22:00 Defence Minister Israel Katz on Monday acknowledged that Israel had killed former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, as he warned the military would "decapitate" the leadership of Yemen's Huthi rebels.
"We will strike hard at the Huthis... and decapitate their leadership -- just as we did with Haniyeh, (Yahya) Sinwar, and (Hassan) Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon, we will do so in Hodeida and Sanaa," Katz said, in the first public acknowledgement that Israel was behind the assassination of Haniyeh in July in the Iranian capital.
21:30: Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, aka al-Jolani, announced Monday that Qatar is prepared to invest in Syria's energy sector and ports. This follows a meeting with senior Qatari official Mohammed Al-Khulaifi in Damascus.
Khulaifi, Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, arrived in the Syrian capital on the first Qatar Airways flight to land there since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Standing alongside Khulaifi, Sharaa told reporters that discussions covered Syria's challenges and that he had invited Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, to visit the country.
"The Qatari side expressed its readiness for wide investments in Syria in many sectors, chief amongst them the energy sector in which they have great experience ... as well as the ports and airports," Sharaa said.
Khulaifi reaffirmed Qatar's commitment to supporting Syria during what he described as a critical period.
"Syria and its people need support during this crucial phase which requires the concerted efforts of everyone, especially concerning the lifting of sanctions and the upcoming developmental projects," Khulaifi said.
21:00 Russian Presidential Assistant Yuri Ushakov confirmed on Monday that Russia is maintaining diplomatic and military contacts with the new Syrian authorities.
According to the Russian news agency Sputnik, during a press conference, Ushakov stated, "The contacts with the Syrian authorities are diverse, both at the diplomatic level and, frankly, at the military level as well. "
He noted that Russia hopes the emerging authorities in Syria will show interest in the work of the BRICS group. "This request was made by the previous government, and now a new authority is being formed there. I also hope that the new authorities in Syria will show interest in the BRICS group. There are still many unclear and ambiguous things there," he said.
Ushakov mentioned that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to meet with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been granted asylum in Russia for humanitarian reasons. Still, the meeting date has not yet been set. "The Russian president mentioned during the 'Direct Line' that he is considering meeting Assad, but when exactly, I do not know. However, since he said this, such a meeting will likely occur," Ushakov said.
Earlier, Putin described the situation in Syria as not simple, affirming that Russia expects peace and calm to prevail there. He noted that Russia will maintain relations with all factions in Syria that control the situation, as well as with all countries in the region.
Russia still maintains forces at the Hmeimim airbase and the Tartus naval base in Syria after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, who had sought Moscow's support in his fight against armed groups following the 2011 revolution.
20:45 Ensuring the protection of Syria's territorial integrity is an unchanging line for Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.
"Protecting Syria's territorial integrity and unitary structure under all circumstances is Turkey's unchanging line. We never step back from this," he said after remarks warning Israel that it would be "forced" to withdraw from land it had seized.
"Although Israel is opportunistic, sooner or later, it will withdraw from the lands it occupies. It will be forced to do so," Erdogan said.
20:40 The Red Cross launched an emergency appeal Monday for 130 million Swiss francs ($145 million) to aid millions of Syrians returning to destroyed homes and neighbourhoods after the fall of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said the money was for "critical health care, urgently needed food and shelter supplies, cash assistance and psychological support for those experiencing trauma, and help to families trying to trace loved ones who have disappeared during the 13-year conflict" that ended with Assad's ouster by an Islamist-led rebel coalition earlier this month.
The funds will go to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) to "deliver vital aid to communities across the country", it said in a statement.
20:30 The Israeli occupation army announced that three of its soldiers were killed in clashes in northern Gaza.
The army stated that two soldiers, aged 21, and a third soldier, aged 22, "fell during combat", bringing its total losses to 389 since it launched a ground offensive in the besieged Palestinian strip on 27 October last year.
20:00 The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that they have advanced to within 15 kilometres of Manbij's city centre, a strategic city in northern Syria located in the Aleppo Governorate near the Turkish border.
Manbij canton in North and East Syria is facing a potential large-scale offensive by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA). Turkey aims to seize the area from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The city is crucial for the region, governed by the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) and has the SDF as its official military wing.
The SDF also said they have shifted from defensive to offensive operations in the countryside.
In a statement to Al Arabiya, SDF officials confirmed ongoing coordination with Damascus as part of broader efforts to secure the region.
This follows earlier statements by Syrian leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, on Monday regarding the unification of forces after meetings with groups from eastern Syria to discuss organizational efforts.
19:00 The fate of captives held in Gaza is directly linked to the Israeli army's advance in some regions of the strip, the spokesperson for Hamas' military wing, Abu Ubaida, said in a statement on Telegram on Monday.
"The fate of the captives is contingent upon the Israeli army advancing just hundreds of meters in some of the areas under attack," Abu Ubaida stated.
Abu Ubaida accused Israel of engaging in "genocide and ethnic cleansing", targeting civilians in northern Gaza to cover up the failures of its military. "The innocent civilians are being targeted to distract from the scandals of the Zionist army," he said.
18:00 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers that "some progress" had been made in negotiations to secure the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza but refused to share details about the anticipated deal.
"Everything we are doing cannot be disclosed. We are taking action to bring them back. I wish to say cautiously that there has been some progress, and we will not stop acting until we bring them all home," Netanyahu said in the parliament, as talks to reach a deal have been renewed recently.
17:30 The United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon urged the Israeli military to speed up its withdrawal from the area, nearly a month after a ceasefire came into effect.
"UNIFIL strongly urges accelerated progress in the IDF's (Israeli army) withdrawal from and the LAF's (Lebanese army) deployment in south Lebanon," the force said in a statement, calling on "all actors to cease and refrain from violations of resolution 1701 and any actions that could jeopardize the fragile stability that currently prevails."
17:00 The Israeli army threatened residents of southern Lebanon that they could be killed if they returned to their homes before they were given notice.
"The IDF does not intend to target you and therefore at this stage, you are prohibited from returning to your homes from this line south until further notice. Anyone who moves south of this line exposes himself to danger," Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-language spokesperson of the Israeli army, wrote in a post on X this afternoon.
He regularly posts forced evacuation orders on social media addressed to Lebanese residents. Today's post included a map naming 62 villages whose residents are prohibited from returning until "further notice."
16:00 Two doctors and a nurse from Douma near Damascus told AFP that Bashar Al-Assad's government coerced them into providing false testimony to international investigators after a deadly 2018 chlorine attack.
The three, who treated the wounded at a field hospital in Douma after the April 2018 attack, told AFP in an exclusive interview that they were summoned to national security headquarters.
"I was told... that they knew where my family is in Damascus," said orthopaedic surgeon Mohammed Al-Hanash. Emergency and intensive care specialist Hassan Oyoun said: "When I arrived before the investigator... his gun was on the table pointing towards me."
15:00 Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since Monday dawn have killed 16 Palestinians, 14 of whom were in the central and southern parts of the strip, in addition to several injured and others trapped under the rubble, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that Israel's genocidal war on Gaza has killed 58 Palestinians in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll in the strip to 45,317 people since the war began.
People gather around a bus hit by an Israeli strike, which led to casualties, in the Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis city in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
14:45 Amid escalating tension in northern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the killing of 15 of its members in clashes with Turkey-aligned factions in the countryside of Aleppo, Manbij, and Deir Ezzor.
On the other hand, security sources in northeastern Syria reported that ISIS cells targeted checkpoints belonging to the SDF in the countryside of Deir Ezzor and Al-Hasakah, according to Sky News Arabia.
A statement from the internal security forces confirmed that the ISIS attacks are occurring because Kurdish military forces are preoccupied with countering Turkey-backed attacks.
14:25 Exhausted by more than 14 months of war, the wives and mothers of Israeli soldiers are uniting in protest against exemptions from conscription for ultra-Orthodox men.
For several Saturday evenings, the bridge over a key highway that runs between Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox suburb of Tel Aviv, and Givat Shmuel, a bastion of religious Zionists whose sons and husbands serve in the army, has been the scene of a tense standoff.
Ultra-Orthodox residents passed by, some running, as protesters holding Israeli flags and banners shouted through megaphones demanding "conscription for all."
The military has asked for an extra workforce in light of the war on Gaza and connected conflicts. At the same time, the Supreme Court ruled in June that the state must draft ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into military service.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition government includes members of two ultra-Orthodox parties, and he has feared that ending the exemption could break up his coalition.
The coalition is moving ahead with legislation that would protect the exemption for the vast majority of Haredim (the Hebrew name for ultra-Orthodox Jews, meaning "God-fearing") from military service.
File Photo: An Israeli soldier speaks with an old man while an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man stands nearby in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. AFP
14:10 Germany warned Turkey against stepping up military action against Kurdish armed groups in the north of Syria.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that a war by Turkey against the Kurdish groups "must not happen," saying that in the end, this could empower "the IS terrorists."
"That would be a security threat for Syria, but also for Turkey and us in Europe," Baerbock told public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday it was time to destroy "terrorist" groups that posed a threat to Syria's survival, namely the Islamic State group and Kurdish fighters.
Baerbock also pointed out that "it was the Kurds in particular who pushed back the IS," recalling the "terrible massacres committed by IS terrorists."
People attend the funeral procession of a member of the Women's Protection Units (YPJ), who was killed during a Turkish drone strike in the countryside of Kobane in Syria's northeastern city of Qamishli. AFP
The Syrian city of Kobane has become "a symbol of the courageous fight of the Kurds against IS," said Baerbock.
She cautioned NATO ally Turkey that the current situation in Syria should "not be used to drive out the Kurds again, to cause renewed violence."
"We all have a responsibility to ensure that there is no new violence, no new radical forces, but that people can finally live in safety after years of this terror," she said, adding that "the unity of Syria must be preserved."
14:00 The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged its citizens not to travel to Syria due to the ongoing developments.
Ministry spokesperson Ismail Baqaei stated in a press conference: "Our diplomats and military advisers have left Syria, and I do not believe there are any Iranian citizens in Syria at the moment."
13:50 Jordan expressed support for "a government that represents all spectrums in Syria" as well as for "the drafting of a new constitution," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said after a meeting in Damascus with Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the leader of the new administration in Syria.
Jordan's official Al-Mamlaka TV reported that Safadi had discussed avenues of cooperation with the new authorities, including trade, border management, aid and electricity connections, and security.
"We agree to support the Syrian people in rebuilding their state," Safadi was quoted as saying, adding that "the Arab countries agree to support Syria at this stage without any external interference."
Picture released by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry shows Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (C-L) being received by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) (C-R) in Damascus. AFP
Safadi also said that Jordan would "provide all means of support to Syrian refugees," Al-Mamlaka reported, stressing that "their return to their country must be voluntary."
13:40 A Saudi delegation met Syria's new leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, in Damascus, a government source told AFP on Monday.
The "Saudi senior delegation met Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus yesterday discussing (the) Syria situation and Captagon," the source said, referring to the illegal synthetic stimulant that has flooded the region from Syria, according to AFP.
13:10 The Israeli army raised the Israeli flag on a hill between the towns of Al-Bayyadah and Naqoura in southern Lebanon, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
Israeli forces also closed the road between the cities of Bint Jbeil and Marun al-Ras Monday morning, preventing vehicles from entering the direction of Marun Al-Ras.
Israel has violated the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah daily since it came into effect in late November.
13:00 Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip overnight killed at least 20 people, Palestinian medics said.
One of the airstrikes hit a tent camp in the so-called "humanitarian zone" of Al-Mawasi, which has been targeted by deadly Israeli airstrikes and is reportedly overcrowded.
The airstrike killed eight people, including two children, according to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies, reported AP.
12:10 Intense clashes erupted again around the Jenin camp in the West Bank between Palestinian Authority security forces and fighters from the Islamic Jihad group, sources told Al Jazeera.
For the third consecutive week, security forces affiliated with the Ramallah Authority have continued their campaign in Jenin camp, targeting those they describe as lawbreakers, aiming to "impose security and end lawlessness."
11:50 Large American military convoys and rows of trucks loaded with heavily armoured vehicles have moved from the Al-Omr oil field base toward Syria's northern city of Raqqa, Sky News Arabia reported, citing witnesses.
The sources indicated that the convoy consisted of around 100 vehicles and was accompanied by intensified American patrols.
According to sources, US military patrols toured the southern countryside of Ayn Al-Arab (Kobani), Sarrin, and the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.
After the ceasefire between the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkey-backed insurgents in the city of Ayn Al-Arab ended, the region has remained relatively calm, Sky News Arabia said.
In the past 48 hours, the area witnessed clashes and exchanges of shelling between the two sides at the Qaraqozak and Tishrin dams.
Islamic Jihad argues that the campaign is aimed at their fighters.
11:35: Majed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said a high-level Qatari delegation, headed by Minister of State Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, arrived in Damascus for talks with Syrian officials.
Al-Khulaifi arrived aboard the first Qatar Airways flight to land at Damascus International Airport since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad's regime.
11:30 Israel ordered the closure and evacuation of one of the last hospitals still partly functioning in the besieged northern Gaza Strip, forcing medics to search for a way to bring hundreds of patients and staff to safety, Reuters reported.
The head of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, Hussam Abu Safiya, texted Reuters that obeying the order to shut down was "next to impossible" because there were insufficient ambulances to transport patients.
"We currently have nearly 400 civilians inside the hospital, including babies in the neonatal unit, whose lives depend on oxygen and incubators. We cannot evacuate these patients safely without assistance, equipment, and time," said Abu Safiya.
"We are sending this message under heavy bombardment and direct targeting of the fuel tanks, which, if hit, will cause a large explosion and mass casualties of the civilians inside," he said.
Abu Safiya said the military had ordered patients and staff to be evacuated to another hospital where conditions are even worse.
Photos inside the hospital showed patients on beds crammed into corridors to keep them away from windows.
The Kamal Adwan Hospital stands in Beit Lahya in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP
11:00 Lebanon's caretaker prime minister has begun a tour of military positions in the country's south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group that battered the country.
Najib Mikati on Monday was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the US-brokered deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops both scheduled to withdraw by the end of next month.
Mikati's tour comes after the Lebanese government expressed its frustration over ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights in the country.
"We have many tasks ahead of us, the most important being the enemy's (Israel's) withdrawal from all the lands it encroached on during its recent aggression," he said after meeting with army chief Joseph Aoun in a Lebanese military barracks in the southeastern town of Marjayoun. "Then the army can carry out its tasks in full."
10:15, Amman said that Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met with Syria's new leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, in Damascus.
Images the Jordanian foreign ministry distributed showed Safadi and Al-Sharaa shaking hands without offering further details about their meeting.
Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (L) is being received by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) in Damascus. AFP
10:00 Israeli authorities have built seven illegal settlement outposts inside Area B of the occupied West Bank, an Israeli rights group said.
These are the first settlement outposts established in Area B since the signing of the Oslo Accord in 1993.
"For the first time since the Oslo Accords, seven outposts established in West Bank Area B," Peace Now said.
It also said that "five of the outposts were established in the Agreed-Upon Reserve " area in the east and southeast of Bethlehem city. In contrast, the other two were established in the Ramallah area, all of which are in the areas classified as Area B of the West Bank.
The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog group noted that "dozens of Palestinian families have left their homes in Area B due to settler violence," paving the way for erecting settlement outposts on their lands.
"Throughout the West Bank, an unprecedented number of 52 outposts were established in 2024. The seven outposts in area B constitute 13.5% of all outposts established in the past year," Peace Now said.
Israeli estimates indicate that more than 720,000 Israelis now live in illegal settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
9:45 Four Palestinians were killed and three were injured in Israeli airstrikes on Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, WAFA news agency reported, citing medical sources.
Additionally, one citizen was killed and others injured when the occupation forces fired live ammunition at a school sheltering displaced people northwest of the camp.
The Israeli occupation has continued its aggression on the Gaza Strip by land, sea, and air since 7 October 2023, killing more than 45,259 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring more than 107,627 others. Thousands of victims remain trapped under the rubble and in the streets.
9:40 Israeli security claimed that the Shin Bet had thwarted 11 espionage and assassination attempts "planned by Iran" since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza, the Walla website reported, citing Israeli sources.
Those sources accused Iran of "bolstering terrorism in the West Bank, Gaza, Yemen, Iraq, and Jordan."
According to Israeli assessments, "the Iranians are sophisticated adversaries who will not surrender quickly and will look for new channels," Walla said.
9:35 The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Iran currently does not have direct contact with the new ruling authority in Syria.
"We will decide on our relations with the ruling authority in Syria based on its future actions. "
9:30 Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi was due in Damascus on Monday to meet with Syria's leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, Amman said.
The Jordanian foreign ministry said that Safadi would meet with the new Syrian leader and "several Syrian officials" on Monday.
This is the first visit by a senior Jordanian official since Al-Assad's fall.
On Sunday, government spokesman Mohamed Momani told reporters that Jordan "sides with the will of the brotherly Syrian people," stressing the close ties between the two nations.
9:00 Just 12 trucks distributed food and water in northern Gaza in two and a half months, aid group Oxfam said, raising the alarm over the worsening humanitarian situation in the besieged territory.
"Of the meagre 34 trucks of food and water given permission to enter the North Gaza Governorate over the last 2.5 months, deliberate delays and systematic obstructions by the Israeli military meant that just twelve managed to distribute aid to starving Palestinian civilians," Oxfam said in a statement, in a count that included deliveries through Saturday.
"For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours," Oxfam added.
Palestinians wait for a food portion at a distribution centre south of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
Oxfam said that it and other international aid groups have been "continually prevented from delivering life-saving aid" in northern Gaza since 6 October this year.
"Thousands of people are estimated to still be cut off, but with humanitarian access blocked, it's impossible to know exact numbers," Oxfam said.
"At the beginning of December, humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza were receiving calls from vulnerable people trapped in homes and shelters that had completely run out of food and water."
Oxfam highlighted one instance of aid delivery being disrupted by Israeli authorities in November.
"A convoy of 11 trucks last month was initially held up at the holding point by the Israeli military at Jabalia, where some food was taken by starving civilians," it said.
"After the green light to proceed to the destination was received, the trucks were then stopped further on at a military checkpoint. Soldiers forced the drivers to offload the aid in a militarized zone, which desperate civilians had no access to."
Short link: