A year on from the ousting of Assad

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  Damascus, Syria — “Hold your head high, you’re a free Syrian.” The refrain of this Arabic song—now widely embraced as the unofficial anthem of a new Syria—echoes throughout Damascus. It blares from market loudspeakers, rings out during celebrations in the central square, and is even sung by the man offering traditional coffee to new arrivals at the airport. For decades, many Syrians lived with lowered gazes under the authoritarian rule of the Al-Assad family. The regime maintained an expansive surveillance system in which the feared Mukhabarat , the intelligence network, kept the population in check. Remaining silent was often the safest choice—until the Arab Spring ignited an uprising, and Assad’s fierce response plunged the nation into a ten-year civil war. Today, Syrians are openly and energetically marking the first anniversary of what they regard as their liberation from Assad’s government. The celebration follows a rapid rebel offensive on December 8 last year, led by fo...
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Gaza aid deliveries still face Israeli roadblocks a week into ceasefire

 

Israel has continued to seal off Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt a week into the ceasefire, despite international appeals to allow large-scale aid deliveries. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks killed and wounded several Palestinians in northern Gaza.
 The United Nations has been warning for a few days that aid deliveries to Gaza have not made much progress and that, in order to meet urgent humanitarian needs, aid needs to enter Gaza on a large scale through all border crossings. Israel was to permit an increase in aid deliveries as part of the agreement to end Israel's genocide, which has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in two years.
The United Nations said on Friday that bombed-out roads and the ongoing closure of other important routes into the north of the enclave, such as Zikim and Beit Hanoon (called Erez in Israel), were making it difficult for aid convoys to reach the famine-ravaged areas of northern Gaza. The World Food Programme (WFP) said it has brought an average of 560 tonnes of food per day into Gaza since the ceasefire began last week, but the amount is still below what is needed.  According to the UN organization, it has enough food to feed Gaza for three months. To address widespread malnutrition, displacement, and a collapse in infrastructure, UN humanitarian affairs chief Tom Fletcher stated this week that thousands of aid vehicles would need to enter each week.
We are still below our needs, but we are getting there. "The ceasefire has opened a narrow window of opportunity, and WFP is moving very quickly to scale up food assistance," WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa stated at a Geneva news briefing.
The World Food Program, on the other hand, stated that it had not yet begun distributions in Gaza City, citing the ongoing closure of Zikim and Beit Hanoon and the presence of Israeli forces in the north of the enclave, where the humanitarian crisis is most severe. As part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, which calls for their gradual withdrawal, Israeli forces remain in approximately 53 percent of Gaza.
 “Access to Gaza City and northern Gaza is extremely challenging,” Etefa stated, adding that broken or blocked roads were hindering the movement of wheat flour and ready-to-eat food parcels from the south of the territory.
"Having these openings in the north is very important because this is where the famine started. To turn the tide on this famine … it is very important to get these openings.”
 Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF in French, is a global medical charity. It said that many relief organizations had not completely returned to the north, where hospitals are barely functioning, leaving many people still unable to get regular care. More Palestinians killed
 Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza have also continued unabated, despite calls for urgent aid. After an Israeli artillery strike struck a small bus carrying a displaced family on their way to inspect their homes east of Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood, the Gaza civil defense said its teams are conducting rescue efforts. According to the agency, the attack resulted in "several deaths and injuries." Attempts to reach the area continue, and while one injured boy was saved, the fate of the others is unknown "due to the danger at the site." Separately, the Wafa news agency reported that Israeli forces opened fire on three Palestinians in Khan Younis, a neighborhood in the southern Gaza Strip, inflicting varying degrees of injury. As it returned the body of one more Israeli late on Friday, Hamas insisted that it was committed to returning the captives' unaccounted-for remains beneath the rubble of Gaza. The armed wing of the group stated that it has turned over all of the bodies it was able to recover. It also stated that to return additional remains, heavy machinery and excavation equipment would need to be allowed into Gaza, where much of it has been destroyed by Israeli bombardment. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said there is “a clear disconnect” from what the Israeli government is demanding from an area that has been “reduced to rubble”.
 According to Mahmoud, Israel is creating "a challenge for the residents of Gaza who are experienced and have the expertise to search and to dig out bodies from under the rubble" because heavy equipment and machinery are being blocked by the Israeli military.


Location: Israel

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