World
At least 50 people killed in Israeli strikes on homes, camps in Gaza
At least 50 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes across Gaza, Palestinian medics say, as Israeli tanks push into northern parts of the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza.
Medics said at least 20 people were killed and others wounded in an Israeli attack on Wednesday on a tent encampment in al-Mawasi near Khan Younis. The Palestinian Civil Defence said the attack set several tents housing displaced families ablaze.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said the death toll was expected to rise.
Patients who are in the hospital were “expected to lose their lives simply because there is no medical care, medical supplies and insufficient medical staff,” Mahmoud said.
“This is not the first time we’ve seen this happening. There’s a growing frustration among the displaced population in the al-Mawasi evacuation zone,” he said. “The Israeli military ordered them in the initial weeks of this genocidal war to evacuate in order to avoid being bombed, but they repeatedly find themselves the victims of these unpredictable attacks.”
At least 10 people were killed in an Israeli air strike that hit three houses in Gaza City, the Civil Defence said. Many victims were still trapped under the rubble with rescue operations under way.
Medics said 11 people were killed in three air strikes on areas in central Gaza, including six children and a medic. Five of the dead had been queueing outside a bakery, they said.
A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah near the border with Egypt, medics said.
‘Extremely urgent’
Israeli forces also fired on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza for the fifth straight day, hospital Director Hussam Abu Safiya said. Three of his medical staff had been wounded, one critically, on Tuesday night, he said.
“Drones are dropping bombs filled with shrapnel that injure anyone that dares to move,” Abu Safiya said. “This situation is extremely urgent.”
He said more than 100 patients inside the besieged hospital are at risk of death and Israeli forces are preventing access to the nearby al-Awda Hospital.
Residents in the north’s main three towns – Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon – said Israeli forces have blown up dozens of houses.
Palestinians said Israel’s army is trying to drive people out of the northern edge of Gaza by issuing threats that if residents do not flee, they risk death and by carrying out bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli military has besieged the area since it began a renewed ground offensive there nearly two months ago.
The siege has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis amid a looming famine.
Hamas said the bombings of homes in Beit Lahiya and the targeting of Kamal Adwan Hospital are “an insistence on the ongoing war” and “genocide” in Gaza.
The group said in a statement that Israel is showing it plans to keep disregarding international law “in light of the shameful failure of the international system to put an end to these horrific crimes”.
Hamas said Israeli actions “are carried out under the full cover and protection of the American administration and some Western capitals”.
In the Khan Younis area, residents told the Reuters news agency that Israeli tanks advanced a day after the military issued new evacuation threats, saying there had been rocket launches by Palestinian groups from the area.
With shells crashing near residential areas, families left their homes on Wednesday and headed westwards towards al-Mawasi, which was designated by the Israeli military as a “safe zone” but has since repeatedly come under attack.
Palestinian and United Nations officials said there are no safe areas left in Gaza and almost all of its 2.3 million residents have been displaced multiple times.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians, injured many others and reduced much of the enclave to rubble since it began in October last year.
Israel agreed to a ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah last week that has halted most fighting in a conflict that has unfolded in Lebanon in parallel with the Gaza war.
But the war in Gaza has ground on with only a single ceasefire more than a year ago that lasted for one week.
World
Photos: How South Korean Protesters Filled Streets to Demand Yoon’s Ouster
Tens of thousands of South Koreans from across the country gathered in the streets outside the National Assembly in Seoul on Saturday, demanding President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster. Mr. Yoon briefly imposed martial law on Tuesday, reopening old wounds and plunging the country into political chaos. An attempt to impeach Mr. Yoon failed to garner the required number of votes, prolonging the political upheaval and uncertainty that has roiled the country this week.
Protests in the city and around the country have intensified since Mr. Yoon’s audacious move on Tuesday. The rally at the National Assembly ahead of the impeachment vote on Saturday was the largest one yet, despite freezing temperatures. By 3 p.m. the areas in front of the National Assembly were filled.
People waved flags representing labor unions, human rights groups and smaller political parties. The police, wearing neon jackets, were lined up along the crowds to keep order.
As the grand boulevard facing the National Assembly filled up with protestors, people moved to the street that runs across the front of the complex.
Meanwhile, in another part of Seoul, supporters of Mr. Yoon gathered near Gwanghwamun Square. There were chairs set up for the supporters, unlike the crowds sitting on the ground outside of the National Assembly. Soon after the impeachment vote began, speakers were quick to announce that impeachment looked unlikely, and the crowd turned jubilant.
Protesters in front of the National Assembly stayed well into the night, as the voting session dragged on. People held candles and colorful light sticks. South Korea has a tradition of holding candlelight rallies to express political dissent.
As 9 p.m. approached, it became clear there were not enough votes to impeach Mr. Yoon and the crowd began to thin out.
However, many protesters said they would not give up. “I plan to come every weekend,” said Subin Park, 29, who had traveled from Bucheon, west of Seoul. “I hope a lot of people will show up from Monday.”
World
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad flees into exile as Islamist rebels conquer country
JERUSALEM — Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who used chemical weapons multiple times on his population, has fled Syria after rebels stormed the capital city of Damascus, according to Reuters.
Assad, who was trained as an eye doctor in the United Kingdom before succeeding his father, and his British-born wife, Asma al-Assad, fled with their three children, according to Syrian television reports. It was not known where they were headed.
A video statement from a group of men on Syrian state TV said that Assad had been overthrown and all prisoners have been set free.
The man who read a statement said the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus is calling on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve state institutions of “the free Syrian state.”
“Long live the free Syrian state that is to all Syrians and all” their sects and ethnic groups, they said.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said early Sunday he didn’t know the whereabouts of Assad. He told the Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya that they lost communication Saturday night.
Crowds of Syrians gathered in the central squares of Damascus to celebrate. Some chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked horns. In other areas, celebratory gunshots rang out.
Syria has been embroiled in a bloody, nearly 14-year civil war as Islamist rebels looked to overthrow the Assad dynasty. The apparent collapse of more than 50 years of Assad family rule over the Syrian Arabian Republic is a monumental turning point in Middle East power politics.
ISLAMIST REBELS IN SYRIA CATCH ASSAD, PUTIN, IRAN REGIMES OFF GUARD GIVING US NEW MIDEAST HEADACHE
A coalition of largely radical Islamist groups dislodged Assad’s Iran-backed regime. The U.S.-designated terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist former Al-Qaeda affiliate that is part of the rebel forces, played the decisive role in evicting Assad, who inherited his presidency in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafez Assad.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the Islamist leader of HTS, who has a $10 million bounty on his head from the U.S., seeks to present a toned-down version of the radical Islamism that has defined his years of fighting in Syria and in Iraq against American troops. Al-Golani was detained by the U.S. military in the first decade of this century.
Syrian experts have told Fox News Digital that HTS seeks to impose a totalitarian Islamist regime on the population. Phillip Smyth, an expert on Iranian regime proxy groups and Syria, who is with the Atlantic Council, told Fox News Digital, “HTS is a group that is an outgrowth of Al-Qaeda and has connections to Turkey. Their endgame is to create a Taliban-esque society with a few tweaks.”
Al-Golani banned his fighters from opening fire into the air in Damascus.
“Public institutions will remain under the supervision of the prime minister until they are officially handed over,” he said in a statement published on his group’s social media outlets.
Assad’s decision in 2011 to launch a violent crackdown on pro-democracy Syrian activists during the Arab Spring revolts, which engulfed Egypt and Tunisia, resulted in the protracted civil war. Assad’s scorched-earth policy against the citizens of his country caused the killing of over 500,000 people. The UN recently announced that it has stopped tracking the mounting death toll.
TRUMP URGES US TO STAY OUT OF SYRIAN CIVIL WAR, BLAMING OBAMA FOR FAILURE AS ISLAMISTS CLOSE IN ON CAPITAL
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Egyptian and Jordanian officials urged Assad to flee Syria and form a government-in-exile. Jordan’s government denied the report.
In 2015, Assad’s regime was teetering when Russia intervened to save the dictatorship. The U.S.-sanctioned Lebanese terrorist movement, Hezbollah, and its main sponsor, Iran, both threw their weight behind Assad’s regime.
The rebel forces who routed Assad’s forces—with the swift capture of the major Syrian cities of Aleppo, Hamas, and Homs—jolted both Putin and Iran. Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion of its territory has weakened Moscow. Israel has inflicted a number of aerial attacks on Iran’s military infrastructure since Tehran’s ally, Hamas, launched a surprise attack against the Jewish state on October 7, 2023.
The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2254 in 2015, which called for a cease-fire, UN-run elections and a new constitution. Assad rejected the resolution’s implementation.
After Assad launched a shocking mass chemical weapons strike on Syrian civilians in 2013, in which more than 1,400 people were killed, former President Obama’s administration reneged on its promise to take military action against Assad.
The origin of Assad’s forced departure can be traced back to a group of schoolboys in the southwestern dusty city of Daraa—the cradle of the Syrian revolt—in 2011. The young boys used cans of graffiti to write on a concrete wall: “The people / want / to topple the regime!”
Assad’s cousin, Gen. Atef Najeeb, oversaw an operation that involved reported torture of the arrested 15 boys between the ages of 10 and 15. Syrian officials ripped the boy’s fingernails out and burned and beat them.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Iconic Notre Dame cathedral reopens for the first time since 2019
Paris’ iconic Notre Dame cathedral reopens five years after it was nearly destroyed by a devastating fire five years ago. 1,500 dignitaries, including sitting heads of states and royal figures attended the historic ceremony.
The iconic Notre Dame cathedral rises from the ashes.
The gothic architectural masterpiece was closed for five years, undergoing restoration work after a devastating fire almost destroyed it in 2019.
The restoration, a remarkable achievement in just five years for a structure that took nearly two centuries to build was seen as a moment of triumph for French President Emmanuel Macron, who championed the ambitious timeline. It’s a moment of respite air for Macron who’s been battling domestic political challenges, after the collapse of his country’s government just a few days ago.
The celebration was attended by 1,500 dignitaries, including US President-elect Donald Trump, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US First Lady Jill Biden and Prince William of Britain’s Royal Family.
The ceremony was initially planned to begin on the forecourt was moved inside due to bad weather. But the unusually harsh December winds howling could not stop the Notre Dame’s resurrection. But nothing could diminish from the significance of the moment, as choirs sang psalms inside the luminous nave, and the cathedral’s organ, silent for nearly five years, erupted with an interplay of melodies.
Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich opened the ceremony with three resounding knocks on the cathedral’s doors, wielding a specially designed crosier carved from the fire-scorched beams. And just like that, the cathedral was officially reopened for worship.
Observers and attendees see the event as Macron’s, who turned it into a diplomatic gathering, highlighting France’s ability to come together in unity on the international stage despite internal political chaos.
Outside the cathedral’s iconic western facade, the word “MERCI” (thank you in French) was projected
The French president reiterated his gratitude as he addressed the nation at the ceremony. He expressed his gratitude to firefighters and first responders; who saved the UNESCO accredited World Heritage Site from total collapse, and the personnel who worked tirelessly for years to bring the cathedral to its former glory.
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