Netanyahu won’t allow HTS forces in southern Syria; massive crowd mourns slain Hezbollah leader

Hundreds of thousands of people bid farewell to Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah at a mass funeral in Beirut on Sunday, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a stunning blow to the Iranian-backed group.

Israel sent tanks into the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years on Sunday as it ordered the military to prepare for an “extended stay” to fight Palestinian militant groups in the area’s refugee camps.

Israel won’t allow HTS forces in southern Syria, says Netanyahu

Israel on Sunday said it would not tolerate the presence of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in southern Syria, nor any other forces affiliated with the country’s new rulers, and demanded the territory be demilitarised.

Former Al Qaeda affiliate HTS took control of Damascus on 8 December in a stunning offensive, ending then-president Bashar al-Assad’s rule and prompting a wary Israel to move forces into a UN-monitored demilitarised zone within Syria.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would keep its positions there as a defensive measure and for as long as necessary.

“We will not allow forces of the HTS or the new Syrian army to enter the territory south of Damascus. We demand full demilitarisation of southern Syria, in the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa and Sweida,” said Netanyahu at a military graduation ceremony.

“And we will not tolerate any threat to the Druze sect in southern Syria,” he added. The Druze, who practise an offshoot of Islam, are a minority group in Syria as well as Israel.

Syria has demanded Israel withdraw its forces from the country. The UN says Israel’s move into Syrian territory is a violation of international agreements and has also called for the troops to be withdrawn.

Massive crowds mourn Hezbollah’s slain leader Nasrallah

Hundreds of thousands of people bid farewell to Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah at a mass funeral in Beirut on Sunday, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a stunning blow to the Iranian-backed group.

Carrying pictures of Nasrallah and Hezbollah flags, supporters from Lebanon and other countries in the region filled the 55,000-seat Camille Chamoun Sports City stadium in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut.

After a ceremony, they joined a funerary procession outside the stadium before burying Nasrallah nearby. A Lebanese security source estimated the crowd at about a million people.

The killing of Nasrallah, who led the Shi’ite Muslim group through decades of conflict with Israel and oversaw its transformation into a military force with regional sway, was one of the opening salvos in an Israeli escalation that badly weakened Hezbollah.

But the group’s current leader, Naim Qassem, whose address to mourners was broadcast on screens from an undisclosed location, said Hezbollah remained “strong”.

“We will not submit and we will not accept the continuation of our killing and occupation while we watch,” said Qassem.

Though Israel’s military has largely withdrawn from southern Lebanon, its air force is still striking what it says are Hezbollah positions across Lebanon and troops still hold five hilltop positions along the border.

Israeli troops also detained Lebanese civilians and Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon, and have the bodies of slain Hezbollah fighters in their custody.

Qassem said Hezbollah would exert pressure to get them returned home. He said Hezbollah considered Israel’s five positions an occupation and was relying on the Lebanese government to secure a full withdrawal through diplomacy.

“We choose to fire when we see fit and are patient when we see fit,” he said.

Israeli warplanes struck in Lebanon’s south and east on Sunday and flew low over Beirut twice during the funeral, prompting shouts of “Death to Israel”.

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said on X that the planes “above Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral are conveying a clear message: whoever threatens to destroy Israel and attacks Israel — that will be the end of him. You will specialise in funerals — and we will specialise in victories.”

Israel’s military published a video of what it described as footage of Nasrallah’s killing “in several simultaneous raids”. Black-and-white footage, which appeared to be shot from a military plane, showed buildings hit by around a dozen blasts in quick succession.

Among those at the funeral were Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, an Iraqi delegation including Shi’ite politicians and militia commanders, and a delegation from Yemen’s Houthis.

The mass funeral was aimed at showing strength after Hezbollah emerged battered from last year’s war with Israel, which killed most of its leadership and thousands of fighters, and wreaked destruction on south Lebanon.

Its weakened stature has been reflected in Lebanon’s post-war politics, with the group unable to impose its will in the formation of a new government and language legitimising its arsenal omitted from the new cabinet’s policy statement.

The impact on Hezbollah was compounded by the ousting of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria, severing a key supply route.

The funeral was also being held for Hashem Safieddine, who led Hezbollah for a week after Nasrallah’s death. He was killed in an Israeli strike before he had been publicly announced as Nasrallah’s successor.

After his death, Nasrallah was buried temporarily next to his son, Hadi, who died fighting for Hezbollah in 1997. His official funeral was delayed to allow time for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon under a US-backed ceasefire which ended last year’s war.

Israel sends tanks into West Bank

Israel sent tanks into the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years on Sunday as it ordered the military to prepare for an “extended stay” to fight Palestinian militant groups in the area’s refugee camps.

The move came as a fragile ceasefire in Gaza hit new hurdles after Netanyahu ordered a stop to the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees due to be freed under the truce, in retaliation for public displays of Israeli hostages handed over in exchange in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have already been displaced from their homes in the West Bank over the past month as the military has moved into the crowded refugee camps of flashpoint cities like Jenin and Tulkarm, cracking down on Iranian-backed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The camps, housing descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the birth of the state of Israel, have been strongholds of the militant groups for decades.

Defense Minister Katz said around 40,000 Palestinians had been moved from the camps which he said were now empty.

Netanyahu ordered the military to pick up the intensity of operations after a series of explosions on buses in transport depots close to Tel Aviv on Thursday. The blasts caused no casualties but revived memories of the suicide bombings on public transport that killed hundreds of Israelis during the Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, two decades ago.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the decision to deploy tanks in the northern West Bank.

“This is a dangerous Israeli escalation that will not lead to stability or calm,” he said.

The military said it had arrested 26 militants and confiscated three guns and additional weapons as it continued operations in the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps and extended them into Nablus, Qabatiya and Deir Qaddis in the south.

Troops have demolished houses and vital infrastructure, including digging up roads and disrupting power and water supplies and on Sunday, Israeli battle tanks could be seen moving into the West Bank from Israel towards Jenin.

Israel trying to evade ceasefire obligations, says Hamas

Hamas on Sunday condemned Israel’s decision to postpone the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, saying its claim that the hostages’ handover ceremonies are “humiliating” was false and a pretext to evade Israel’s obligations under the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

“Netanyahu’s decision reflects a deliberate attempt to disrupt the agreement, represents a clear violation of its terms, and shows the occupation’s lack of reliability in implementing its obligations,” said Ezzat El Rashq, a member of the Hamas political bureau.

Israel said earlier it was delaying the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners it had planned to free the day before until Hamas met its conditions, underscoring the fragility of the Gaza ceasefire accord.

Netanyahu’s office released a statement in the early hours of Sunday saying that Israel was waiting to deliver the 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees “until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies”.

Hamas’ El Rashq said the ceremonies did not include any insult to the hostages, “but rather reflect the humane and dignified treatment of them”, adding that the “real insult” was what the Palestinian prisoners were subjected to during the release process.

The Palestinian militant group official cited the tying of the hands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees and their blindfolding as examples of their humiliation at the hands of Israeli authorities.

Hamas has made hostages appear on stage in front of crowds and sometimes speak before they were handed over. Coffins with hostages’ remains have also been carried through crowds.

Israel’s announcement, which also accused Hamas of repeatedly violating the month-old ceasefire, came after the Palestinian militant group on Saturday handed over six hostages from Gaza as part of an exchange arranged under the truce.

The six hostages freed on Saturday were the last living Israeli captives due to be handed over during the first phase of the ceasefire. The bodies of four dead Israeli hostages were to be released next week.

 US expects phase two of ceasefire deal to proceed, says Witkoff

Trump’s Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday the US expected the second phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal to go forward and that he would visit the Middle East in the coming week.

Witkoff made the comments in a CNN “State of the Union” interview after being asked about Israel’s decision to postpone the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees and how he expected the ceasefire to be affected by developments in the region.

“We have to get an extension of phase one,” said Witkoff. “I’ll be going to the region this week, probably Wednesday, to negotiate that.”

Witkoff told CNN that Netanyahu was “well-motivated” and that Hamas could not continue to govern Gaza.

US ally Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians since October 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies. The assault internally displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and caused a hunger crisis.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on 7 October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Trump himself has faced international condemnation for his proposal to take over Gaza and permanently displace Palestinians there. Rights experts and the United Nations have called it a proposal for ethnic cleansing. DM

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