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Syria monitor says security forces ‘execute’ 52 Alawites after fierce clashes

A Syrian war monitor said  Friday said that security forces “executed” 52 members of the Alawite minority, a day after deadly clashes with gunmen loyal to toppled president Bashar al-Assad.Thursday’s violence saw the fiercest attacks on the country’s new authorities since Assad was ousted in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels in December.Restoring security has been one of the most daunting challenges facing the new authorities since Assad’s ouster, which ended more than 13 years of civil war sparked by his crackdown on pro-democracy protests.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “security forces executed 52 Alawite men in the towns of Al-Shir and Al-Mukhtariya in the Latakia countryside” based on videos it verified, as well as testimonies it received from relatives of the dead.The Observatory and activists released footage showing dozens of bodies in civilian clothing piled in the yard of a house, with blood stains nearby and women wailing.In another clip, men in military garb appear to order three people to crawl on the ground behind each other before opening fire on them at close range.AFP could not independently verify the images.Syria’s new authorities had earlier launched a sweeping security operation after Thursday’s clashes left at least 72 people dead.A curfew was imposed in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, heartland of the ousted president’s Alawite religious minority, until Saturday.Security forces began what official news agency SANA described as a “large-scale” operation in the two provinces, following the arrival of reinforcements.The operation “targeted remnants of Assad’s militias and those who supported them”, a security official cited by SANA said, as he called on civilians to “stay in their homes”.The defence ministry said it had sent reinforcements to the port cities of Latakia and Tartus.According to the Observatory’s latest toll, at least 124 people have been killed since the clashes erupted on Thursday.They include 72 people killed in the fighting, among them 36 members of the security forces, 32 gunmen and four civilians, the monitor said.The Britain-based Observatory also reported dozens of people wounded and others taken prisoner by both sides.Authorities have also imposed a curfew in Syria’s confessionally divided third city Homs.Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia, said that in “a well-planned and premeditated attack, several groups of Assad militia remnants attacked our positions and checkpoints, targeting many of our patrols” around the coastal town of Jableh.Kneifati said security forces would “work to eliminate their presence”.”We will restore stability to the region and protect the property of our people,” he said.SANA said that during their operation, security forces detained Ibrahim Huweija, a general who was “accused of hundreds of assassinations” under the rule of Assad’s father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad.- ‘Everyone’s afraid’ -Ali, a farmer living in Jableh, told AFP he saw “urban battles and street fighting”.”All night, we heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions,” he said.”Everyone’s afraid… we are trapped at home and we can’t go out.”Thursday’s clashes saw security forces conduct helicopter strikes after they clashed with gunmen loyal to Assad-era special forces commander Suhail al-Hassan in the village of Beit Ana.The strikes had prompted leaders of the Alawite community to call for “peaceful protests”, saying they had targeted “the homes of civilians”.Tensions had erupted after residents of Beit Ana, the birthplace of Suhail al-Hassan, prevented security forces from arresting a person wanted for trading arms, the Observatory said.Security forces subsequently launched a campaign in the area, resulting in clashes with gunmen, it added.The killing of at least four civilians during an operation in Latakia also sparked tensions, the monitor said on Wednesday.Security forces launched the campaign in the Daatour neighbourhood of the city on Tuesday after an ambush by “members of the remnants of Assad militias” killed two security personnel, state media reported.Islamist rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched an offensive that toppled Assad on December 8, when he fled to Russia with his family.Multiple high-ranking Assad loyalists have also fled since the former president’s ouster, but many others remain in the country.Syria’s new security forces have since carried out extensive campaigns seeking to root out Assad loyalists from his former bastions.Residents and organisations have reported violations during those campaigns, including home seizures, field executions and kidnappings.Syria’s new authorities have described the violations as “isolated incidents” and vowed to pursue those responsible.Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group led the rebel offensive, has since become interim president.Saudi Arabia, which Sharaa visited last month, reaffirmed its support for the new authorities, as did neighbouring Turkey.”Such provocations must not be allowed to become a threat to the peace of Syria and our region,” Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli posted on X.

Deposed king’s grandson makes low-key return to Egypt

Prince Muhammad Ali has left a comfortable life in Paris to fulfil an enduring dream — return to Egypt, where his grandfather Farouk once ruled as king, hoping to restore the family’s legacy.The 46-year-old businessman told AFP he was delighted to be in the “regained homeland” his family had left when a 1952 military coup ended more than a century of monarchy, bringing Gamal Abdel Nasser to power.”For some Egyptians, my return represents a form of historical reconciliation” between “royalist and republican Egypt”, said the heir apparent to the defunct monarchy, stressing that he harbours no political ambitions.After spending most of his life in France, he has made a quiet return to Cairo, encouraged by his wife, princess Noal Zaher of Afghanistan’s deposed royal family.But despite being born in Cairo, Muhammad Ali had to wait for years before he was finally able to secure an Egyptian passport in 2020.His father, Fuad II, Egypt’s last king, was determined that his son be born on Egyptian soil, even though the royal family had been banished.”It was my father’s ardent wish,” he said.Behind-the-scenes diplomacy and personal intervention by Morocco’s king at the time had convinced Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to grant an exception, allowing the deposed queen Fadila to give birth in Cairo — alone and in utmost discretion.”I became the first male member of the direct branch of the royal family to return to Egypt,” he recounted with a laugh.- ‘Shattered destiny’ -Muhammad Ali was issued no proof of nationality at birth — a fact he only discovered when he wanted to register his twin children, Fuad and Farah-Noor.”It was a shock when the Egyptian employee told me that I was not Egyptian and that I would have to prove that my father was,” he said.”He was the king, but apparently, that was not enough.”Though Fuad II had briefly been king as an infant — ascending the throne at just seven months old before the monarchy was finally abolished in July 1953 — he had no formal birth certificate proving his Egyptian nationality.Decades later, as Egypt has gradually shunned the Nasser-era vilification of the former monarchy, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi granted Fuad II a diplomatic passport in 2014 listing his profession as the “former king of Egypt”.”My father had a shattered destiny,” said Muhammad Ali.”Born a child king, he lost his kingdom and his throne. For him, Egypt was a lost homeland — for me, it is a regained homeland.”By birth, Muhammad Ali holds French citizenship through his mother Fadila, born Dominique-France Loeb-Picard.The family was also granted Monegasque nationality by Monaco’s Prince Rainier III after they had been left stateless following the 1952 revolution, which had ushered in an era of republican pan-Arabism.- Royal past revisited -In recent years, young Egyptians disconnected from the revolutionary fervour of the 1950s have become more aware of the country’s royal past.Television dramas, historical documentaries and online discussions have fuelled a more nuanced and sometimes nostalgic view of the ousted monarchy.Sisi’s government has also acknowledged the historical role of the royal dynasty — something that had previously been erased from public discourse, with the expection of its glorified founder Muhammad Ali Pasha.Returning to Egypt was always “a dream” for his family, said Muhammad Ali, who runs a real estate consulting firm in Paris.As remote work became more feasible, he said his wife “convinced me that it was time to take the leap”.”It was Noal who supported me and even pushed me,” he said.”She wanted to live in the east and for our children to grow up as close as possible to their roots.”Now in Cairo, alongside improving his Arabic, “I simply want to work on preserving and passing down the historical, cultural and artistic heritage of the Egyptian royal family,” said Muhammad Ali.”After all, it’s 150 years of history that deserves to be honoured.”

Egyptian-UK activist begins hunger strike in prison: family

Jailed Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah began a hunger strike at the start of the month after his mother was hospitalised more than 150 days into her own hunger strike, his family said on Friday.Abdel Fattah began refusing food at the Wadi al-Natroun prison “on Saturday, March 1 after hearing news that his mother had been hospitalised” in London, where she has been on hunger strike to put pressure on the British government to secure his release.Laila Soueif, 68, eased her hunger strike on Wednesday and agreed to consume 300 calories a day in liquids, after doctors warned her blood sugar and blood pressure had dropped to dangerously low levels.Soueif said she had been given “hope” after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer phoned Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi last week to press for her son’s release.Abdel Fattah was arrested in 2019 and later sentenced to five years in prison for “spreading false news” after sharing a Facebook post about alleged torture in Egyptian jails.Soueif launched her hunger strike in September last year, when her son’s sentence was meant to be completed.Authorities told the family they had decided not to count his two years in pre-trial detention — which normally counts towards jail sentences in Egypt.Abdel Fattah was last on hunger strike in 2022, when he survived on 100 calories a day for seven months, making headlines during a UN climate summit hosted by Egypt.”My family is devastated that Alaa is now on hunger strike in prison… (where) he gets very limited information while locked away,” Abdel Fattah’s sister Sanaa Seif said in a statement.”But I understand how desperate he feels in there, and the emotional toll he must feel while our mother is starving herself to try to get him out.”Egypt’s most prominent political prisoner has spent most of the past decade behind bars.Human rights groups have called on Sisi to pardon him.In 2022, Sisi relaunched a presidential pardons committee which has released a number of high-profile political prisoners, including Abdel Fattah’s lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer.The government has since freed hundreds of remand prisoners.It rejects human rights group estimates that tens of thousands of political prisoners remain behind bars.

Residents of Israel’s north slowly returning home after Hezbollah truce

On a lush green hilltop on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, Carmela Keren Yakuti proudly shows off her home in Dovev, which she fled more than 16 months ago over fears of a Hezbollah attack.”Now that everyone is back, it’s an amazing feeling,” said Yakuti, 40, standing on her freshly washed patio and breathing in the crisp country air. “It’s great here. We have a beautiful moshav, a beautiful view,” she added, referring to what Israelis call a small agricultural community. “It’s simply great to be back home.”On October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel triggered war in Gaza, Lebanon’s Hezbollah group declared its support for the Palestinian militants and began firing rockets into northern Israel.For their own protection, the Israeli military ordered Yakuti, her family, friends and neighbours to leave Dovev, and they were sent to live in a hotel in the city of Tiberius, further south.In total, the hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah displaced around 60,000 residents of northern towns and villages, according to official data.Half are yet to return home.On the Lebanese side, more than one million people fled the south of the country, around 100,000 of whom are still displaced, according to the United Nations.On November 27, 2024, after more than a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war during which Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon, a truce agreement came into force.Israeli authorities have said residents of northern border communities could return home from March 1.Yakuti, who retrained as a beautician during the time she was displaced, said she immediately packed up her belongings, bid farewell to the “kind” hotel staff and moved back into her two-storey home.From her living room and patio, she has a clear view of a Lebanese village that was emptied of its residents following evacuation calls issued by the Israeli army in September ahead of its ground offensive.”I’m not afraid and not shaking. The army did its job and carried out its work,” the mother of three said, adding: “I’m at peace with my decision to return here, and I wouldn’t give up my home and my moshav even if the war continued.”- Rockets, mortars -While many of Dovev’s residents were returning this week, the scene was not so joyous in other communities along Israel’s northern border.In the kibbutz community of Hanita, Or Ben Barak estimated that only about 20 or 30 families out of around 300 had come back.”At first, there was this kind of euphoria when they announced that we could return,” said Ben Barak, who counts his grandparents among the founders of the 97-year-old kibbutz.”But now people are also seeing that the place isn’t quite ready for living yet.”Ben Barak, 49, pointed out the multiple places where rockets and mortars had fallen, as well as the damage done by the heavy Israeli military vehicles such as tanks that passed through on their way into Lebanon.Asked if he was concerned about security now the war was over, Ben Barak said that what worried him more was “what will happen with the community. Who will come back, how they will come back, and how many will come back?””I believe that in Lebanon, the army fought very hard and did everything it needed to do, but the real question is how to maintain this quiet,” he said.”That’s the challenge — how to guarantee a peaceful life for the next 20 to 30 years. That’s the challenge for the state, and that will also determine whether people stay here.” Just down the hill from the still abandoned streets of Hanita, the town of Shlomi appeared to be returning to life.At Baleli Falafel, Yonatan Baleli stuffed pita with salad and tahini as a long line of hungry customers waited to blaring trance music.  “I feel much safer than before, but do I feel 100 percent safe? No,” said Ronit Fire, 54.”It’s not pleasant to say this, but it feels like it’s just a matter of time,” she said, adding that she believed there would be another war in the future. “The next time will come again at some point,” said Fire.

Syria new authorities expand fight against Assad loyalists

Syria’s new authorities launched a sweeping security operation Friday after clashes with fighters loyal to former president Bashar al-Assad, the biggest challenge to their rule so far, left at least 71 people dead.The violence saw the fiercest attacks on the country’s authorities since Assad was ousted in December in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels.Restoring security has been one of the most complex tasks for the new authorities since Assad’s fall, which ended over 13 years of civil war triggered by his crackdown on pro-democracy protests.A curfew was imposed in the coastal province of Latakia, the Assad clan’s former stronghold and home to a sizeable Alawite community, the same religious minority as the former president.Security forces began what official news agency SANA described as a “large-scale” operation in cities, towns and the mountains of Latakia and neighbouring Tartus, following the arrival of reinforcements.The operation “targeted remnants of Assad’s militias and those who supported them”, a security official cited by SANA said, as he called on civilians to “stay in their homes”.The defence ministry said it had sent reinforcements to the cities of Latakia and Tartus.According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights’ latest toll, the clashes killed 71 people over the past day, among them 35 members of the security forces, 32 gunmen and four civilians.The Observatory, a Britain-based monitor, also reported dozens of people wounded and others taken prisoner by both sides.The authorities also imposed curfews in Homs and Tartus.Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia, said that in “a well-planned and premeditated attack, several groups of Assad militia remnants attacked our positions and checkpoints, targeting many of our patrols in the Jableh area.”Kneifati said security forces would “work to eliminate their presence”.”We will restore stability to the region and protect the property of our people,” he said.SANA said meanwhile that security forces had detained Ibrahim Huweija, a general who was “accused of hundreds of assassinations” under the rule of Assad’s father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad.- ‘Everyone’s afraid’ -Ali, a farmer living in Jableh, told AFP he saw “urban battles and street fighting”.”All night, we heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions,” he added.”Everyone’s afraid… we are trapped at home and we can’t go out.”Thursday’s clashes saw security forces conduct helicopter strikes after they clashed with gunmen loyal to Assad-era special forces commander Suhail al-Hassan in the village of Beit Ana, also in Latakia.Tensions had erupted after residents of Beit Ana, the birthplace of Suhail al-Hassan, prevented security forces from arresting a person wanted for trading arms, the Observatory said.Security forces subsequently launched a campaign in the area, resulting in clashes with gunmen, it added.The killing of at least four civilians during a security operation in Latakia also sparked tensions, the monitor said on Wednesday.Security forces launched the campaign in the Daatour neighbourhood of the city on Tuesday after an ambush by “members of the remnants of Assad militias” killed two security personnel, state media reported.Islamist rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched an offensive that toppled Assad on December 8, when he fled the country to Russia with his family.Multiple high-ranking Assad loyalists have also fled since the former president’s ouster, but many others remain in the country.Syria’s new security forces have since carried out extensive campaigns seeking to root out Assad loyalists from his former bastions.Residents and organisations have reported violations during those campaigns, including the seizing of homes, field executions and kidnappings.Syria’s new authorities have described the violations as “isolated incidents” and vowed to pursue those responsible.Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist rebel group led the offensive that ousted Assad, has since become interim president and engaged in high-level contacts with governments around the world.Saudi Arabia, which Sharaa has visited in February, reaffirmed its support Friday for the new authorities, branding as “crimes” by “outlaw groups” the attacks on security forces.