After the drama of the Assad regime’s collapse drew the eyes of the whole world toward Syria, the last weeks have seen a sharp decrease of media attention toward the country, as the new government is working to assert its control while starting the rebuilding process
On Sunday, the Interior Ministry of Syria’s new government, which is dominated by the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, announced its forces had caught a shipment of weapons intended for Hezbollah.
The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah was among the Assad regime’s most important allies and is a sworn enemy of the former rebel groups, including HTS. The fall of the Assad regime deprived Hezbollah of most of its critically important land routes connecting it to its patron and main backer, Iran.
The shipment was intercepted on one of the numerous smuggling routes crisscrossing the border region between Syria and Lebanon, near the town of Serghaya, north of the capital Damascus, The Media Line reported.
Another weapons shipment was intercepted last week in the Tartous province, near Lebanon’s northern border. Pictures released by Syria’s General Security Directorate showed the shipment contained sniper rifles, machine guns, AK-47 rifles, grenade launchers, and missiles.
Among the new government’s most important projects is international recognition, which will help with the lifting the many sanctions imposed on the country due to the Assad regime’s crimes during the Civil War.
In an important signal to the region, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan visited the country on Friday, for the first time meeting with HTS chief and the country’s de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, as well as Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani.
On Monday, EU foreign ministers agreed on a roadmap to gradually lift European sanctions on Syria.
“This could give a boost to the Syrian economy and help the country get back on its feet,” EU head diplomat Kaja Kallas said, but cautioned that “while we aim to move fast, the lifting of sanctions can be reversed if wrong steps are taken.”
On Syria’s southwestern border, the IDF has long prepared for potential “wrong steps” by the new government, immediately seizing the demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights when the Assad regime collapsed and left it unsecured.
After Israeli officials announced the IDF would stay there at least through the winter, the BBC published recent satellite images showing a street leading to the Israeli military’s newly built outpost, some 600 meters inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Syrian territory.
Read the full article at All Israel News.