This news round on Syria covers several critical developments. In Latakia, an Israeli airstrike targeted a weapons depot, causing injuries and triggering explosions, as tensions escalate following Hamas’s October 7 attacks. In Idlib, Russian airstrikes killed 10 people, as opposition-held areas continue to suffer from both Russian and Syrian regime bombardment, with rumors of a rebel offensive looming. Meanwhile, the families of French nationals who joined IS are urging the UN to pressure France for their repatriation. Additionally, the French company Lafarge faces trial for financing terrorism in Syria, amidst allegations of complicity in crimes against humanity. Lastly, Syrian refugees in Lebanon, displaced by Israeli bombings, are facing harsh conditions and forced relocations by Lebanese authorities, as the humanitarian crisis deepens.
Israeli strike said to target weapons depot in Syria’s Lattakia
Syrian state media said Thursday an Israeli air strike hit the coastal city of Latakia, targeting a weapons depot according to a war monitor.
Two people were injured and buildings were damaged, state media reported citing a military statement.
SANA claimed that Syrian anti-aircraft defense intercepted “hostile targets” in the skies above Latakia.
The news agency reported “fires were triggered by the Israeli aggression” at the entrance to Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad.
Video circulated on social media appeared to show large secondary explosions, suggesting the presence of weapons at the targeted site.
Since Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre last year, which saw some 1,200 people killed in Israel and 251 kidnapped, Israel has escalated its strikes on Iranian-backed terror targets in Syria and has also struck Syrian army air defenses and some Syrian forces.
Ten killed in Russian strikes on rebel-held Syria’s Idlib
Russian air strikes in opposition Idlib province on Wednesday killed 10 people and wounded 32 others, according to the White Helmets.
The Syrian Civil Defence, better known as the White Helmets, said that the strikes had targeted a furniture workshop, lumber mill and olive press in the provincial capital, Idlib City.
It said that recovery teams took seven hours to retrieve the bodies of those killed and wounded in the airstrikes.
“Eight White Helmets teams, equipped with both light and heavy machinery as well as ambulances, participated in the operation,” the Syrian Civil Defence said in a post on X.
The group also reported that other areas in northwest Syria were targeted on Wednesday. This includes the towns of Maarbalit and Maarzaf where a young girl was killed in Syrian regime shelling.
Six civilians were also wounded by Syrian regime shelling in the village of Al-Muhsinli in Aleppo, while a shepherd was wounded in a Russian airstrike in southern Idlib.
The shelling is the latest in a series of attacks by the Russian air force and the Syrian regime on opposition-held areas amid rumours of an offensive by the armed opposition against regime positions.
Families Urge UN Committee To Pressure France Over Syria Repatriations
The mothers of four French Islamists who “disappeared” after going to areas of Syria controlled by the Islamic State group asked the UN anti-torture committee Thursday to pressure Paris to bring them home.
“For five years, we have been supporting these families who face oblivion and silence on the part of the authorities,” Guillaume Martine, a lawyer representing the families, told AFP.
He said his clients had filed a petition with the United Nations Committee Against Torture on Thursday asking it to take up the case of their sons, and to order France to swiftly repatriate them.
The committee, composed of 10 independent experts, issues opinions and recommendations that are not enforceable but carry reputational weight.
The petition was filed on behalf of Sofiane Derrou, Mohamadi Reda, Haroune Belfilali and a fourth man whose name was not given, who had gone to parts of Syria controlled by the Islamic State group between 2014 and 2016.
IS seized control of large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, before Syrian forces spearheaded by Kurds and backed by a US-led coalition ousted them from their last patch of land in eastern Syria in 2019.
French cement maker Lafarge to face trial on terrorism funding charges
Cement maker Holcim’s Lafarge will face trial in a French court on charges that its Syrian subsidiary financed terrorism and breached European sanctions in order to keep a plant operating, France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor and a lead plaintiff said, JPost.com reported.
Lafarge, which became part of Swiss-listed Holcim in 2015, has been the subject of an investigation into its operations in Syria since 2016, one of the most extensive corporate criminal proceedings in recent French legal history.
Investigative judges in Paris gave the order Lafarge face trial on Wednesday.
Holcim shares fell nearly 2% in late Wednesday trading after the news, before recovering a little to close 0.7% lower.
Investigations continue into allegations that Lafarge was complicit in crimes against humanity, part of the wider probe into how the group kept its factory running in Syria after war broke out in 2011, said the anti-corruption group Sherpa, which brought the criminal complaint against Lafarge.
Charges of complicity in crimes against humanity
France’s highest court in January rejected a request from Lafarge that charges of complicity in crimes against humanity be dropped from the investigation.
As Israel bombs Lebanon, Lebanese police try to expel Syrian refugees
As Israel intensifies its bombing campaign in Lebanon, Syrian refugees, already displaced by war, face further displacement and growing threats of deportation.
According to an Al-Jazeera report, refugees like Fadi Shahab fled Israeli missile strikes, only to be forced into increasingly precarious conditions. Many Syrians, such as Shahab’s family, initially found refuge in makeshift shelters, but the Lebanese authorities have been relocating them to remote areas near the Syrian border, abandoning them without proper shelter or resources.
Lebanese police transported Shahab and 121 other refugees to Tall al-Bireh, a village near the Syrian border, only to be threatened by landowners upon arrival. This mirrors a broader pattern of discrimination, as Lebanon, grappling with its own economic and political crises, continues to target Syrians for expulsion. Activists report that deportations often violate international and domestic laws, and refugees are pressured into returning to Syria, despite the dangers they face there.
Refugees left in Tall al-Bireh had no choice but to pay for transportation back to their original shelter in Tripoli, where they are now living in overcrowded conditions with no promise of security. With winter approaching, and most shelters in Lebanon excluding Syrians, they are left in a cycle of displacement, lacking even the most basic hopes for stability.