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Syria on Saturday announced the formation of a national commission for missing persons and another for transitional justice, more than five months after the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.Syria’s new authorities have pledged justice for victims of atrocities committed under Assad’s rule, and a five-year transitional constitution signed in March provided for the formation of a transitional justice commission.The fate of tens of thousands of detainees and others who went missing remains one of the most harrowing legacies of Syria’s conflict, which erupted in 2011 when Assad’s forces brutally repressed anti-government protests, triggering more than a decade of war.A decree signed by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and released by the presidency announced the formation of an independent “national commission for missing persons”.The body is tasked with “researching and uncovering the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared, documenting cases, establishing a national database and providing legal and humanitarian support to their families”.A separate decree announced the formation of a national commission for transitional justice to “uncover the truth about the grave violations caused by the former regime”.That commission should hold those responsible to account “in coordination with the relevant authorities, remedy the harm to victims, and firmly establish the principles of non-recurrence and national reconciliation”, according to the announcement.The decree noted “the need to achieve transitional justice as a fundamental pillar for building a state of law, guaranteeing victims’ rights and achieving comprehensive national reconciliation”.Both bodies will have “financial and administrative independence” and act over all of Syrian territory, according to the decrees signed by Sharaa.In December, an Islamist-led coalition toppled Assad after five decades of his family’s iron-fisted rule and nearly 14 years of brutal war that killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more.Tens of thousands of people were detained and tortured in the country’s jails, while Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons against his own people.Rights groups, activists and the international community have repeatedly emphasised the importance of transitional justice in the war-torn country.In March, Sharaa signed into force a constitutional declaration for a five-year transitional period.It stipulated that during that period, a “transitional justice commission” would be formed to “determine the means for accountability, establish the facts, and provide justice to victims and survivors” of the former government’s misdeeds.This week, prominent Syrian human rights lawyer Mazen Darwish told AFP that lasting peace in Syria depended on the country building a strong judicial system giving justice to the victims of all crimes committed during the Assad era.

Israel launched an intensified offensive in Gaza on Saturday aimed at “the defeat of Hamas”, with rescuers in the Palestinian territory reporting at least 32 killed by new Israeli strikes.The stepped-up campaign came amid growing international concern over worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza as an Israeli aid blockade wore on, and as a new round of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel got underway in Doha.Israel’s military said the operation marked “the expansion of the battle in the Gaza Strip, with the goal of achieving all the war’s objectives, including the release of the abducted and the defeat of Hamas”.UN chief Antonio Guterres, addressing an Arab League summit in Baghdad, said he was “alarmed” at the escalation and called for “a permanent ceasefire, now”.The summit’s final statement urged the international community “to exert pressure to end the bloodshed” and let in aid.Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 32 deaths had been recorded Saturday, more than half of them women and children.Spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP some people were still buried under rubble after the strikes, and that there were also reports of deaths and injuries elsewhere but rescuers were unable to reach the areas due to ongoing shelling.In Deir el-Balah, displaced Gazans sifted through belongings, some stained with blood, for whatever could be salvaged after overnight strikes hit their tents.”We woke up at half past two in the morning to the sound of a loud explosion that shook the entire area,” said Umm Fadi Quzaat.”There was blood and body parts everywhere.”Italy urged Israel to stop the strikes, while Germany said it was “deeply concerned”. European Council President Antonio Costa said he was “shocked by the news from Gaza”.Israel resumed its operations in the territory on March 18, ending a two-month truce in the war.- Protests -Thousands protested in London on Saturday against the war.”The situation in Gaza is worsening and worsening,” said one demonstrator, who gave his name as Laurens, adding that “more organisations and agencies are talking about genocidal violence”.While the Eurovision Song Contest final took place in Basel, Switzerland, pro-Palestinian protesters in the city upset at Israel’s participation clashed with police just before the country’s entrant took the stage.Israel’s Yuval Raphael, singing “New Day Will Rise”, survived the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war.In Tel Aviv, crowds of supporters and family members of Israeli hostages in Gaza turned out for a protest demanding a deal for the captives’ return.Levy Ben Baruch — the uncle of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who was recently released after direct talks between Hamas and the United States — said his nephew’s freedom offered a lesson for Israel’s leaders.”Edan’s return is a miracle — but also a reminder… that war is not needed to return (the hostages)! That we can talk. That we can bring everyone back,” he said in a statement released by the main organisation representing hostages’ families.- Doha talks -Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said Saturday that new talks on ending the war had begun in Doha “without any preconditions from either side”.Previous negotiations failed to secure a breakthrough, but the talks have been ongoing.The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said the renewed offensive had brought Hamas back to the table.Both sides have insisted on certain conditions in past talks, with Hamas saying disarmament was a red line and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unwilling to agree to a deal that would leave the group intact.Netanyahu’s Likud party said he had been “in continuous contact throughout the day with the negotiating team”, as well as with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and had ordered the negotiators “to remain in Doha for the time being”.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Saturday about “the situation in Gaza and their joint efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages”, a spokeswoman said.Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, however, argued against a deal, saying “now is not the time to pull back”, but rather to go in “with full force and finish the job — conquer, seize the territory, crush the enemy, and free our hostages”.- ‘Catastrophic’ -Israel has faced increasing pressure to lift its aid blockade, as UN agencies warn of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines.Marwan Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, said the situation was “catastrophic after its surroundings were targeted again this morning”.The hospital was “unable to receive any more critical cases” amid “a severe shortage” of blood units, medicine and supplies, he said.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 3,131 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,272.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators clashed with riot police in Basel as the Swiss city hosted the Eurovision Song Contest Saturday, AFP journalists at the scene witnessed.Protesters demonstrating against Israel’s participation in the contest while it ramps up its war in Gaza clashed briefly with police in the centre of the city shortly before Israel’s Eurovision entrant Yuval Raphael took to the stage at the St. Jakobshalle venue across town.Blows were exchanged and police used tear gas and rolled in a water cannon truck as they strived to block demonstrators from marching through the centre of the northern Swiss city, thronging with Eurovision fans.According to Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS, the confrontation began when police intervened to stop an altercation after two men rushed towards the protesters waving Israeli flags.Israel’s National Security Council issued a warning to Israelis in Basel about the demonstration, advising them to “avoid confrontations with demonstrators and to keep Israeli identifiers low-profile in public spaces”.Amid a sea of Palestinian flags, hundreds of demonstrators, many wearing Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, carried signs stating: “No Music for Murder”, “Stop Genocide”, and “Singing while Gaza Burns”.Some of the protesters burned giant Israeli and US flags, while others set off red and green smoke in the air.One woman, her face smeared with red, cradled a seemingly bloody bundle representing the children dying in the war raging in the Gaza Strip as police in riot gear looked on.At a time when Israel is dramatically ramping up the brutal war in Gaza, the protesters were demonstrating against the participation of the Israeli act, which is among the favourites in Saturday’s final.Raphael survived the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, hiding beneath dead bodies as Hamas gunmen attacked a music festival, killing hundreds.During her performance of her song “New Day Will Rise” on Saturday, loud whistles could be heard in the arena, according to an AFP photographer in the hall.There have been a number of smaller protests against Israel throughout Eurovision week in Basel, and demonstrators interrupted Raphael’s act during a dress rehearsal for one of the semi-finals.Earlier this week, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said it had filed a police complaint after filming a protester apparently making a “throat-slitting gesture” at the country’s delegation during the Eurovision opening ceremony parade on Sunday.Israel launched an intensified offensive in Gaza on Saturday aimed at “the defeat of Hamas”, the Islamist militant group that launched a deadly attack on Israel in October 2023.The stepped-up campaign in the war that has already left tens of thousands dead came amid growing international concern over worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where an Israeli aid blockade continues to restrict aid.

With its golden sand and blue waters, the beach front in central Israel looks much like any other stretch of Mediterranean coast, but a closer look reveals something unusual peeking through the rippling surf: black shark fins.The sharks are attracted to this patch of water in Hadera during the cold season because of the warmth generated by the turbines of a nearby power station.This has provoked an adrenaline-filled coexistence between the increasingly bold ocean predators and the curious, sometimes even careless, humans who come to swim.Last month, a man who got a little too close was mauled to death as spectators on the beach screamed in terror.All that was left were his bones, rescuers told AFP.Now, bathers, authorities, and environmental and shark experts are asking how such an event, never seen before in Israeli waters, happened and what can be done to prevent it in the future.”Sharks do not harm and never normally attack unless they feel either threatened or if somebody’s getting into their territory,” Irene Nurit Cohn, a member of rescue agency Zaka’s scuba unit and a seasoned diver, told AFP. “I’ve been diving since 1982. I’ve seen many sharks in my life, it has been thrilling and beautiful to watch sharks… but they’re not, and I repeat, they’re not dangerous,” she said.Cohn, who was part of the team that searched for the remains of Barak Tzach, a 45-year-old father of four, added that it was the people visiting the unique site who were “not behaving as they should.””People were touching them and disturbing them,” she said, adding that recent media coverage had drawn even more people to the beach.- ‘It’s dangerous’ -Immediately after the deadly attack, the local authority erected metal fences with “danger” signs and blocked an access road into the adjacent nature reserve with a cement barrier. Two weeks later, those had been removed, and life at the beach was back to normal.Friends Einav and Carmel, teenagers from a nearby town, appeared largely undeterred by the recent death. They had come specifically to see the sharks.”Sharks are my favourite animals and so I really wanted to see them, but we said that we will not go inside (the water) because it’s dangerous,” said Carmel.Matan Ben David, a spear-fishing and diving instructor who said he has continued to enter the water, said swimmers should keep a distance and adhere to the rules of the sea.”Sharks are part of nature, something we have to respect, we have to respect the ocean, we’re just visitors here,” he said, describing how he had witnessed people crowding the sharks and taking photographs.”Sharks are an incredible animal, very majestic but they’re an alpha predator and, at the end of the day, a lot of people do not always follow best practices,” Ben David noted.Like all unsupervised beaches in Israel, the one where the fatal attack took place was off-limits to swimming — a ban that is widely flouted.- Human-wildlife conflict -Leigh Livine, a shark researcher who has been monitoring this area for the past four years, said that initially, research showed “the sharks were staying away from direct conflict with the humans entering the water.”But “you have a very, very small space that you see this human-wildlife conflict really coming out at certain times of the year.”Livine said the sharks were a combination of Dusky and Sandbar sharks and that they were present in the area between November and May. But with temperatures rising each year due to climate change, “you have a lot more bodies in the water coming into conflict with the sharks.”Livine said she was shocked by last month’s attack but, with interaction between the sharks and humans increasing, was surprised “that something hasn’t happened sooner.””It usually comes down to a conflict of space, either food resources, space resources, and we’ve been seeing humans harass the sharks, really provoking them,” she said.

Three Iranian men appeared in a London court Saturday charged with spying for Iran’s intelligence services, as the UK interior ministry said they had arrived “by irregular means including small boats”.Home Secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to boost national security powers following the charges, which come amid heightened concerns about Iranian activities on UK soil.In October, the head of Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service revealed that since 2022 the UK had uncovered 20 Iran-backed plots posing “potentially lethal threats”.”Iran must be held to account for its actions,” Cooper said.The UK needed to “strengthen our powers to protect our national security as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil”, she added.The three men were all remanded in custody following a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London.The BBC reported they were accused of targeting UK-based journalists working for the Farsi-language Iran International television news network, an independent media organisation based in London. Iran has labelled the outlet a terror organisation.The Home Office said the suspects were all irregular migrants having arrived by small boat or other means, such as hidden in a vehicle, between 2016 and 2022.They were arrested on May 3 and named as Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, all living in London. The alleged spying activity took place from August 2024 to February 2025, according to police. “These are extremely serious charges,” said Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter-Terrorism command, adding it had been a “very complex and fast-moving investigation.” All three were charged with “engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between 14 August 2024 and 16 February 2025,” the police said.”The foreign state to which the charges relate is Iran,” the police added in their statement.- ‘State threats’ -Sepahvand was also charged with “surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research… intending to commit acts, namely serious violence against a person in the United Kingdom.”Manesh and Noori were also charged with “surveillance and reconnaissance with the intention that acts, namely serious violence against a person in the United Kingdom, would be committed by others.”A fourth man was arrested on May 9 as part of the investigation, but has now been released without charge, the police added in their statement.The National Security Act gives law enforcement greater powers to disrupt “state threats” including foreign interference and espionage.In March, Iran became the first country to be placed on an enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which aims to boost the UK’s national security against covert foreign influences.The measures, due to come into place later this year, will mean that all people working inside the UK for Iran, its intelligence services or the Revolutionary Guard would have to register or face jail.Five Iranian nationals were also arrested on May 3 in a separate investigation.Police said on Saturday four of the men — who had been held on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act — had been released, although the investigation “remains active and is ongoing”. The fifth was earlier bailed to an unspecified date in May.

Arab leaders meeting Saturday at a summit in Baghdad urged the international community to press for a Gaza ceasefire, as Israel launched an expanded military offensive in the Palestinian territory.In a joint final statement, Arab League members also called for funding to back their Gaza reconstruction plan, after US President Donald Trump reiterated a proposal to take over the strip.The Arab leaders called “on the international community… to exert pressure to end the bloodshed and ensure that urgent humanitarian aid can enter without obstacles all areas in need in Gaza.”They added that they “firmly” rejected any plans to displace Palestinians. It came hours after Israel’s military launched a new Gaza offensive, saying it was part of “the expansion of the battle in the Gaza Strip” aimed at defeating Palestinian militant group Hamas.Appearing at the summit as a guest, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez appealed for increased pressure “to halt the massacre in Gaza”.Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged his US counterpart Donald Trump to “apply all necessary efforts… for a ceasefire”.United Nations chief Antonio Guterres told the summit that “we need a permanent ceasefire, now”.Guterres said he was “alarmed by reported plans by Israel to expand ground operations and more”.”We reject the repeated displacement of the Gaza population, along with any question of forced displacement outside of Gaza.”During a press conference, he urged an end to Israel’s aid blockade on Gaza.”A policy of siege and starvation makes a mockery of international law,” Guterres said.- ‘Unacceptable number’ -Sanchez, who has sharply criticised the Israeli offensive, said world leaders should “intensify our pressure on Israel to halt the massacre in Gaza, particularly through the channels afforded to us by international law”.He said his government planned a UN resolution demanding an International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s war methods.The “unacceptable number” of war victims in Gaza violates the “principle of humanity”, he said.The summit came days after a tour of the Gulf by Trump, who has sparked uproar by declaring the United States could take over Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.The scheme that included the proposed displacement of Palestinians was widely condemned, and prompted Arab leaders to come up with an alternative plan to rebuild the territory at a March summit in Cairo.During his visit to the region, Trump reiterated that he wanted the United States to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone”.Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told the summit his country backed the creation of an “Arab fund to support reconstruction efforts” after crises in the region.He pledged $20 million to reconstruct Gaza and a similar amount for Lebanon, after an all-out war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah.Israel has continued to launch strikes on Lebanon despite the November 27 truce.- Syria -Iraq only recently regained a semblance of normality after decades of devastating conflict and turmoil, and its leaders view the summit as an opportunity to project an image of stability.Baghdad last hosted an Arab League summit in 2012, during the early stages of the civil war in neighbouring Syria, which in December entered a new chapter with the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.In Riyadh this week, Trump met Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a onetime jihadist whose Islamist group spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad.He also said he would lift sanctions on Syria, which were mainly imposed during Assad’s rule.Arab leaders welcomed the decision and said the sanctions impacted Syria’s reconstruction efforts.Sharaa, who was imprisoned in Iraq for years after the US-led invasion of 2003 on charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda, missed the Baghdad summit after several powerful Iraqi politicians voiced opposition to his visit.Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani represented Syria, one of many countries to send ministerial-level delegations instead of leaders.

Israel’s military said it killed a local Hezbollah commander on Saturday in south Lebanon, where authorities reported one dead in the fourth Israeli strike within days despite a November ceasefire.Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli “drone strike” on a vehicle in south Lebanon’s Tyre district.An AFP correspondent saw the charred wreckage of a vehicle in Abu al-Aswad, an area around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border.The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces “struck and eliminated… a commander” involved in “the re-establishment of Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” in south Lebanon.Israel has continued to launch strikes on its neighbour despite the November 27 truce which sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah militants including two months of full-blown war.The Israeli military said that “the rebuilding of terrorist infrastructure and related activity constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”Earlier this week, the Israeli military said three separate strikes in south Lebanon targeted Hezbollah operatives.Under the ceasefire, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was to pull back its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.Israel was to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems “strategic”.The Lebanese army has been deploying in the area as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure there.At an Arab summit in Baghdad on Saturday, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced “daily Israeli violations” of Lebanese sovereignty and “the ongoing Israeli occupation of positions” in the south.He said Lebanon was working to “fully implement” a United Nations Security Council resolution that formed the basis of the ceasefire.The resolution says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.Salam again urged international pressure “to oblige Israel to stop its attacks and immediately and fully withdraw from all Lebanese territory”.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday called for increased pressure “to halt the massacre in Gaza”, speaking at an Arab League summit hours after Israel announced an intensified operation in the besieged Palestinian territory.UN chief Antonio Guterres told the Baghdad meeting that “we need a permanent ceasefire, now”, while Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged his US counterpart Donald Trump to “apply all necessary efforts… for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip”.The summit comes straight after a Gulf tour by Trump, who sparked uproar earlier this year by declaring that the United States could take over Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.The scheme that included the proposed displacement of Palestinians prompted Arab leaders to come up with an alternative plan to rebuild the territory at a March summit in Cairo.Guterres said that “we reject the repeated displacement of the Gaza population, along with any question of forced displacement outside of Gaza.”The UN secretary-general also said he was “alarmed by reported plans by Israel to expand ground operations and more”.The Israeli military said it had launched “extensive strikes” on Saturday as part of the “initial stages” of a fresh offensive, more than 19 months into the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.Sanchez, who has sharply criticised the Israeli offensive, said world leaders should “intensify our pressure on Israel to halt the massacre in Gaza, particularly through the channels afforded to us by international law”.He said his government planned a UN resolution demanding an International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s war methods.The “unacceptable number” of war victims in Gaza violates the “principle of humanity”, he said.Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told the summit that his country backs the creation of an “Arab fund to support reconstruction efforts” after crises in the region.He pledged $20 million to the reconstruction of Gaza and a similar amount for Lebanon.Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said the Baghdad meeting would endorse previous Arab League decisions on Gaza’s reconstruction countering Trump’s widely condemned proposal.During his visit to the region this week, Trump reiterated that he wanted the United States to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone”.- Syria, Iran -Iraq has only recently regained a semblance of normality after decades of devastating conflict and turmoil, and its leaders view the summit as an opportunity to project an image of stability.Baghdad last hosted an Arab League summit in 2012, during the early stages of the civil war in neighbouring Syria, which in December entered a new chapter with the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.In Riyadh, Trump met Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a onetime jihadist whose Islamist group spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad.Sharaa, who was imprisoned in Iraq for years after the US-led invasion of 2003 on charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda, missed the Baghdad summit after several powerful Iraqi politicians voiced opposition to his visit.Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani represented Damascus instead.The summit also comes amid Iran’s ongoing nuclear talks with the United States.Trump has pursued diplomacy with Iran as he seeks to avert threatened military action by Israel — a desire shared by many of the region’s leaders.On Thursday, Trump said a deal was “getting close”, but by Friday, he warned that “something bad is going to happen” if the Iranians do not move fast.