The Israeli military battered Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza with heavy ground and aerial bombardment overnight Thursday into Friday, according to the director of the facility, who described as a “catastrophic” barrage.

“Tonight was one of the most difficult nights,” Abu Safiya said on a voice message, which was punctuated by the sound of bombardment. The area around the hospital has been targeted with intense strikes this week.

The scale and ferocity of the attacks blew off doors and windows on one side of the hospital, said Abu Safiya, adding water tanks “were blown away from the intensity of the explosion.”

“As of now, heavy bombing persists throughout the night, accompanied by ongoing destruction of buildings,” he added.

“It is a catastrophic scene, with airstrikes and artillery shelling occurring with unprecedented intensity and frequency.”

On Friday, COGAT, Israel’s aid agency said that “intense fighting has been taking place in certain areas of the northern Gaza Strip between IDF forces and terrorist organizations operating in the area.”

COGAT said the Israeli military had “allowed and facilitated the evacuation of patients, escorts, and staff” from Kamal Adwan Hospital, to other health centers in the northern and southern parts of the strip.

COGAT added that “efforts had been made to facilitate and coordinate the delivery of supplies to the hospital, including food, water, medical equipment, and fuel.”

But humanitarian agencies have warned that barely a trickle of aid has entered neighborhoods and hospitals in northern Gaza. Israel’s sustained aid restrictions have cut off between 65,000 to 75,000 trapped residents from access to food, water, electricity or reliable healthcare, the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) reported on December 12.

On Thursday, the head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said Israeli authorities had repeatedly denied humanitarian access to Kamal Adwan Hospital, where at least 96 patients, and health staff, “urgently need support.”

“The World Health Organization was denied three times in the last four days to access the hospital to deliver medical supplies and fuel; transfer critical patients to Al-Shifa Hospital; and deploy an international emergency medical team,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X.

When Syria’s rebel-appointed prime minister sat down with officials from the ousted Assad regime for the first time on Tuesday, the backdrop included the flag of the Syrian revolution alongside another bearing the Islamic declaration of faith that is often displayed by jihadists.

The choice of optics for the rebels’ first publicized cabinet meeting to discuss the transition of power since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime sparked controversy, with sceptics taking to social media to criticize the move.

The rebels may have taken note. In a later televised interview with Al Jazeera, caretaker Prime Minister Mohammad Al Bashir, who until this week ruled the small, conservative province of Idlib on the rebels’ behalf, appeared only with the new Syrian flag.

How the rebels governed Idlib, in northwest Syria, offers insight into how they might rule the country. Experts and residents of Idlib describe their governance as pragmatic and influenced by both internal and external pressure, with efforts to distance themselves from a jihadist past and gain international acceptance. However, their rule was far from democratic or liberal. Governing a large, diverse nation like Syria, they warn, will be an entirely different challenge.

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that led the rebel offensive to topple the Assad regime, has opted to rule from the shadows, and picked a technocrat – Bashir – to lead Syria in the interim. He has said that his officials gained valuable experience while governing Idlib but acknowledged that that may not be enough.

“They (rebels) started from nothing, Idlib is small and without resources but thank God we were able to do really good things in the past… their experience is not zero and there are (areas) they were successful in,” Jolani told Mohammed Jalali, Assad’s prime minister, in a meeting on Monday to discuss the transfer of power. “However, we cannot do without the old (guard) and we have to benefit from them.”

In just 13 days, Jolani’s ministers went from ruling the small province of Idlib to aspiring to govern Syria following its first regime change in six decades. Experts and residents who lived under the rebel-led Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) say the inexperienced cabinet will need to significantly adapt if they are to lead the transitional period effectively.

Dr. Walid Tamer, a resident of Idlib who witnessed the province’s transformation under rebel rule and said he personally interacted with Jolani, commended the SSG’s governance in Idlib, saying freedom of expression was protected. But he cautioned that the rebels aren’t prepared to rule the rest of the country.

“You went from governing Idlib to governing an entire nation… I don’t think the capabilities of the government we saw are enough for the task of governing the whole of Syria,” said Tamer, the head of northern Syria’s Free Doctors Union who describes himself as a liberal.

Idlib was “very safe” under the SSG, he said, adding that the rebels placed no restrictions on travel and movement inside the HTS-controlled province.

“Syria as a whole was a difficult place to live in, but the (SSG) never interfered in your personal life. Products were available and no limitations were imposed on your clothing or how you lived your life,” he said.

“There wasn’t enough work, and a lot of people just stayed at home,” he said.

Taking control

When Jolani, who now goes by his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, expanded his influence in Idlib in 2017, he eliminated rival Islamist groups and backed a new project to install a civilian government made up of local technocrats and academics, breaking from other jihadist methods that saw religious coercion under the rule of the sword in territories they captured.

Upon its establishment in 2017, the SSG issued a communique outlining four principles, one of which was that Islamic Sharia law is the “sole source of legislation,” emphasizing the need to “maintain the people’s Syrian and Islamic identity,” Al Jazeera reported.

The SSG operated as a functional government, holding publicized cabinet meetings with suited officials, issuing press statements and overseeing eleven ministries, including justice, sports, and education. It collected taxes, managed Idlib’s limited resources to govern 4 million people, and coordinated with international humanitarian groups to deliver aid to the 3 million displaced people in the region.

But the government wasn’t democratically elected, with ministers appointed through the approval of the shura, or consultative council, made up of prominent local figures, some of whom were selected by Jolani’s HTS. No women served in SSG leadership positions during its seven years of rule.

“It’s an Islamic governance in a technocratic way. What they wanted to do is control how religion is understood and how it’s implemented,” said Drevon.

A United Nations report from 2022 painted a grim picture of what life under HTS’ leadership was like.

“People were detained following comments made in private conversations pertaining to the cost of living or religious matters,” the UN Human Rights Council report on Syria said. “These comments were qualified as slander and blasphemy, with the latter leading to a sentence of one year of imprisonment.” Authorities “continued to arrest women for being ‘inappropriately’ dressed, and for non-compliance with entertainment-related bans.”

Tamer, who said he negotiated with HTS and SSG officials over medical matters, said that over the years, Jolani took a back seat in the daily affairs of the government and gave it more agency, only intervening on larger issues that endangered his group’s influence.

Rule by decree

Lacking a constitution or an elected legislature, the rebels ruled Idlib by decree, setting up a hybrid civil-Islamic court structure that included defense lawyers, a prosecutor and an appeals process.

Jolani was pragmatic in adapting to the requirements of the society he ruled over, Drevon said. Responding to the public’s displeasure, he slowly phased out the strict application of Islamic law, turned a blind eye to gender mixing and smoking and allowed protests against him. A Sharia law-based morality unit was disbanded but women were encouraged to cover their hair.

“It was a successful project in practice because there was also some buy in from the population. It was stable, the economy was working better (than the rest of Syria) and even the type of authoritarianism was nothing compared to Assad’s family,” Drevon said.

But there were exceptions. Last year, the SSG issued a “morality decree” instructing children to adhere to an Islamic dress code and limiting music in educational facilities. Jolani intervened to freeze the decree, fearing that an international uproar could affect aid donations, Drevon said.

Drevon said that Syria’s transition to democracy is going to be a lengthy and complicated process after six decades of dictatorship.

“It was a very new form of governance (in Idlib),” he said. “You can’t expect an armed group in war controlling a region that’s very tiny to create a social democratic system… They had to be realistic on what’s possible at war. Syria hasn’t had democracy in five, six decades. You will not become democratic in one week.”

Buckingham Palace is investigating after a member of staff was arrested at the end of a rowdy Christmas party.

Police were called to a bar in Victoria in central London – a short walk from the palace – on Tuesday evening when a festive celebration turned violent.

The woman, who subsequently spent Tuesday night and much of the following day in a police cell, is believed to be a maid at the palace and was on a night out with around 50 members of palace staff at the time, according to The Sun newspaper.

She reportedly smashed some glasses and turned on a member of the bar staff.

Management at the royal residence say the matter is now being investigated and that disciplinary action could follow.

A palace spokesperson told the BBC: “We are aware of an incident outside the workplace involving a number of Household staff who had previously attended an early evening reception at the Palace.

“While this was an informal social gathering, not an official Palace Christmas party, the facts will be fully investigated, with a robust disciplinary process followed in relation to individual staff and appropriate action taken.”

The spokesperson told the BBC that the post-reception drinks, which staff went on to at the bar, were informal and had not been arranged by the palace.

“Officers attended and arrested a 24-year-old woman on suspicion of common assault, criminal damage and being drunk and disorderly.

“She was taken into custody and released the following evening having been given a penalty notice for disorder.”

A crucial dam is at risk as fighting continues in several areas of northern Syria between Kurdish groups and Turkish-backed factions.

While much of central and southern Syria appears calm after opposition forces overthrew the Assad regime, a patchwork of territorial rivalries in the north has exploded into open combat, sparking concerns ISIS could exploit the deteriorating security situation.

Most of the clashes involve Kurdish groups under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and pro-Turkish elements of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which are part of the broader coalition that ousted Bashar al-Assad.

While a four-day ceasefire in the city of Manbij was announced on Thursday, fighting has continued to its south, especially around the Tishreen Dam, despite the truce stipulating that both sides should withdraw from the area.

The SDF said Friday that after three days of fighting around the dam and an important bridge across the Euphrates river, its forces had driven back “the mercenaries’ attacks.” It claimed to have killed more than 200 enemy fighters while losing only eight.

However, video surfaced Friday purporting to show fighters from a Turkish-backed group in control of the bridge over the dam.

Some experts have expressed concern that the fighting could damage the dam and cause extensive flooding of more than 40 villages downstream. The UN has warned the dam’s structural integrity is at risk.

Further south in the city of Raqqa, which is controlled by the SDF, clashes erupted Thursday after hundreds took to the streets to celebrate the Assad regime falling. One person was killed and 15 wounded in the resulting gunfire and stampede, according to a local journalist and witnesses.

Some residents in Raqqa have called on the SDF to hand over control of the city to the FSA. The majority of Raqqa’s population is Arab with Kurds being the minority.

There were no reports of further unrest in Raqqa Friday.

The SDF has been a US ally since 2017 in the battle to eradicate ISIS, the terror group which at one point held a large swathe of northern Syria. But the Turkish government has long regarded Syrian Kurdish groups as part of or linked to the PKK, a militant Kurdish group that has carried out many attacks in Turkey over the last three decades.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Ankara Friday meeting with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan to discuss the situation in Syria – and the risk that renewed conflict in the north could provide an opening for ISIS’ revival.

The SDF and other Kurdish elements have controlled several enclaves in northern Syria since regime control in the north evaporated when ISIS was at its height in 2015. In the far north-east of the country, near the Iraqi border, the SDF controls a large detention camp at Al Hol for relatives of ISIS fighters, as well as other facilities where suspected ISIS militants are held.

Blinken has acknowledged this role, saying the SDF has been “critical to guarding the detention facilities where thousands of foreign terrorist fighters have been detained for years, keeping them off of the battlefield.”

Analysts say that the sectarian conflict in the north will be hard to contain, with Armed Conflict Location & Event Data commenting that the clashes reflect a “broader struggle over territorial control and political dominance in northern Syria.”

It added that ISIS “is poised to exploit the resulting security vacuum, potentially turning the central desert into a hotspot of conflict.”

Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting from Ankara. Nechirvan Mando also contributed reporting

As the end of the year fast approaches, we thought you might enjoy a photo recap of the royal highs and lows of 2024.

It was a challenging year for the royal family, with some serious health revelations from King Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales.

But there were also more positive moments as the months ticked on. There were visits to Nigeria and Colombia by Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and increased visibility for several members of the clan, such as Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh.

As questions swirled over how much the public is entitled to know about the royal family, the relative transparency from the monarch and his daughter-in-law put a spotlight on the cancer struggles faced by so many.

The King became patron of Cancer Research UK, visiting cancer patients as he resumed his public-facing duties at the end of April. Kate’s annual Christmas carol concert highlighted the themes of love and empathy in the “darkest times.”

Summer provided some much-needed levity when Taylor Swift chose to go Instagram-official with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in a selfie with Prince William during her Eras tour. Meanwhile, Kate’s surprise appearance at the Wimbledon men’s singles tennis final had the center court crowd on their feet.

Here’s our look at 2024 in images:

January: Just a few weeks into the year, it was revealed that both Charles and Kate were dealing with health conditions requiring time in hospital. Palace statements didn’t reveal the exact diagnoses for either of the royals, which created considerable speculation, but it was confirmed that both would be out of action for a number of months.

February: William – dealing with his father’s cancer revelation and his wife’s recuperation from an unspecified abdominal surgery – was called on to pick up some of the King’s responsibilities. He found himself thrust into an increased role. Queen Camilla and Princess Anne also took on more engagements.

March: Across the pond, Prince Harry and Meghan visited Uvalde, Texas, to spend time with the family of a teacher killed in the May 2022 school shooting there. The couple have kept in touch with the family since the massacre. Within days of the tragedy, Meghan traveled to Uvalde to pay her respects after two teachers and 19 children were killed by a gunman.

April: In April, Charles looked cheerful as he returned to public duties with his first engagement since revealing his cancer diagnosis back in early February. The monarch took the opportunity to visit a cancer treatment center in London, run by UK charity Macmillan Cancer Support, of which he has been patron for nearly three decades.

May: Charles’ first official portrait since his coronation – which depicts the monarch against a fiery red background – proved divisive, with some saying it reminded them of a hellish landscape. Not long after the painting was unveiled, it was vandalized in the London art gallery where it was on display, by activists seeking to draw attention to animal cruelty in farms across the UK.

June: William celebrated his 42nd birthday in style at Taylor Swift’s Eras tour at London’s Wembley Stadium. He was spotted dancing in the crowd and even posed for a photo backstage with the singer, accompanied by two of his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. “Happy Bday M8!” Swift later posted on her official X account.

July: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh attended Royal Week in Scotland, which celebrates Scottish culture. Like many royals, Sophie has stepped up over the past year to support the British monarch as he has been undergoing cancer treatment. It was a year of firsts for the duchess, who became the first member of the British royal family to visit Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, to show her solidarity with survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. Later in the year, she headed to Africa, visiting Tanzania and Chad, which is in the grip of a refugee crisis amid war in neighboring Sudan.

August: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex took their third international trip of the year, heading to the Colombian capital of Bogotá, following earlier appearances in Canada and Nigeria. It might have looked like a typical royal visit, but as the couple are no longer working royals, the four-day South American trip was done in a private capacity. They used the event to raise awareness about online harms ahead of the first Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children.

September: Kate made public her cancer-free status and her plans to return gradually to public engagements. The announcement was accompanied by a joyful video showing Kate, William and their three children – Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte and Prince George – walking through the English countryside, as well as playing among sand dunes and wading in the sea.

October: Charles took part in his first long-haul multi-country trip since his cancer diagnosis, to Australia and Samoa. The visit was full of the usual pageantry but not without drama when a lawmaker interrupted his speech at Australia’s Parliament House, declaring “You are not my King.” Charles later revealed that he regretted not visiting other countries in the region, like New Zealand and Fiji, but was following doctor’s advice, according to the PA Media news agency.

November: William visited South Africa to engage in a back-to-back schedule of eco-related engagements, culminating in the 2024 Earthshot Awards. The glitzy ceremony was attended by the likes of American actor Billy Porter and Australian conservationist Robert Irwin, the son of the late “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin. Environmental issues were the defining theme of the four-day visit to the country – a cause that has been championed by three generations of royals, including William’s grandfather, Prince Philip, and his father, King Charles III.

December: Kate looked radiant as she hosted her annual Christmas carol service last Friday at Westminster Abbey. It was the fourth iteration of her “Together at Christmas” concert, which this year was themed around love and empathy. The princess arrived early to make sure she had plenty of time chatting with guests and musical performers. She then headed back outside to greet her family as they arrived. Read more on this story here.

Don’t miss: King Charles serenaded during visit to iconic power station

King Charles was in jovial form on a visit to London’s redeveloped Battersea Power Station on Thursday, and that was even before he met multi-award-winning British singer Raye, who joined the King on stage, to the delight of the crowd.

The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter’s performance of Christmas songs showcased a voice that won her six Brit awards this year, but she was still starstruck to meet Charles, admitting to everyone gathered that this is “very scary, very fancy, very amazing.”

Earlier, the King met small-business owners at a Christmas market set up by King’s Trust alumna Megan Jones, who founded Curated Makers, an initiative that connects small businesses with retail spaces, after she took part in the King’s Trust’s enterprise program. Charles was then welcomed to Apple’s new UK head office by CEO Tim Cook and hundreds of employees.

The monarch met young people recently supported by a partnership between Apple and the King’s Trust. As some shared the new skills and technology they had mastered, the King told them they were “going to go from strength to strength.”

As pollution worsens in the Indian capital, parents are facing an impossible choice: stay or go.

Amrita Rosha, 45, is among those choosing to flee with her children. Both of them — Vanaaya, 4, and Abhiraj, 9 — suffer from respiratory problems due to rising pollution and need medication.

Every year for the past decade, a blanket of smog has enveloped Delhi when winter approaches, turning day into night and disrupting the lives of millions of people. Some of them, particularly young children with less developed immune systems, are forced to seek medical care for breathing issues.

Rosha ensures her children get top health care — including doctors’ visits, steamers, inhalers and steroids — and trips outside Delhi to escape the choking air.

While wealthy families like the Roshas can escape, it’s a different story for those without the means to leave.

About 15 miles away in a Delhi slum, Muskan, who goes by her first name, looks on with worry at the remaining medicine drops for her children’s nebulizer, a machine which turns liquid medication into fine mist to be inhaled through a face mask or mouthpiece.

The mother rations its use because she struggles to afford more.

“We give half-half (of the dosage) of the medicines to our children,” she said, referring to Chahat, 3, and Diya, 1. They’ve been on nebulizers since each of their first winters, as early as they were born.

Muskan bought the $9 nebulizer after weeks of hard work on the streets. She makes a living picking up rags and other pieces of refuse, and her husband is a day laborer.

“When they cough, I feel scared that my children may die. I’m filled with regret, as I keep worrying about something awful happening to them,” she said.

Leaving Delhi

The suffering of Delhi’s children, year after year, has become impossible to ignore.

“Children are having to rely on steroids and inhalers to breathe … all of north India has been pushed into a medical emergency,” Delhi’s Chief Minister Atishi, who goes by her first name, said last month.

The Supreme Court has stepped in to monitor the measures introduced to curb pollution, which is generally caused by a combination of factors including vehicular emissions, crop burning and construction work, along with unfavorable meteorological and climatic conditions.

This has included banning cars, demolition and construction work, and spraying roads with water. Authorities have also increased public transport and cracked down on crop burning.

Despite these measures, Delhi has remained the most polluted city across India in November for eight years, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Manjinder Singh Randhawa, a doctor in the pediatric intensive care unit at the Rainbow Children’s Hospital, said this year he has been diagnosing younger children with asthma in “a very critical state” for the first time.

In the long-term, pollution can have a serious impact on the respiratory, immune and cardiovascular systems, he added.

In some parts of Delhi last month, pollution levels exceeded 1,750 on the Air Quality Index, according to IQAir, which monitors global air pollution. Any reading above 300 is considered a health hazard.

During these weeks the pollution levels for PM 2.5, smaller particles which can penetrate deep into the lungs, spiked to more than 70 times the health limits set by the World Health Organization. It was over 20 times that level this week. Studies indicate that inhaling PM 2.5 can lead to cognitive impairment in children.

A costly escape

Some parents, like Deepthi Ramdas, prioritized their children’s health and relocated years ago. When her son Rudra was born three years ago, she did not think leaving Delhi would ever be on the cards. But that changed when she saw him admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit in January 2022.

The doctors told her she should leave Delhi if she wanted her son’s lungs to develop, Deepthi recalled. Since she had family in the southern state of Kerala, she decided to go.

“It was not an easy decision. I had to quit my job which I loved… and because my husband had to continue to be in Delhi for work… we got into a long-distance marriage,” she said.

But Deepthi finds relief in knowing Rudra has had no breathing issues in Kerala. They visited Delhi in the first week of December to meet their father. “We hoped since he is 3 now (that) his lungs would be stronger, but within a few days Rudra had an attack and was on nebulizers again,” Deepthi said.

“Looking at him like that was heartbreaking. There is no way I am moving back to Delhi,” she said, sharing pictures of Rudra from when he was in hospital in 2022 to him playing outdoors in Kerala in October.

Anxiety in the air

Many parents in Delhi are living under anxiety fueled by their inability to escape the city due to work and other commitments.

When Urvee was expecting, she recalls her husband, Prateek Tulsyan, responding to news of pollution by saying he’d ensure there were enough air purifiers at home to protect his child. However, nine months after delivery, Reva had her first attack.

Urvee added: “I am constantly checking her temperature, do not allow her to go out or eat anything that may exacerbate her condition. I am now an over-protective parent.”

If she hears Reva sneeze, she knows a cough is coming, followed by congestion and then the need for the nebulizer.

Urvee said they’ve decided to move to Guwahati, northeast India, where the air quality is better, during the high pollution months next year.

“I am born and brought up here, comfortable here, so to create another home there won’t be easy but we have no choice,” she said.

No way out

Muskan and her neighbors in the Delhi slum are not as fortunate.

She runs to the shared nebulizer when her children show symptoms like chest pain, coughing or vomiting. She says the children ask for it themselves and use it with practiced precision. But not everyone is able to afford to have the machine at home.

Some of her neighbors rush to the nearest private clinic and pay about 80 rupees or $1 for each treatment.

One of them is Deepak Kumar, a daily wage worker with four children. His youngest and only daughter, Kripa, 1, is using a nebulizer for the second consecutive winter season since her birth.

“The doctor asked us to buy it, but we do not have that kind of money,” he said.

One visit to the doctor costs more than his daily wage.

Nights are the worst. When there are no doctors available, he relies on balms and steam to help his daughter get through the night. Even when she is sleeping well, the mounting debt due to medical expenses keeps him awake.

“Yes, I am in debt of 20,000 rupees ($235) and to pay that off I am trying to work even harder,” he said.

Many like Kumar have come to Delhi from different parts of India to seek a better life, but they’re stuck.

“It should not be so hard to live in the capital,” he said.

Israel wasted no time after Bashar al-Assad’s fall to bomb all the Syrian military assets it wanted to keep out of the rebels’ hands – striking nearly 500 targets, destroying the navy, and taking out, it claims, 90% of Syria’s known surface-to-air missiles.

But it is Israel’s capture of Syria’s highest peak, the Mount Hermon summit, that may prove among the most lasting prizes – though officials have insisted that its occupation is temporary.

“This is the highest place in the region, looking upon Lebanon, upon Syria, Israel,” said Efraim Inbar, director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS). “It’s strategically extremely important. There is no substitute for mountains.”

The summit of Mount Hermon lies in Syria, in a buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces for fifty years until last weekend, when Israeli troops took control of it. Until Sunday, the summit was demilitarized and patrolled by UN peacekeepers – their highest permanent position in the world.

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, on Friday ordered the military to prepare for the harsh conditions of winter deployment. “Due to developments in Syria, it is of immense security importance to maintain our control over the summit of Mount Hermon,” he said in a statement.

Israel captured the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau in southwestern Syria that abuts Mount Hermon, in the 1967 war and has occupied it since. Syria attempted to retake the territory in a surprise attack in 1973, but failed, and Israel annexed it in 1981. The occupation is illegal under international law, but the United States recognized Israel’s claim on the Golan during the Trump administration.

Israel has for decades held some lower slopes of Mount Hermon, and even operates a ski resort there, but the peak remained in Syria proper.

“We have no intention to intervene in Syria’s internal affairs,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video days after Israel bombed hundreds of Syrian targets and seized the demilitarized buffer zone. “But we certainly intend to do everything necessary to take care of our security.”

Mount Hermon’s summit is a tremendous asset under Israel’s control. At 9,232 feet (2,814 meters), it is higher than any point in Syria or Israel, and second to only one peak in Lebanon.

“People sometimes say in the age of missiles, land is not important – it’s simply untrue,” Inbar said.

In an academic paper published in 2011, he wrote of the many advantages presented by Mount Hermon.

“It enables the use of electronic surveillance deep into Syrian territory, giving Israel early-warning capacity in case of an impending attack,” he wrote. Advanced technological alternatives like airborne surveillance, he argued, was simply not comparable. “In contrast to an installation on a mountain, these cannot carry heavy equipment such as big antennas, and they can be shot down by anti-air missiles.”

The peak is just over 35 kilometers (about 22 miles) from Damascus, which means that control of its Syrian foothills – also now in IDF hands – put the Syrian capital within range for artillery cannons.

The Israeli prime minister has said his “hand is extended” to the new government in Syria. But in the post-October 7 world, he and other national security heavyweights have made clear they are not going to take any chances.

“Mostly, it’s a comfort for us,” retired Brigadier General Israel Ziv said of Israel’s operations in Syria. “We have learned what happened in other countries when you have a terror organization that captures military equipment.”

Netanyahu has also insisted that the occupation is temporary. “Israel will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7 style attacks,” he said. His criteria for withdrawing, he said, was a Syrian force “that is committed to the 1974 agreement can be established and security on our border can be guaranteed.”

It is unclear when that may be achieved.

Whether the military withdraws “is a political decision,” Inbar said. “The military would love to stay there.”

Mike Schwartz and Tim Lister contributed to this report.

South Korea’s parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday in an extraordinary rebuke that came about after his own ruling party turned on him following his refusal to resign over his short-lived martial law attempt.

It is the second time in less than a decade that a South Korean leader has faced impeachment proceedings in office and means Yoon is suspended from exercising his powers until the decision is finally adjudicated by the country’s Constitutional Court.

Following the vote, Yoon conceded that he will “stop temporarily for now, but the journey to the future that I’ve walked past with the people for the past two years should not stop.”

“I will not give up,” he said in a statement shared by the country’s presidential office.

“With all the encouragement and support for me in mind, I will do my best until the last moment for the nation,” he added.

The country’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who will serve as acting president under South Korean law, told reporters that he would “devote all my strength and effort to stable operation of state affairs.”

The dramatic decision marks the culmination of a stunning political showdown after Yoon briefly declared martial law on December 3 and sent soldiers to parliament, where lawmakers fought past troops to enter the building and vote down the decree.

Yoon’s gamble backfired spectacularly, galvanizing many in the vibrant Asian democracy to call for his removal.

Opposition parties tried impeaching him a week ago – but Yoon survived after members of his ruling People Power Party boycotted the vote, saying they hoped the president would voluntarily resign instead.

Yoon then doubled down – giving a defiant speech on Thursday in which he defended his martial law decision, lambasted the opposition, claimed he was trying to save the country and vowed to “fight until the last moment with the people.”

Yet moments before that speech, the leader of Yoon’s party withdrew his support for the president and backed impeachment as the “only way… to defend democracy”, instructing lawmakers to vote with their conscience.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Seoul on Saturday, braving the cold to call for Yoon to resign ahead of the vote, which was passed by 204 lawmakers with 85 voting against it.

Meanwhile, thousands of the president’s supporters gathered in downtown Seoul, with many waving US and South Korean flags, chanting slogans and holding up signs in support of the embattled Yoon.

Yoon, who has been immediately suspended of his powers, now awaits a ruling by the Constitutional Court – one of the country’s highest courts – to confirm his fate, which can take up to six months.

If confirmed, he will become the second South Korean president to be thrown out of office by impeachment after Park Geun-hye, the country’s first female leader.

The now acting president, Han Duck-soo, also faces his own political problems and is being investigated over his role in the martial law decision, adding to the political uncertainty in the weeks ahead.

A former prosecutor and conservative firebrand, Yoon has had a difficult two years in office, mired in low approval ratings and political scandals involving his wife and political appointments.

Since he took office in 2022 he has also faced political gridlock with an opposition-majority parliament – which prevented from moving forward on legislation to cut taxes and ease business regulations, as his main rivals in the Democratic Party used the legislature to impeach key cabinet members and hold up a budget bill.

His administration cracked down what he referred to as “fake news” with police and prosecutors raiding multiple media outlets, including MBC and JTBC, as well as the homes of journalists.

Yoon argued that his frustration with the political deadlock drove him to take a bold power move, surprising not only members of his own party but also many military leaders.

Police raids and treason investigations

In his late-night address declaring martial law, Yoon accused the opposition of “anti-state” activities and being in cahoots with North Korea, without providing evidence – a charge his opponents have strenuously denied. He also portrayed his act as the only way to break the political deadlock in parliament.

But it was met with shock and anger across the country, which remains deeply scarred by the brutality of martial law imposed during decades of military dictatorship before it transitioned into hard-won democracy in the 1980s.

Dramatic scenes from that night showed security forces breaking through windows in the National Assembly to try and prevent lawmakers from gathering, and protesters confronting riot police.

Since then, pressure on the president has grown, with police, parliament, prosecutors and the anti-corruption body launching separate investigations into Yoon on treason allegations. On Tuesday, lawmakers approved a special counsel to investigate whether Yoon committed insurrection and abused his power by issuing martial law.

Last week, South Korean prosecutors detained former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun, who allegedly recommended the martial law imposition and resigned in the wake of the scandal. Kim attempted to end his own life in custody late Tuesday, according to the head of the country’s correctional service.

On Thursday, Yoon said he had only discussed the martial law decree with Kim before declaring it. Meanwhile parliament has already impeached both Yoon’s justice minister and his police chief.

Senior government officials have testified at various government hearings over the last week revealing some extraordinary details about the night of the martial law order.

Special Warfare Command Commander Kwak Jong-geun testified that he received a direct order from President Yoon to break the doors of the National Assembly and drag out the lawmakers, but he did not comply.

South Korea, one of East Asia’s most important economies and vital US regional ally, now faces months of protracted political uncertainty of the kind that dominated the country during the last impeachment crisis in 2016 and 2017.

Then-president Park Geun-hye was ultimately impeached by lawmakers over corruption allegations, kicked out of office by the Constitutional Court, jailed and later pardoned.