Jordan to host Syria talks after Damascus celebrations – Middle East crisis live | Middle East and north Africa

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami says they won’t impede the UN nuclear watchdog’s access and inspection of its sites.

“We have not created and will not create any obstacles for the agency’s inspections and access,”says Eslami, as quoted by the Times of Israel.

“We operate within the framework of safeguards, and the agency also acts according to regulations—no more, no less,” he adds.

Jim Powell

In meetings with Pope Francis and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said “we must respect the will of the Syrian people, and we wish them all the best,” according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

“We also look forward to relations between the two countries based on mutual respect and the interests of the two peoples.”

The UN’s special envoy urged foreign powers to work to avoid a collapse of vital Syrian institutions on Saturday.

Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, backed a “credible and inclusive” political process when forming Syria’s next government as he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“We need to make sure that state institutions do not collapse, and that we get in humanitarian assistance as quickly as possible,” Pedersen said.

“If we can achieve that, perhaps there is a new opportunity for the Syrian people.”

Blinken said that the United Nations “plays a critical role” in humanitarian assistance and protecting minorities in Syria.

The Israeli Air Force carried out drone strikes against several primed rocket launchers in southern Lebanon this morning, the Times of Israel reports.

The IDF claims the Lebanese rockets were pointed at Israel, violating the ceasefire agreement between the two nations.

No political comeback for Assad: expert claims the ousted Syrian leader will live the rest of his days comfortably dull somewhere in Russia.

“Bashar and his family are avowedly secular, even though they identify with the Alawite sect, so Russia always had more appeal than Iran in that sense,” said David Lesch, a Syria expert at Trinity University in Texas who has met with Assad on multiple occasions.

“In Assad’s mind, Russia and Vladimir Putin can better protect his family from extradition or any other attempts by the international community to bring him to justice,” Lesch added.

Meanwhile, the leader of Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, Raed al-Saleh, has addressed the families of the victims and survivors of the former Syrian regime in front of the Palace of Justice in Damascus.

On a video posted on X, Al-Saleh promised to hold Assad accountable for his “violations”.

“Today, I promise you from in front of the Palace of Justice, not from anywhere else, to work with all legal institutions to hold the head of the regime accountable after all these violations,” he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Israel’s most recent strikes targeted military sites in Damascus and its countryside.

On Friday Israel air strikes targeted “a missile base at the top of Damascus’s Mount Qasyun”, the war monitoring group said, and an airport in southern Sweida province and “defence and research labs in Masyaf”, in Hama province.

“Israeli strikes destroyed a scientific institute” military facilities in Barzeh, in northern Damascus, and targeted a “military airport” in the capital’s countryside, it said.

The group added that strikes also targeted “Scud ballistic missile warehouses” and launchers in the Qalamun area, as well as “rockets, depots and tunnels under the mountain.”

Since Assad’s defeat, Israel has repeatedly attacked Syrian military sites.

Jordan to host Syria talks after Damascus erupts in celebration