has been engulfed in a shock offensive by armed groups that have captured key cities.
In a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Sudani reaffirmed that “Iraq is continuing intensive diplomatic efforts with the aim of containing the crisis in Syria due to its clear impact on Iraqi security.”
“Iraq’s official, fixed stance is in support of Syria’s unity, security, and stability,” Sudani added, according to a statement from his office.
During a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Bassam Al-Sabbagh, Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein expressed “deep concerns” over the developments in Syria. The two ministers stressed “the importance of continued consultation and coordination between the two countries to avoid the repetition of past experiences and to work to protect regional security.”
Sabbagh emphasized “the necessity of mobilizing Arab and regional efforts to counter this terrorist threat... and prevent it from spreading to other countries,” according to the official Syrian news agency SANA.
16:00 Jordan Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya said his country had closed its only passenger and commercial border crossing into Syria "due to the security conditions surrounding southern Syria," Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
A Syrian army source told Reuters that armed groups had been firing at Syria’s Nassib border crossing into Jordan. “Armed groups who infiltrated the crossing attacked Syrian army posts stationed there,” the source added. Dozens of trailers and passengers are now stranded near the area.
The minister added that Jordanians and Jordanian trucks would be allowed to return via the crossing, known as the Jaber crossing on the Jordanian side, while no one would be allowed to cross into Syria.
15:22 The Lebanese army on Friday reinforced its deployment along the Lebanese-Syrian border in the Bekaa region amid escalating conflicts in Syria, according to security sources speaking to Xinhua news agency.
The move comes as Lebanon fears that the intensifying clashes between the Syrian army and armed groups could increase the likelihood of extremist groups reaching the Lebanese border.
Anonymous Lebanese security sources told Xinhua that the army had heightened its readiness and strengthened its presence along the 375-kilometre border separating Lebanon and Syria.
They added that units from the Airborne Regiment had been deployed to the eastern mountain range near the Syrian border, along with land border guards assigned to monitor mountain paths and illegal crossings linking the two countries.
Lebanon remains concerned about a repeat of the events of 2014, when armed groups from ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra stormed the border town of Arsal, killing soldiers and civilians before occupying areas along the Lebanese-Syrian border for years.
Meanwhile, the General Directorate of Public Security issued a statement announcing the closure of several land border crossings, particularly in the north, due to repeated Israeli attacks targeting the crossings.
The closures were necessary to ensure the safety of those travelling across the border, the statement added. However, the Masnaa border crossing will remain open, especially for Syrian nationals, "under temporary exceptional measures."
15:19 Gaza's civil defence agency said 29 people were killed, and dozens since dawn in Israeli strikes near the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahia.
15:13 The Israeli army said it was "reinforcing aerial and ground forces" in the occupied Golan Heights in response to sweeping armed groups' advances in Syria.
In a statement, the army said it was "monitoring developments and is prepared for all scenarios, offensive and defensive alike," adding it will not tolerate any threat near its border.
15:00 Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he wanted an armed insurgent advance in Syria to "continue without incident," believing that their objective is the capital Damascus.
"So far Idleb, Hama and Homs and of course the objective, Damascus: the advance of the opponents continues. We wish this advance to continue without incident," said Erdogan.
Regarding relations with Assad, the Turkish leader said there was no answer to his offer of talks.
"I told him 'Come, let's meet to discuss the future of Syria together'. But I never had a positive response from Assad," Erdogan said.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will meet counterparts from Russia and Iran in Qatar on Saturday to discuss the Syrian civil war on the sidelines of the Doha Forum.
14:54 The Russian Embassy in Damascus has called on Russians to leave Syria, TASS news agency said.
14:29 "Political leaders and others who continue to support Israel as it commits genocide may be found complicit in its crimes," Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said about Amnesty International's recent report on the Israeli war on Gaza.
Amnesty concluded that Israel has committed, and continues to commit, the crime of genocide in Gaza.
"One day the blunt denial of the Israeli genocide in Gaza by many Western politicians will be a case-study in politicial cynicism," she added.
"Facts and law are ignored, while ideology or prejudice prevail. In the two reports on genocide I wrote this year, first, I provided an analysis of Israel's ACTS of genocide, and then, I placed these actions in a historical context, exposing INTENT attributable to the State."
Albanese also referred to Forensic Architecture's recent investigation, Cartography Of Genocide, saying that it perfectly complements her analysis.
14:27 The United Nations health agency stated it has no indication that a warning was issued before Israel bombed Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza early on Thursday, the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional representative, Rik Peeperkorn, said on Friday.
Peeperkorn expressed particular concern that the Israeli attack occurred just a week after Israeli occupation forces had facilitated the entry of an Indonesian emergency medical team into the hospital.
"Within one week, they feel forced, scared, whatever, to leave," Peeperkorn told a UN briefing in Geneva via video link. "That is extremely concerning and should never happen." He added that the hospital was now minimally functional, Reuters reported.
Pepperkorn also highlighted the WHO's ongoing concern about the slow pace of medical evacuations from Gaza, where Israel's siege and fierce bombardments continue.
He warned that at the current rate of evacuations, it would take five to 10 years to move Gaza's roughly 12,000 patients to facilities where they could receive adequate care. Nearly half of these patients require cancer treatment, while another quarter need care for war-related trauma.
The remaining patients suffer from congenital illnesses, heart disease, and eye conditions.
"We urge the rapid and efficient use of all corridors to allow all patients to receive life-saving care in time," the WHO stated in a separate release.
So far, the WHO has arranged to evacuate 266 patients to the United Arab Emirates, 22 to the United States, 20 to Jordan, 15 to Romania, and five to Belgium.
"The needs of patients and health workers in Gaza are vast and cannot be met with humanitarian aid only. The medicine they need is a ceasefire and lasting peace," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said.
14:02 Syria's army "suddenly" pulled out of eastern Deir Ezzor city and its countryside with columns of soldiers heading towards the central Palmyra region, Rami Abdel Rahman, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, told AFP.
Their move towards Palmyra, in central Syria, came as armed groups who had launched a lightning offensive last week were at the gates of Homs city, to Palmyra's west.
There was no confirmation from the Syrian government.
Deir Ezzor province, an oil-rich region bordering Iraq, is split between Kurdish forces to the east of the Euphrates and the Syrian army.
13:40 The situation in the West Bank remains tense as Israeli occupation forces continue their attacks. Four Palestinians were wounded by live gunfire from Israeli forces during confrontations in Beit Furik, east of Nablus, WAFA news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces attacked Palestinian worshippers in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem. Rami Hamamreh, head of the Husan village council, said Israeli troops fired sound bombs at worshippers as they were leaving the Abu Bakr As-Siddiq mosque following the Friday noon prayers at the village's eastern entrance.
13:38 Terrorist Israeli colonists carried out a series of attacks against Palestinians and their properties across multiple areas of the West Bank.
According to the mayor of Silwad, dozens of colonists broke into the Al-Burj area near Silwad, erecting tents, raising Israeli flags, and displaying banners with racist slogans. This area, considered an archaeological site, is frequently targeted by colonists.
In another incident, a group of colonists attacked Palestinian residents in the Birin area, east of Yatta in Hebron, threatening to expel them to make way for colonial expansion, WAFA reported.
Rateb al-Jabour, coordinator of the popular committees against the wall and settlements in southern Hebron, reported that the settlers attacked the home of a Palestinian resident, warning him and his family of imminent expulsion to facilitate further settlement expansion.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces and colonists continued the illegal expansion of the Susiya settlement, built on Palestinian land in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron. Activists reported new construction activity at the site, which remains within occupied Palestinian territory.
Colonists also continued to plough dozens of dunums of land in the village of Jiftlik, north of Jericho and in the Jordan Valley. Ahmad Abu Ghanem, head of the Jiftlik village council, informed WAFA that colonists had been working on land north of the village for the past week. This area, spanning over 100 dunums, is being prepared for seizure and cultivation, mainly for grape farming.
13:12 Hamas called on the World Health Organization to send an international committee to investigate the actions being carried out by Israeli occupation forces against Kamal Adwan Hospital and the broader health system in Gaza.
The occupation's bombing and storming of Kamal Adwan Hospital is an insistence on the campaign of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, the resistance group added In a statement.
As previously reported, Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the last functioning health centres in northern Gaza, has been devastated by Israeli airstrikes and gunfire. Dozens were killed, including four medical staff members, and patients were forcibly evacuated.
Victims are treated inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahya in the northern Gaza Strip following an Israeli strike that hit the medical complex. AFP
The Kamal Adwan Hospital stands in Beit Lahya in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP
12:52 Turkey confirmed that it would meet Russian and Iranian foreign ministers for talks on the escalating civil war in Syria in Qatar on Saturday.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan "will meet with the Russian and Iranian ministers... for a meeting under the Astana process" on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, a foreign ministry source told AFP.
The so-called Astana process involving the three countries was launched by Kazakhstan in 2017 in a bid to find a political solution to the civil war in Syria, which has flared again after a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels over the past week.
Iranian state media had reported earlier that a meeting was expected on the forum's sidelines between Turkey, which supports some of the insurgents, Iran and Russia.
Residents cheer as armed groups pour into the captured central-west city of Hama. AFP
12:50 Iran said it conducted a successful space launch, the latest for its program the West alleges improves Tehran’s ballistic missile technology.
Iran conducted the launch using its Simorgh programme, a satellite-carrying rocket with several failed launches, at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province. That’s the site of Iran’s civilian space program.
The Simorgh carried what Iran described as an “orbital propulsion system,” as well as two research systems to a 400-kilometre (250-mile) orbit above the Earth. A system that could change a spacecraft's orbit would allow Iran to geo-synchronize the orbits of its satellites. Tehran has long sought that ability.
Iran also put the payload of the Simorgh at 300 kilograms (660 pounds), heavier than its previous successful launches.
12:48 Israel once again violated the ceasefire deal with Lebanon, carrying out airstrikes overnight on routes along the Syria-Lebanon border.
Official media in both Lebanon and Syria reported that the raid targeted the Al-Arida border crossing, which had already been damaged during the Israel-Lebanon war, putting it out of service once again.
Lebanon's National News Agency stated that the strike "caused damage to infrastructure" and disrupted the border road "again after the bridge was repaired" following a previous attack.
12:39 The escalation in fighting in Syria has displaced around 280,000 people in just over a week, the United Nations said, warning that numbers could swell to 1.5 million.
"The figure we have in front of us is 280,000 people since November 27," Samer AbdelJaber, head of emergency coordination at the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), told reporters in Geneva.
"That does not include the figure of people who fled from Lebanon during the recent escalations" in fighting there, he added.
The mass displacement has happened since insurgents led by the armed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched their lightning offensive a little more than a week ago.
12:17 Insurgents advanced within striking distance of Syria's third-largest city, Homs, on Friday after capturing two key towns in a rapid sweep, according to a war monitor.
"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions have reached within five kilometers (three miles) of the outskirts of Homs city" after seizing Rastan and Talbisseh, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He added that controlling Homs would allow the insurgents to "cut off the main road leading to the Syrian coast," a vital route for the Alawite minority stronghold.
Homs lies south of Hama, which HTS and its allies captured on Thursday, just days after seizing Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, from government forces.
Militant commander Hassan Abdel Ghani stated on Telegram that "our forces continue to march steadily towards Homs." He confirmed that "hundreds" of militants, previously forced to flee the city when the government retook it, had returned to reclaim control.
12:00 The situation at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, has reached catastrophic levels, medical sources said. The hospital, overwhelmed with casualties, has seen four of its medical staff killed by Israeli forces, as reported by WAFA.
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Hossam Abu Safieh, said that Israel carried out several strikes on Friday, hitting the facility — one of the last functioning health centres in the area.
"There was a series of airstrikes on the northern and western sides of the hospital, accompanied by intense and direct fire," Abu Safieh said, adding that four staff members were killed, leaving the hospital without any surgeons, AFP reported.
With only two inexperienced personnel attempting to conduct surgeries before evacuating, they were forced to operate on 20 critically injured patients despite their lack of expertise, a source at the scene revealed to WAFA.
Medical supplies are nearly depleted, and hundreds of wounded individuals still await treatment.
The Indonesian medical team, previously the only group able to perform surgeries, was forced to leave the hospital and head toward a checkpoint, leaving the facility with minimal resources and personnel.
A source inside the hospital detailed how Israeli forces carried out these airstrikes alongside heavy gunfire.
Shortly after, two individuals entered the hospital with a loudspeaker, ordering the evacuation of all patients, displaced people, and medical staff.
They forcibly gathered everyone in the hospital yard, instructing them to proceed to a nearby checkpoint.
Soldiers later returned, allowing one companion per patient or displaced person to assist with the evacuation.
The source described the scene as devastating, with hundreds of bodies and injured individuals lying in the streets near the hospital. They warned that the overall situation in northern Gaza is catastrophic.
Further compounding the crisis, Israeli forces struck the hospital's oxygen generators last night, critically impairing life-saving measures.
Medical services in northern Gaza have completely collapsed under the ongoing Israeli attacks.
The healthcare situation in southern and central Gaza is equally critical as the Strip grapples with the unrelenting humanitarian crisis under the Israeli forces' intense shelling.
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