Summary of the day
It is approaching 8pm in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza City, and 9pm in Damascus
Syrian insurgents have entered towns north of the country’s third largest city, Homs, sweeping along a highway that eventually leads to the capital, Damascus, in a lightning-fast advance that has shaken the Middle East
Militants spearheaded by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of the city of Hama on Thursday before moving south, swiftly capturing two key towns on the road south of the city before arriving in Al-Dar al-Kabera, a town five miles from the centre of Homs
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would continue to support Syria “with whatever is needed” as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces face a lightning rebel offensive
The Russian embassy in Damascus instructed Russian nationals to leave Syria, in a rare show of alarm. Moscow has remained a key ally of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, including providing military support
The escalation in fighting in Syria has displaced about 280,000 people in just over a week, the UN said on Friday, warning that numbers could rise to 1.5 million
Lebanon’s general security directorate said on Friday that the country is closing all land border crossing with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus. Jordan has closed its only passenger and commercial border crossing into Syria, the interior ministry said
US-backed Syrian Kurds have seizeed control of the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, two security sources told Reuters
Speaking to reporters outside a mosque in Istanbul, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, offered a message of support to the insurgency
Turkey confirmed it would meet Russian and Iranian foreign ministers for talks on the escalating Syrian civil war in Qatar on Saturday
Israel’s military has announced that as a result of developments in Syria it is “reinforcing aerial and ground forces in the Golan Heights area”, strategically valuable territory that it captured from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally claimed to annex in 1981
Israeli forces stormed into Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in north Gaza overnight on Friday and expelled some staff and displaced people before withdrawing, its director said
Four people have been wounded and one killed by Israeli security forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
And in the United States: Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy has held talks with senior officials from Israel and Qatar in efforts to facilitate a ceasefire in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages before Trump potentially returns to the White House, The Financial Times reports.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has met members of Hamas’s political bureau in Doha. The official X page of Turkey’s foreign ministry published these photographs from the meeting:
Minister of Foreign Affairs @HakanFidan met with the members of the Hamas Political Bureau, in Doha. pic.twitter.com/9racU6QNOX
— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) December 6, 2024
And in the United States: Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy has held talks with senior officials from Israel and Qatar in efforts to facilitate a ceasefire in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages before Trump potentially returns to the White House, The Financial Times reports.
Steven Witkoff, a New York real estate investor appointed by Trump as his regional envoy, met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani last month, according to the news outlet.
Sheikh Mohammed has been mediating negotiations between Hamas and Israel, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
During his visit to Baghdad, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s top diplomat, said that the lightning rebel offensive in Syria against its ally President Bashar al-Assad posed a threat to the whole Middle East.
“If Syria becomes a safe place for terrorists with the return of ISIS and other terrorist groups, it will create a great threat to the region,” Araghchi said, Agence France-Presse reports.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would continue to support Syria “with whatever is needed” as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces face a lightning rebel offensive.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported Syria and will continue to do so with all its might and with whatever is needed and requested by the Syrian government,” Araghchi said during a visit to Baghdad, Agence France-Presse reports.
Updated
At least three people are dead amid clashes between Druze militias and Syrian security forces in the southern city of Sweida, Reuters reports.
The anti-government fighters also took control of the main police station and the biggest civilian prison hours after hundreds of people protested in a main square demanding the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, activists told Reuters.
“People are seeing what is happening in the rest of Syria as liberation of Syria and a chance to bring down the regime,” activist Ryan Marouf, editor of Suwayda 24, a website that covers the province, told Reuters.
Local Syrian fighters and former rebels captured the Liwa 52 army base in Daraa province, near the town of Herak, as clashes escalated toward the country’s southern border with Jordan, two rebel sources told Reuters.
They also took control of parts of the Nassib border crossing near the customs area, where dozens of trailers and passenger vehicles were left stranded, the sources added.
The Israeli military denied reports that it had struck or entered the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, Agence France-Presse reports.
The Israeli military said it was operating “adjacent” to the facility.
“Contrary to the reports made over the past day, the (military) did not strike the Kamal Adwan hospital or operate within it”, it said in a statement.
It said it would “continue to operate against terror infrastructure and terrorists” in northern Gaza, including “adjacent to” the hospital.
Summary of the day so far …
It is approaching 6pm in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza City, 7pm in Damascus, and 7.30pm in Tehran. Here are the headlines …
Syrian insurgents have entered towns north of the country’s third largest city, Homs, sweeping along a highway that eventually leads to the capital, Damascus, in a lightning-fast advance that has shaken the Middle East
Militants spearheaded by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of the city of Hama on Thursday before moving south, swiftly capturing two key towns on the road south of the city before arriving in Al-Dar al-Kabera, a town five miles from the centre of Homs
The Russian embassy in Damascus instructed Russian nationals to leave Syria, in a rare show of alarm. Moscow has remained a key ally of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, including providing military support
The escalation in fighting in Syria has displaced about 280,000 people in just over a week, the UN said on Friday, warning that numbers could rise to 1.5 million
Lebanon’s general security directorate said on Friday that the country is closing all land border crossing with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus. Jordan has closed its only passenger and commercial border crossing into Syria, the interior ministry said
US-backed Syrian Kurds have seizeed control of the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, two security sources told Reuters
Speaking to reporters outside a mosque in Istanbul, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, offered a message of support to the insurgency
Turkey confirmed it would meet Russian and Iranian foreign ministers for talks on the escalating Syrian civil war in Qatar on Saturday
Israel’s military has announced that as a result of developments in Syria it is “reinforcing aerial and ground forces in the Golan Heights area”, strategically valuable territory that it captured from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally claimed to annex in 1981
Israeli forces stormed into Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in north Gaza overnight on Friday and expelled some staff and displaced people before withdrawing, its director said
Four people have been wounded and one killed by Israeli security forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
A large demonstration has taken place in Sana’a in Yemen in support of Gaza.
Israel’s military has issued a statement claiming to have killed what it called “the head of Hamas’ aerial unit in Gaza City”, who they claim was “one of the organisers of the aerial infiltration into Israeli territory on 7 October.”
Israel named him as Nidal Al-Najar and said he was killed on 3 December. The claims have not been independently verified.
AP has a quick snap that the UN nuclear agency’s head has warned Iran is poised to “quite dramatically” increase its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium.
More details soon …
Here are some of the latest images from inside Lebanon sent to us over the news wires.
Lebanon closes all land border crossings with Syria
Lebanon’s general security directorate said on Friday that the country is closing all land border crossing with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that the decision by the security agency in charge of border crossings came hours after an Israeli airstrike damaged the al-Arida border crossing with Syria in north Lebanon, days after it was reopened.
“Border crossings will be closed until further notice for the safety of travelers,” the agency said in a statement posted on X. It said that the only border crossing that will be kept open is Masnaa in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley.
Lebanon’s state news agency said on Friday the airstrike on the al-Arida crossing caused heavy material damage and cut the road.
The Israeli military said fighter jets attacked the border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, adding that they were used to transfer munitions for Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
Syrian troops withdrew from parts of the eastern Deir ez-Zor province that were under their control on Friday as Kurdish-led forces advanced towards the government-held areas, a war monitor said.
“Syrian forces and their Iran-backed allies completely withdrew from areas they control in Deir Ezzor province and Kurdish forces are advancing towards their areas,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The US-backed Syrian Kurds have seizeed control of the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, two security sources told Reuters on Friday.
More details soon …
Updated
Jordan closes border crossing into Syria, ministry says
Jordan has closed its only passenger and commercial border crossing into Syria, the interior ministry said on Friday.
A Syrian army source told Reuters that armed groups had been firing at Syria’s Nassib border crossing into Jordan. “Armed groups who infiltrated the crossing attacked Syrian army posts stationed there,” the source added, according to Reuters. The source said dozens of trailers and passengers were now stranded near the area.
Jordan’s interior minister said Jordanians and Jordanian trucks would be allowed to return via the crossing, known as the Jaber crossing on the Jordanian side, while no one would be allowed to cross into Syria.
Reuters reports that onn Friday, Cogat, the Israeli government body that oversees aid to Gaza, said it had facilitated the delivery of thousands of food packages and sacks of flour into Beit Hanoun, in collaboration with international aid agencies, for distribution to the remaining population.
In a distress call on Friday, the Gaza health ministry accused the Israeli military of committing a “war crime” in Kamal Adwan hospital by perpetrating “all forms of killing and violence inside and around it”, reports Reuters.
It added:
The injured who remained inside are in critical condition and need immediate medical care.”
Accoding to Reuters, the ministry said only half of the 37 hospitals and clinics in the war-devastated territory remained operational but lacked essential equipment, manpower, and medical and fuel supplies.
On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that Israeli forces had bombed Kamal Adwan hospital early on Thursday apparently without warning its staff in advance. “That is extremely concerning and should never happen,” WHO spokesperson, Rik Peeperkorn, told a Geneva briefing by video link. The hospital is now “minimally functional”, he added.
According to Reuters, residents of Beit Lahiya said the army blew up several houses overnight not far from Kamal Adwan hospital. Palestinians say Israel plans to carve out a buffer zone along the northern fringes of Gaza after depopulating the area. Israel denies this.
Israeli forces storm into Gaza hospital, its director says
Israeli forces stormed into Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in north Gaza overnight on Friday and expelled some staff and displaced people before withdrawing, its director said.
The attack had begun with a series of airstrikes on the western and northern sides of Kamal Adwan accompanied by intensive shooting, hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya said, speaking via an online chatroom monitored by Reuters.
According to Reuters, he said troops who swept into the hospital ordered all staff, patients and displaced people into its courtyard before allowing them hours later to return inside, though some staff including its Indonesian emergency surgery team and some displaced were ordered to leave the premises for good.
Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment.
Israel has accused Hamas militants of using civilian buildings including hospitals and schools for operational cover throughout the 14-month Gaza war. Hamas has denied this, accusing Israel of indiscriminate bombings and assaults.
Kamal Adwan hospital has been caught in renewed Israeli military operations in north Gaza against regrouping militants. “This morning, we were shocked to see hundreds of bodies and wounded individuals in the streets surrounding the hospital,” Abu Safiya said in another statement posted online, according to Reuters.
“The situation inside the hospital and in its vicinity is catastrophic. There are a large number of (dead) martyrs and wounded individuals, and no surgeons are left,” he said.
Reuters could not independently authenticate his account, given a lack of media access to the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s health ministry said the three main hospitals on the northern end of the territory are barely functioning and have been under repeated attack since Israel sent tanks into Beit Lahiya and nearby Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in October.
Israel announces it is 'reinforcing aerial and ground forces' in Golan Heights after developments in Syria
Israel’s military has announced that as a result of developments in Syria it is “reinforcing aerial and ground forces in the Golan Heights area”, strategically valuable territory that it captured from Syria in 1967.
In a message posted on its official Telegram channel, the IDF said:
Based on the situational assessment that has been ongoing since yesterday in the general staff and northern command, and following developments in the internal conflict in Syria, the IDF is reinforcing aerial and ground forces in the Golan Heights area.
IDF troops are deployed along the border and the IDF is monitoring developments and is prepared for all scenarios, offensive and defensive alike. The IDF will not tolerate threats near the Israeli border and will thwart any threat against the state of Israel.
After seizing the area during the 1967 war, Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981. The Golan Heights affords whoever controls it a significant vantage point over Lebanon, Syria and Israel, and is considered at the UN to still be occupied Syrian territory. The first Donald Trump administration changed the US position to recognise the Golan Heights as part of Israel, a policy that has not been reversed by Joe Biden’s administration.
Russian embassy in Damascus advises citizens to leave Syria
Tass reports that Russian citizens in Syria have been advised to leave the country.
In news updates posted to its official Telegram channel, Tass reported:
The Russian embassy in Syria has called on Russians to leave the republic on commercial flights through operating airports due to the worsening situation. The Russian embassy and consular department in Syria continue to operate as usual.
Here are some of the latest images sent over the news wires from Hama and Homs in Syria, where militant rebels against Bashar al-Assad’s government are advancing.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that four people have been injured by gunfire from Israeli security forces after clashes erupted while they were carrying out a raid on the town of Beit Furik in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
There has also been a significant crowd gathered for the funeral of a 23-year-old Palestinian shot dead by Israeli forces on Friday morning. Wafa reports Mustafa Mishi, who had previously spent two years detained by Israel, was killed during a raid on Balata camp, east of Nablus.
Syrian troops and their Iran-backed allies “suddenly” pulled out of eastern Deir Ezzor city and its surroundings on Friday, a war monitor said, as a rebel offensive dealt the government a series of blows, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Syrian regime forces and commanders of Iran-backed allied groups suddenly withdrew from Deir Ezzor city and its countryside with columns of soldiers heading towards central Syria,” Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, told AFP.
Turkey's Erdoğan says he hopes Syrian rebels will continue advances
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that he hopes Syrian rebels will continue their advances against president Bashar al-Assad’s forces in Syria, reports Reuters.
Speaking to reporters after Friday prayers, Erdoğan said he had still not received a positive response from Assad to a call he made earlier this year to meet and normalise ties.
“The advances of the opposition are continuing as of now … Our hope is that this walk in Syria continues without any issues,” he said.
Turkey confirmed on Friday that it would meet Russian and Iranian foreign ministers for talks on the escalating civil war in Syria, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). The talks will take place in Qatar on Saturday.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, “will meet with the Russian and Iranian ministers … for a meeting under the Astana process” on the sidelines of the Doha forum, a foreign ministry source told AFP.
The Astana process involving the three countries was launched by Kazakhstan in 2017 with the aim to find a political solution to the civil war in Syria, which has flared again after a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels over the past week.
Iranian state media had reported earlier that a meeting was expected on the forum’s sidelines between Turkey, which supports some of the rebels, and Damascus allies Iran and Russia.
Qatar, which gave early support to the rebels after president Bashar al-Assad’s government crushed a peaceful uprising in 2011, remains a fierce critic of Assad but is calling for a negotiated end to the fighting, reports AFP.
Turkey shares a border of more than 900 kilometres (560 miles) with Syria and currently is home to about three million Syrian refugees.
At least 44,612 Palestinians killed by Israeli offensive since 7 Oct 2023, says Gaza health ministry
Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 44,612 Palestinians and injured 104,834 since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said on Friday. The toll includes 32 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
Updated
Iran aims to send missiles and drones to Syria and increase the number of its military advisers there to support president Bashar al-Assad in his battle against rebels, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday.
“It is likely that Tehran will need to send military equipment, missiles and drones to Syria … Tehran has taken all necessary steps to increase number of its military advisers in Syria and deploy forces,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “Now, Tehran is providing intelligence and satellite support to Syria.”
The head of US-backed Syrian Kurdish force said on Friday that Islamic State group had taken control over some areas in eastern Syria.
“Due to the recent developments, there is increased movement by Islamic State mercenaries in the Syrian desert, in the south and west of Deir Al-Zor and the countryside of al-Raqqa,” Mazloum Abdi said in a press conference, referring to areas in the east of the country, according to Reuters.
North Gaza hospital director says Israeli strikes hit facility
The director of north Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital said Israel conducted several strikes on Friday that hit the facility, one of the last functioning health centres in the area, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“There was a series of airstrikes on the northern and western sides of the hospital, accompanied by intense and direct fire,” Hossam Abu Safieh said, adding that four staff were killed and no surgeons were left at the site.
UN says Syria fighting has displaced 280,000 people since 27 November
The escalation in fighting in Syria has displaced about 280,000 people in just over a week, the UN said on Friday, warning that numbers could rise to 1.5 million.
“The figure we have in front of us is 280,000 people since 27 November,” Samer AbdelJaber, head of emergency coordination at the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), told reporters in Geneva. “That does not include the figure of people who fled from Lebanon during the recent escalations” in fighting there, he added.
The mass displacement has happened since rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched their lightning offensive a little more than a week ago. That occurred just as a tenuous ceasefire in neighbouring Lebanon took hold between Israel and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s ally Hezbollah.
WFP warned that the fresh mass-displacement inside Syria, more than 13 years after the country’s civil war erupted, was “adding to years of suffering”.
AbdelJaber said the WFP and other humanitarian agencies were “trying to reach the communities wherever their needs are”, and that they were working “to secure safe routes so that we can be able to move the aid and the assistance to the communities that are in need”.
He also stressed the urgent need for more funding to ensure humanitarians are “ready for any scenario basically in terms of displacements that could evolve in the coming days or months”.
According to AFP, AbdelJaber cautioned that “if the situation continues evolving (at the current) pace, we’re expecting collectively around 1.5 million people that will be displaced and will be requiring our support”.
Syria’s army backed by warplanes, including from ally Russia, were targeting “terrorist vehicles and gatherings” in Hama province on Friday, the defence ministry said, amid a major rebel offensive, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Our armed forces are targeting terrorist vehicles and gatherings in the north and south of Hama province using artillery, missiles and joint Syrian-Russian warplanes,” a ministry statement said, citing a military source.
Rebel military commander Hassan Abdel Ghani said in a statement on Telegram on Friday that “our forces continue to march steadily towards the city of Homs”, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He said “hundreds” of fighters who had been forced to leave Homs years ago after the government retook it had returned “to deter Assad’s aggression against their city”.
Homs was once dubbed the “capital of the revolution” because of the large-scale protests in the city when Syria’s uprising began in March 2011.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said tens of thousands of residents were fleeing Homs on Thursday towards the coast, fearing the rebel advance (see 7.41am GMT).
Syria rebel leader says goal is to 'overthrow' Assad
The leader of an Islamist rebel alliance driving a lightning offensive in Syria has said the goal of the campaign is to overthrow the government of president Bashar al-Assad, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“When we talk about objectives, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal,” Abu Mohammed al-Jolani told CNN in an interview published on Friday.
Updated
Israel says it struck Hezbollah 'smuggling routes' on Syria-Lebanon border
Israel’s military said on Friday that it carried out strikes overnight targeting Hezbollah “weapon-smuggling routes” on the Syria-Lebanon border, just over a week into a fragile ceasefire in its war with the Lebanese group.
Official media in both Lebanon and Syria reported that the air raid put the al-Arida border crossing – already hit during the Israel-Hezbollah war – out of service.
The Israeli air force “conducted strikes on weapon-smuggling routes and terror infrastructure sites located near the Syrian regime’s crossings at the Syrian-Lebanese border”, the military said in a statement that included a map identifying one of the targets as the al-Arida crossing, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Syrian state news agency, Sana, said that “the al-Arida border crossing between Syria and Lebanon is out of service again due to an Israeli attack that targeted it” early on Friday.
According to AFP, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said the strike “led to damage to infrastructure” and cut off the border road “again after the bridge was repaired” following a previous attack.
Israel has struck border crossings between Syria and Lebanon numerous times, saying it aims to prevent weapons smuggling from Syria into Lebanon. The latest strike came amid mutual accusations between Israel and Hezbollah of violating the terms of a ceasefire agreement that came into effect on 27 November.
Rebels 5km away from Homs, says Syria war monitor
A monitor of Syria’s war said rebels were just 5km (3 miles) from third city Homs on Friday, after controlling two strategic towns on the road linking it to Hama, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions have reached five kilometres from the outskirts of Homs city after controlling the towns of Rastan and Talbisseh,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that controlling Homs would allow the rebels to “cut off the main road leading to the Syrian coast”, the stronghold of president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority.
Updated
Thousands flee as Syrian rebels push on towards Homs
Thousands of people fled the central Syrian city of Homs overnight and into Friday morning, a war monitor and residents said, as rebel forces sought to push their lightning offensive against government forces farther south.
They have already captured the key cities of Aleppo in the north and Hama in the centre, dealing successive devastating blows to president Bashar al-Assad, nearly 14 years after protests against him erupted across Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said thousands of people had begun fleeing on Thursday night towards Syria’s western coastal regions, a stronghold of the government.
According to Reuters, a resident of the coastal area said thousands of people had begun arriving there from Homs, fearing the rebels’ fast-paced advance.
On Friday morning, Israeli airstrikes hit two border crossings between Lebanon and Syria, Lebanon’s transport minister, Ali Hamieh, said.
The Syrian state news agency, Sana, said the Arida border crossing with Lebanon was out of service due to the attack. The Israeli military said it had attacked weapons transfer hubs and infrastructure overnight on the Syrian side of the Lebanese border, saying these routes had been used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah to smuggle weapons.
Russian bombing overnight also destroyed the Rustan Bridge along the key M5 highway, to prevent rebels from using this main route to Homs city, a Syrian army officer told Reuters.
“There were at least eight strikes on the bridge,” he added. Government forces were working to strengthen positions around Homs city with fresh reinforcements, he said.
Rebels led by the Islamist faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had pledged to move on to the central city of Homs, a crossroads city that links the capital Damascus to the north and Assad’s heartland along the coast.
“Your time has come,” said a rebel operations room in an online post, calling on Homs residents to rise up in revolution.
More on that in a moment, but first, here are some of the other latest developments:
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources in Syria, said 826 people, mostly combatants but also including 111 civilians, have been killed in the country since the violence erupted last week. It marks the most intense fighting since 2020 in the civil war sparked by the repression of pro-democracy protests in 2011.
Iran says it conducted a successful space launch, the latest for its program the west alleges improves Tehran’s ballistic missile programme. Iran conducted the launch using its Simorgh programme, a satellite-carrying rocket that had seen a series of failed launches. The launch took place at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province. There was no immediate independent confirmation Friday the launch was successful.
Iraqi foreign minister, Fuad Hussein, will meet his Syrian and Iranian counterparts on Friday to discuss the situation in Syria, the Iraqi state news agency said on Thursday.
A Hamas official said on Thursday that international mediators have resumed negotiating with the militant group and Israel over a ceasefire in Gaza, and that he was hopeful a deal to end the 14-month war was within reach. Ceasefire negotiations were halted last month when Qatar suspended talks with mediators from Egypt and the US because of frustration over a lack of progress between Israel and Hamas.
Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said that he plans to hold talks on Friday with Turkish and Iranian officials on the situation in Syria. On Thursday, Lavrov said Moscow was “very much concerned” with a recent escalation of violence in Syria.
Updated
