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Border wars: Syria’s new authorities grapple with Lebanese smugglers Attempts to seal porous borders through which guns, drugs and fuel flowed in Assad times are turning local tensions deadly

Assad’s regime profited from a flow of weapons, drugs and fuel over the Lebanon border, and its ally Hezbollah relied on smuggling to receive weapons.

But since Assad fled, authorities in both countries have sought to reassert control.
@willchristou.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Syrian security forces execute 125 civilians in battle against Assad loyalists Battle in Latakia is marked escalation by Bashar al-Assad loyalists against Syria’s new Islamist-led government

About 125 civilians executed by govt forces according to Syrian Network for Human Rights, a monitor considered independent and credible

Interim president al-Sharaa called for govt forces to avoid attacking civilians or abusing prisoners
@willchristou.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

‘We are part of Syria’: Kurdish-led SDF fights for place in post-Assad future Militia keeping IS in check pressured by new regime in Damascus, emboldened Turkey and US unpredictability

Tunnels ten stories deep...how the Syrian Kurds hope to survive any Turkish onslaught - underground dispatch, from Kobani, Syria by my colleague @willchristou.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Defector who exposed Assad’s brutality calls for Syria sanctions to be lifted The former military officer, previously known only as ‘Caesar’, smuggled evidence of thousands of deaths out of the country

“Caesar” reveals his identity as Farid Nada al-Madhan. A former Syrian military officer who exposed evidence of mass torture and killing by the Assad regime, he now calls on the US to repeal a raft of sanctions.

By @willchristou.bsky.social for @theguardian.com.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Or at the very least not a source of misinformation

Control, censorship and ‘penalties’: inside the Assad regime’s propaganda arm For years reporters at Syria’s state news agency had to toe the line. As life in Syria grew harder, so did the their work

“They would tell you that the yoghurt was black and you were not allowed to say it’s white.” Fascinating @willchristou.bsky.social article on the journalists who worked for SANA, Syria’s longtime pro-Assad newswire (which has stopped publishing) www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

Syrian army withdraws from key city of Homs as rebels encircle Damascus Syria’s capital now cut off from Bashar al-Assad’s coastal strongholds as insurgents advance from north, south and east

Syrian rebel forces are starting to encircle Damascus. Gripping report by @willchristou.bsky.social on the extraordinary turn of events in Syria

‘He has come out an old man’: joy and grief as loved ones released from Assad prisons Family members describe renewed hopes after decades-long searches for political detainees in ‘Kingdom of Silence’

Moammar has been searching for his brother for 39 years, arrested by Syrian soldiers in Lebanon when he was 18. He hadn’t heard anything from him since.

Until Thursday, when his brother emerged from Hama prison as an old man, 39 years later.

www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

"I’m still waiting for the door to open and for him to enter. He promised me that we would grow old and we would go live in the south together – but now he stayed there and I will stay here, in Beirut, forever,” Sana, said of her husband Ghassan, who left behind a 3-year-old son.

The families of the three journalists - cameraman Ghassan Najjar and technician Mohammad Reda from al-Mayadeen, as well as cameraman Wissam Qassem from al-Manar - will never be the same. They join journalists Essam Abdullah, Farah Omar and Rabih al-Maamari all killed by Israel.

Head of ARI & IHL lawyer Nadim Houry said that the attack also fits a pattern of Israel expanding its definition of military targets to anyone who is affiliated w/groups like Hezbollah & Hamas, regardless, if they are civilians like journalists or medics. This is a violation of intl. law.

UN special rapporteur on press freedom Irene Khan said the attack in Lebanon "matches with the pattern of killings and attacks by Israeli forces on journalists in Gaza" ... which were part of "of a deliberate strategy by the Israeli military to silence critical reporting on the war."

The presence of drones, watchtowers, & presence of cars with press markers at the time of the strikes mean the Israelis should have known there were journalists in the chalets.

The use of a precision-guided bomb would imply they selected the chalet as a target anyway.

Shrapnel at the scene shows a 500-lb MK-80 series bomb, fitted w/US-made JDAM kit which turns it into a guided bomb, was used in the strike.

1st pic is a remnant of Boeing JDAM tailfin. 2nd pic is the control section, cage code 81873 reveals it's made by Woodward.

Israel likely knew they were journalists too. The journalists traveled to a hilltop every day to film, driving press cars and wearing press flak. Drones were also above the guesthouse

The site was in line of sight of 3 Israeli watchtowers, which have tracking capacity up to 10km

Israel said the chalet contained "military infrastructure" & "Hezbollah terrorists", then said it would review the incident after it came out that it killed journalists.

The Guardian found no evidence that any of the targeted journalists were anything but civilians.

On 2 October, 18 journos moved into guesthouses in Hasbaya, choosing the location for its safety & lack of affiliation w/Hezbollah.

On 25 Oct., one of the chalets was struck by Israel, killing 3 journalists & wounding 3 more as they slept.

Killing of journalists in Israeli strike could be a war crime, legal experts say Israel used US munition to target and kill three members of the press in Lebanon, Guardian investigation reveals

Breaking- A Guardian investigation can reveal Israel used a US munition to target & kill 3 journalists in south Lebanon on 25 Oct, a potential war crime.

Israeli surveillance tech & use of precision bomb means it likely knew it was targeting journalists.

www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...

A Lebanese soldier killed and 15 wounded in an Israeli strike on a checkpoint btwn Tyre and Naqoura.

Israel’s stated war is against Hezbollah — not the Lebanese state — but strikes have repeatedly killed Lebanese army.

This comes as Israeli troops begin to encircle Naqoura.

Can Lebanon’s army secure the south? A cease-fire deal could depend on it. The readiness of Lebanon’s army is a matter of growing urgency as the Biden administration makes a new push for an end to the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

“The readiness of Lebanon’s army is a matter of growing urgency as the Biden administration makes a new push for an end to the war between Israel and Hezbollah."

@kareemf.bsky.social Suzan Haidamous and I report for @washingtonpost.com with photos by Ed Ram

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...

40 killed and 50+ injured in Israeli air strikes on Baalbek alone today.

Now that US envoy has left, the drones are back in Beirut, the bombing in Dahiyeh has resumed and the number of dead is rising once again.

As both Israel & Hezbollah said, negotiations will occur ‘under fire.’

The sound of two strikes in central Beirut, just now. The third strike in Beirut in two days after weeks of calm in the capital city.

This comes as Lebanon objects to certain provisions of Israel’s ceasefire draft.

‘Israel is trying to terrorise people’: Lebanon’s civil defence reels after deadly strike After 20 people including 15 first responders killed in Douris, rescuers ask why state service was targeted

An Israeli strike on a civil defence center outside of Baalbek on Thursday left medics grasping for answers.

For two months, Lebanese medics in the south were subject to Israeli bombing — now it seems to be Baalbek’s turn.

www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...

An Israeli airstrike hit the water company in the city of Tyre, one of dozens of strikes on civilian infrastructure in south Lebanon which have rendered the region near uninhabitable.

Tyre’s Mukhtar — a municipal official — was also killed in the strike.

Israel’s military claims that Mohammed Afif, the head of Hezbollah’s media unit it assassinated today, helped plan military operations.

This seems meant to counter what others are calling an escalation by Israel — by killing a senior non-military Hezbollah official today.

The target of the strike seems to be the head of Hezbollah's media office, Mohammed Afif.

Israel just struck the headquarters of the Ba’ath party in Ras Al Nabaa, Central Beirut. It is the first strike in Beirut proper in over a month.

Unclear why Israel struck the Ba’ath party, whose role in the Israel-Hezbollah war has been negligible.

Anger in Lebanon at large number of rescue workers killed by Israel Attacks on Thursday night bring total number of emergency workers killed by Israel in Lebanon to more than 200

Israeli airstrikes have killed 200+ rescue workers in Lebanon since the Israel-Hezbollah war started a year ago. Thursday, a strike on civil defence in Douris killed 15 rescuers.

“What did we do? What sins did we commit, what did my friends do to deserve this?"

www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...