Israel continues airstrikes across Syria, targeting military arsenals

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Damascus, Dec 16 (IANS) Israeli warplanes launched multiple airstrikes, targeting former military arsenals across Syria, according to a war monitor.

The latest raids hit missile bases in Battalion 107 near Zama and weapons warehouses in rural Tartus, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday.

Earlier on Sunday evening, an Israeli jet reportedly struck radar installations at the Deir Al-Zour Military Airport in eastern Syria.

Earlier on Sunday, Israeli aircraft targeted former munitions depots dug into mountains in Rural Damascus, causing a series of powerful explosions.

There were no reports of casualties.

These attacks are part of an ongoing military campaign by Israel that began on December 8, targeting any remaining military capabilities linked to Syria’s former leadership, as the country’s new authorities are working to stabilise the country’s security situation.

Israeli troops entered the United Nations-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights last weekend in a move the UN said violated the 1974 armistice agreement.

The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Israel launched 61 missiles at Syrian military sites in less than five hours overnight, striking military warehouses in Homs, Deraa, Suwayda, and the Qalamoun mountains near Damascus, as well as air defences at the Hama airport.

The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and de-facto head of Syria’s new administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said Israelis can no longer justify their recent actions in Syria, but added that his country was not in a position to be drawn into a new conflict.

“The Israelis have clearly crossed the disengagement line in Syria, which threatens a new unjustified escalation in the region,” al-Sharaa said, adding that despite the violation, “the general exhaustion in Syria after years of war and conflict does not allow us to enter new conflicts.”

“The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability,” he added.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country had “no interest in a conflict with Syria”, adding that Israeli actions in the country were intended to “thwart the potential threats from Syria and to prevent the takeover of terrorist elements near our border”.

Meanwhile, the US said on Saturday that it had made contact with HTS, despite the US having designated the group as “terrorist” in 2018.

“We’ve been in contact with HTS and with other parties,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters, without specifying how the contact took place.

Blinken and other diplomats from the Arab states and Turkey held talks on Syria in Aqaba, Jordan, on Saturday.

–IANS

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Delhi CM Atishi slams BJP leaders’ night stays in slums; panic reaction, says Sachdeva

New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) In the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections, Chief Minister Atishi on Monday hit out at the night stays by BJP leaders in slums as a “drama” for vote bank politics, a charge denied by the Opposition party.

Addressing the media, Atishi claimed that BJP leaders were distributing dresses and goodies in slums and making lists of voters for deletion from electoral rolls, while Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said this is an interaction exercise, especially with the youth, in slum clusters to understand their problems and solutions directly from them.

CM Atishi said, “If there is any well-wisher of slum dwellers in the city it is Arvind Kejriwal, an Indian Revenue Service officer who quit his job and served people while living, spending six months in a slum cluster in Seemapuri.”

“Don’t fall into the trap of BJP leaders, who will visit your slum and later get it demolished,” said CM Atishi, citing the example of Sunder Nursery cluster near Nizamuddin that was razed in 2023 winter soon after BJP leaders went there for interaction with dwellers.

CM Atishi advised slum dwellers to accept the goodies that leaders from other parties gift them but urged them to continue to vote for the AAP.

Reminding slum dwellers about the AAP government’s welfare schemes like free power, free water, free Mohalla Clinics, free education and free bus travel for women, CM Atishi said, “AAP MLAs and leaders consider slum dwellers as their family members whereas BJP is anti-poor.”

She cited the example of Rajinder Nagar slums that were recently put under virtual lockdown and covered with curtains during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Pusa area. “They consider slum dwellers as untouchables and do not want them to come close to them,” she said.

AAP MLA from Rajinder Nagar alleged slum dwellers who work as daily wagers, house helps and e-rickshaw drivers were facing hardships as large curtains had been put outside their homes and their movement was restricted like it was done during the G20 Summit last year.

Meanwhile, the BJP claimed the AAP was in a state of panic due to the fear of being exposed by the pathetic state of civic amenities in slums.

Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said, “We have understood what challenges slum residents are facing. We are committed to resolving them and ensuring that the upcoming BJP government in Delhi will improve their lives through DUSIB.”

BJP National General Secretary Dushyant Gautam said, “The BJP government, which will come to power in Delhi in February 2025, will serve the last person in the slums with the spirit of Antyodaya”.

BJP’s Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said, “We are not just seeking votes from slum dwellers but have built a relationship aimed at transforming their lives and educating their children.”

The AAP attack on the BJP’s slum night stay programme comes close to visits by the Opposition party’s leaders to 1,194 slum clusters in the past few days. Dwellers in about 750 city slums form a big chunk of voters and account for 30 per cent of the city’s population.

Delhi Assembly elections to pick a 70-member House are expected to be announced any day and are likely to be held in February.

–IANS

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TDP supports ONOE Bill, AIMIM calls it threat to regional parties

New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS) The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Tuesday expressed its “unwavering support” for the NDA’s ‘One Nation, One Election’ (ONOE Bill) in the Lok Sabha, while the AIMIM opposed the proposed legislation by calling it as a threat to regional parties.

Minister of State for Communications, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, on behalf of the TDP, hailed the Bill and cited reduced expenditure and logistical efficiency as its biggest advantage.

“News reports estimate that the Election Commission of India has spent more than Rs 6,000 crore on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and Rs 10,000 crore in the 2024 polls,” he said.

A draft report of the Law Commission of 2018 and Niti Aayog report of 2017 suggest that if elections are held simultaneously, the cost would reduce by up to 40 per cent, he said, adding that if Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are held in one go, the voter turnout would also increase by up to 7 per cent.

Pemmasani also claimed that ‘ONOE’ would also result in savings for political parties which spend over Rs 1 lakh crore.

He said continuity in governance would also get a boost if simultaneous polls are held.

“In the last six months, three elections were held for the state. How can the machinery continue to operate if elections are held continuously,” he said.

The MoS also highlighted the ill-effects of continuous political messaging through modern media tools, even if elections are held in a different part of the country.

Taking part in the discussion, Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) opposed the Bill and said the ONOE violates the right to democratic self-governance.

“If a legislative Assembly is dissolved and mid-term elections are held, then the tenure of that Assembly will not be for five years. This, in itself, is a violation of parliamentary democracy that envisages a tenure of five years for a legislature,” he said, calling the truncated tenure of an elected House a violation of the basic structure of the Constitution.

Hitting out at the proposal and calling it a provision to facilitate executive convenience, instead of Constitutional purpose, he said, “Parliament is not competent to make any law that violates any fundamental rights or the basic structure of the Constitution.”

Opposing the Bill, he said it will “finish off regional parties” and it has been brought in to only “massage the ego of the supreme leader”.

Owaisi warned that the Bill is based on a principle of “maximising political gain and convenience” and it will indirectly introduce a “presidential form of democracy”.

–IANS

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