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Thousands of people demonstrated on Tuesday across Syria’s coastal Alawite heartland in protest at recent attacks targeting the minority community, AFP correspondents said.The protests are the biggest in the Alawite region since the fall last December of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, who hails from the community, following an Islamist-led offensive.Since then, the community has been the target of attacks, while hundreds of people were killed in sectarian massacres in the area in March.Protesters in the port city of Latakia shouted slogans including “The Syrian people are one” and “To the whole world, listen to us, the Alawites will not bend”.Security forces were deployed in the city but did not intervene.”We are one united people. We want armed factions in the region to leave, justice for our martyrs on the coast, and the release of our prisoners… We don’t know what they are accused of,” said Joumana, 58, a lawyer, who declined to provide her family name.Demonstrations also took place in other coastal areas such as Tartus and Jableh, where hundreds of people held banners demanding “federalism” and “the liberation of prisoners”, an AFP correspondent said.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that 9,000 mostly Alawite former military personnel who had surrendered to the new authorities were still being held.Clashes broke out in Jableh between participants in the rally and a counter-demonstration by supporters of the authorities, and gunshots were heard, the correspondent said. A few people sustained minor injuries.Later on Tuesday, the Observatory said people vandalised Alawite properties and hurled insults at members of the community in Latakia.- ‘We demand federalism’ -The protests took place after a call on social media by the Supreme Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and Abroad.That appeal followed a wave of violence against the community in the central city of Homs after a Sunni Muslim Bedouin couple were killed on Sunday, with sectarian graffiti found at the site.After accusations emerged that Alawites were behind the killings, shops and houses were vandalised in districts home to the community, before authorities imposed a curfew and later said the killings were “a criminal act and not sectarian in nature”.Protester Mona, 25, said that “what happened in Homs is unacceptable”.”We demand freedom and security, an end to the killings and to kidnappings,” she said, also declining to provide her surname.”We want federalism for the Syrian coast,” she added.The Observatory for Human Rights recorded 42 demonstrations on Tuesday.The sectarian violence that tore through Syria’s Alawite heartland in March killed at least 1,426 members of the minority community, according to authorities, who said it began with attacks on government forces by Assad supporters.The Observatory said more than 1,700 people were killed.A UN commission found in August that the violence was “widespread and systematic”, with some cases amounting to war crimes.Syria’s new Islamist-led rule stoked fears among minority communities. In July, deadly sectarian clashes in the Druze-majority Sweida province killed more than 2,000 people, according to the Observatory.

Israel said on Tuesday it had received the coffin of a hostage held in Gaza, with the remains undergoing forensic examination to determine their identity.Prior to this latest handover, the bodies of three deceased hostages were still being held in the Gaza Strip — those of two Israelis and one Thai national.Hamas and its allies have been handing over the final hostages as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel that came into force on October 10.”Israel has received, via the Red Cross, the coffin of a fallen hostage,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.The coffin was handed over to the Israeli military and security services inside the Gaza Strip, then transferred to Israel where it was received in a military ceremony.The coffin was then taken to the National Centre of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv.An AFP journalist saw a white van, escorted by police vehicles and motorcycle outriders, going through the gates of the forensic centre.Police officers, lined up outside the gates, saluted.- ‘Difficult hour’ -“Upon completion of the identification process, formal notification will be delivered to the family,” Netanyahu’s office said.”The families of the fallen hostages have been updated accordingly, and our hearts are with them in this difficult hour.”The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned.”The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed it had “facilitated the transfer of one deceased to Israeli authorities, acting as a neutral intermediary”. Islamic Jihad’s armed wing said it had located the body of a hostage on Monday during search operations in the central Gaza Strip.A source in the Palestinian militant group, who requested anonymity, said the remains belonged to one of the last three hostages.- Fragile truce -The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.Militants took 251 people hostage during the attack.Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 69,775 people, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.At the start of the ceasefire, militants were holding 20 living hostages and 28 bodies of deceased captives.All the living hostages were released early in the ceasefire, while the return of the deceased hostages has dragged on, with Hamas blaming difficulties in getting to the bodies under the rubble.In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians.- Trio ‘must come back’ -Prior to Tuesday’s handover, the bodies of three hostages were still in Gaza.Dror Or, 48, was killed in the October 7, 2023 attack on his home in Beeri kibbutz and his body taken to Gaza. He was head chef and cheesemaker in the kibbutz dairy.Sudthisak Rinthalak, 43, was from Nong Khai province in northeastern Thailand. He worked in agriculture in Beeri. He was killed in the attack and his body taken to Gaza.Ran Gvili, 24, an officer in the Yasam elite police unit in the southern Negev region, was on medical leave. When he heard of the attack he decided to leave his home with his own gun. He died in the fighting at the Alumim kibbutz and his body was taken to Gaza.The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said on X: “Dror, Ran and Sudthisak must come back. We will not stop until they return.”Gvili’s sister Shira added: “I miss my brother terribly and want him to come back. We are exhausted. The constant fear that it simply won’t happen is tiring.”

Israel said the Red Cross had on Tuesday handed over the coffin of a hostage held in Gaza, adding that the remains would soon be taken for forensic identification.Prior to this latest handover, the remains of three deceased hostages were still being held in the Gaza Strip — two Israelis and one Thai national.Hamas and its allies have been handing over the remains of hostages as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel that came into force early last month.”Israel has received, via the Red Cross, the coffin of a fallen hostage,” handed over to the Israeli military and security services inside the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.”From there, it will be transferred to Israel, where it will be received in a military ceremony.”It will then be transferred to the Health Ministry National Centre of Forensic Medicine. Upon completion of the identification process, formal notification will be delivered to the family.”The families of the fallen hostages have been updated accordingly, and our hearts are with them in this difficult hour.”The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned.”The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed it had “facilitated the transfer of one deceased to Israeli authorities, acting as a neutral intermediary”. “This was done at the request of the parties, and with their agreement,” the ICRC said, adding that it was not involved in the recovery of the deceased.- Fragile truce -A source in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, who requested anonymity, confirmed the remains belonged to one of the last three hostages held by militants in the territory.Islamic Jihad’s armed wing said it had located the body of a hostage on Monday during search operations in the central Gaza Strip.At the start of the ceasefire, which came into effect on October 10, militants were holding 20 living hostages and 28 bodies of deceased captives.All the living hostages have since been released, while Israel awaits the remains of the last dead hostages.In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians.Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeatedly violating the terms of the ceasefire.Israel said earlier that the delay in handing over the remains since they were found on Monday was a “violation” of the truce.”Israel views with severity the delay in their immediate transfer,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “This constitutes a further violation of the agreement,” it added.The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 69,775 people, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

In a town near Jerusalem, a growing number of houses and businesses are receiving demolition and evacuation notices, and Palestinian residents link the drive to Israel’s approval of a major new settlement project.”This is a project of total destruction for the economy and the people. It will affect everyone,” said Yahya Abu Ghaliyeh, whose home in Al-Eizariya town was demolished by Israeli authorities earlier this year.Now, the 37-year-old’s car wash business is also due for demolition.The notices say the buildings were constructed without permits, and no official Israeli statement links the demolition orders to the settlement project.But Palestinian residents say such permits are nearly impossible to obtain from Israel, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967.They also link the impending demolitions to the E1 plan, one of the largest West Bank settlement projects ever approved by Israel.The project, which aims to build approximately 3,400 housing units, will connect Jerusalem with nearby Maale Adumim, one of the largest Israeli settlements in the West Bank.- E1 project -In August, Israel gave the green light to E1, a new construction project covering some 12 square kilometres (4.5 square miles) to the east of Jerusalem.The E1 plan has been condemned by several international leaders, with the UN chief’s spokesman saying it would pose an “existential threat” to a contiguous Palestinian state.The move would further separate east Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel and predominantly inhabited by Palestinians, from the West Bank.Excluding east Jerusalem, 500,000 Israelis live in settlements throughout the West Bank. These settlements are illegal under international law.The E1 project includes a new road between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, which would not be accessible from Al-Eizariya, even though it runs through the town.Khalil Tufakji, director of cartography at Jerusalem’s Arab Studies Society, told AFP the project would ensure that Palestinians “cannot use the roads designated for Israelis”, describing it as “apartheid between Arabs and Jews”.People travelling between Al-Eizariya and Jerusalem would have to take a circuitous route three times longer than the present journey, he said.- Lazarus tourism -Al-Eizariya, which has around 22,000 residents, is also known as Bethany: the town is home to the tomb and church of Lazarus, which draw half a million tourists annually, according to Mayor Khalil Abu Rish.Many Palestinians, especially from east Jerusalem, shop along its four-kilometre-long shopping street, he said.On Saturdays, people often flock to buy wedding outfits, tableware or sweets.”The project will harm tourism,” the mayor told AFP.Al-Eizariya is bordered to the west by the separation barrier built by Israel in the early 2000s.Last month, Israel installed a security gate at the town’s eastern entrance, one of nearly a thousand gates it has placed at the entrances of Palestinian villages, towns and cities recently.The Israeli military told AFP that it “issued demolition orders for several illegal buildings constructed in an unlicensed area that pose a threat to the area’s security.”Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at the Israeli anti-settlement organisation Ir Amim, said no official Israeli statement linked the demolition and evacuation notices in Al-Eizariya to the E1 project.But he believes Israel wants “to take over the land in Area C… which leads to increasing the number of settlers and displacing Palestinian communities.”Area C refers to the roughly 66 percent of the West Bank placed under Israeli civil and security control under the Oslo accords agreed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s.- ‘This is our land’ -Car wash owner Abu Ghaliyeh said: “They (the Israelis) only think of their own interests,” adding: “It’s as if the Palestinian community were livestock.””They don’t care if I end up sleeping in the open.”They are chasing away our livelihoods and that of our children,” added the father of five, who employs five people.”I’ve been here for 10 years, we built a customer base — how can they ask me to evacuate?”A few metres along the street, Naji Assakra said he received a demolition notice for his metal workshop as well, which he said supports six families.Mohammed Matar, a Palestinian Authority official tasked with combating settlement activity, predicted that E1 would trigger a major demographic shift in the area, with Israeli settlers becoming “twice as numerous as Palestinians”.Furthermore, “it will displace more than 24 Palestinian Bedouin communities, all of which rely on livestock”, he added, and therefore land for grazing.An Israeli court rejected an appeal filed by Israeli NGOs demanding the project’s annulment.For now, Abu Ghaliyeh insists on staying.”I do not intend to evacuate,” he said.”This is our land: Palestinian land.”