Author: Anadolu Agency
A Palestinian man who spent 17 years in Syrian prisons under the Baath regime says he feels “reborn” after his release. Ibrahim Farahat, 75, was freed after the collapse of the regime in December. Once held in notorious detention centers like Sednaya Prison, Farahat reunited with his family in Yamun, near Jenin in the occupied West Bank. His release was met with celebrations by relatives and local residents. Speaking to Anadolu, Farahat recalled his ordeal, the harsh conditions of imprisonment, and his unexpected freedom. “When I was released, I could only think about how to return to my family,” he…
At least 77 more Palestinians were killed in relentless Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, bringing the overall death toll since October 2023 to 45,658, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Friday. A ministry statement added that some 108,583 others were injured in the ongoing assault. “Israeli forces killed 77 people and injured 145 others in eight massacres of families in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said. “Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added. Israel has continued a genocidal war on the Gaza…
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday said that Türkiye’s righteous position on Gaza will be vindicated by history just as it was in Syria. “Just as we have been proven right in the case of Syria, history will attest to our righteousness in the Gaza crisis as well,” President Erdoğan said at a Türkiye Exporters Assembly event in Istanbul. He said Türkiye’s commitment to justice, peace, and compassion will be proven to be the right approach. Bashar Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath…
The US State Department approved the possible sale of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles and related equipment to Japan, the Pentagon said Thursday. The estimated cost of the sale is $3.64 billion. “The proposed sale will improve Japan’s capability to meet current and future threats by defending its homeland and U.S. personnel stationed there. Japan will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces,” it said in a statement. The principal contractor will be RTX Corporation, located in Tucson, Arizona. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of the possible sale on Thursday.
Malaysia on Friday “unequivocally” condemned “incessant and targeted” Israeli attacks on civilians in Gaza. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said deliberate targeting of hospitals, including the most recent “devastating assault” on Kamal Adwan Hospital, where patients and medical staff were forcibly removed, “clearly” violates international humanitarian law and UN resolutions. “The relentless airstrikes, forced evacuations and systematic targeting of residential areas and designated safe zones are clear acts of genocide,” the statement said, adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “obstructionist tactics have stalled meaningful progress in ceasefire negotiations” and exacerbated suffering of Palestinians. The ministry called on the international…
Several members of the UN Security Council on Friday expressed concern over Israeli attacks on the hospitals in the Gaza Strip. “The deliberate targeting of hospitals medical personnel, patients and wounded defies every principle of humanitarian law and has no justification,” Asim Iftikhar, Pakistan’s envoy to the UN told a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East. The meeting came following last week’s raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital and the arbitrary arrest and detention of its director, Hussam Abu Safiya. Iftikhar said nowhere on earth is international humanitarian law being “trampled” as is the case in…
Türkiye’s exports hit a record high level of $262 billion during the last year, up by 2.5% on a yearly basis, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Friday. The country’s foreign trade deficit, which was at $106.3 billion in 2023, decreased to $82.2 billion, he said during an event in Istanbul. The export-import coverage ratio reached 76.1% in 2024, up 5.5 percentage points on a yearly basis, Erdoğan stressed. In December alone, the country’s exports rose by 2.2% to $23.5 billion, which is another record level, he added. The country’s imports in December rose by 11.1% to $32.3 billion, while…
The French and German foreign ministers met on Friday the leader of Syria’s new administration and called for an inclusive transition of power, in their first official visit to the war-torn country since the fall of the Assad regime in December. Jean-Noel Barrot and Annalena Baerbock were received by Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus. During the talks, Barrot and Baerbock “reaffirmed the desire for a peaceful and demanding transition, representative of Syrian society in its diversity,” according to a statement from the French Foreign Ministry. They expressed their commitment to supporting a broad-based transition process, with both ministers highlighting the inclusion…
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Friday expressed concern over ongoing Israeli attacks on health care facilities in the Gaza Strip. “A human rights catastrophe continues to unfold in Gaza before the eyes of the world,” Turk told a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East. Israel’s means and methods of warfare have killed tens of thousands of people, inflicted vast displacement and laid waste to the territory, he added. “The destruction of hospitals across Gaza goes beyond depriving Palestinians of their right to access adequate health care. Those hospitals provided sanctuary for thousands…
Seven Palestinians sustained injuries in an assault on Friday by illegal Israeli settlers on the town of Silwad, east of Ramallah, central occupied West Bank. The Palestinians sustained injuries as the settlers beat them using batons and hurled stones, the Health Ministry said. Their condition, however, is stable. Silwad’s mayor Raed Hamed told Anadolu that 40 armed settlers raided the town’s Nasiba area, assaulted the people, and set fire to at least five cars. Over the past few years, the Israeli military has conducted regular raids in the West Bank, which have escalated with the beginning of the war on…