Russia has established direct contacts with the political committee of Syria’s Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Russian Interfax news agency quoted Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying on Thursday.
Interfax reported that Mr Bogdanov, speaking to journalists, also said that Moscow aimed to maintain its military bases in Syria to continue “fighting international terrorism”.
Mr Bogdanov said contacts with HTS, the most powerful force in the country after the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad, were “proceeding in constructive fashion”. Russia, he said, hoped the group would fulfil its pledges to “guard against all excesses”, maintain order and ensure the safety of diplomats and other foreigners.
Mr Bogdanov said Russia hoped to maintain its two bases in Syria – a naval base in Tartous and the Khmeimim airbase near the port city of Latakia.
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“The bases are still there, where they were on Syrian territory. No other decisions have been made for the moment,” he was quoted as saying. “They were there at the Syrians’ request with the aim of fighting terrorists from the Islamic State. I am proceeding on the basis of the notion that everyone agrees that the fight against terrorism, and what remains of IS, is not over.”
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has defended Israel’s operations in Syria since the fall of Mr Assad, saying on Thursday it had a right to defend itself from risks to its security.
Since the shock collapse of Mr Assad’s government over the weekend, Israel has moved troops into the buffer zone on the Syrian side of the dividing line with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and has conducted hundreds of air strikes to destroy Syrian army weapons and equipment.
“What Israel is doing is trying to identify potential threats, both conventional and weapons of mass destruction, that could threaten Israel, and, frankly threaten others as well,” Mr Sullivan told a press conference in Tel Aviv following a meeting with prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
In the aftermath of Mr Assad’s flight from Syria, Israeli jets and missile ships hit military targets including fighter jets, helicopters, naval vessels, missile stores and weapons manufacturing sites to stop them from falling into the hands of the rebel forces that toppled Mr Assad.
Mr Sullivan said the situation in Syria presented a range of risks “including the potential for fracture in that state”. He added that power vacuums could give room for terrorist groups to grow, and said the new power in Damascus could be hostile to neighbours including Israel. “All of those are possibilities,” he said.
Countries including France and the United Arab Emirates have condemned Israel’s move into the buffer zone, but Mr Sullivan said the United States had “every expectation” the move would be temporary.
[ Abu Mohammed al-Jolani: Profile of the HTS leaderOpens in new window ]
Israel killed 13 Palestinians in two air strikes in Gaza on Thursday that Gaza medics and Hamas said were part of a force protecting humanitarian aid trucks. Israel’s military said they were Hamas militants trying to hijack the shipment.
Many of those killed in the attacks on Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza had links to Hamas, according to sources close to the group. The 13 were among 36 Palestinians killed in separate Israeli attacks on Thursday, the medics said.
The Israeli military said in a statement the two air strikes aimed to ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid, and accused Hamas members of planning to prevent the aid from reaching Gaza civilians who need it. The statement said the Hamas members aimed to hijack the aid “in support of continuing terrorist activity”.
Armed gangs have repeatedly hijacked aid trucks after they roll into the enclave, and Hamas has formed a taskforce to confront them. The Hamas-led forces have killed over two dozen members of the gangs in recent months, Hamas sources and medics said.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa said those killed in the two air strikes were guarding the aid trucks.
Hamas said Israeli military strikes have killed at least 700 police tasked with securing aid trucks in Gaza since the war began on October 7th, 2023. It has accused Israel of trying to protect acts of looting and “creating anarchy and chaos to prevent aid from reaching the people of Gaza”.
