Monday 8 Kislev- – Syria rebels announce new era after tyrant Bashar al-Assad fled – Preparing for deal, Hamas tells fellow Gazan terror groups to identify hostages they hold

An Israeli author has alleged that he was subjected to antisemitic abuse by staff at Luton Airport, leaving them to launch an investigation.

Alon Penzel claimed he was hassled by security at the airport as he prepared to fly to Tel Aviv, Israel.

He was wearing a T-shirt which had the slogan ‘End Jew Hatred’ emblazoned across it. He was also carrying a sign which promoted his book titled ‘Testimonies Without Boundaries Israel: October 7th’.

October 7th refers to the date of Hamas’ terror attack in Israel last year, which saw over 1,200 Israelis killed.

Antisemitic abuse has been on the rise since October 7 as Israel’s war against Hamas continues. The Gaza Health Ministry says Israel’s military has killed nearly 45,000 people in the Palestinian territory.
Mr Penzel says he was stopped by a security guard who told him his sign was “offensive”, reports The Telegraph.

The author, 23, had been in London to discuss his book, which includes first-hand accounts from those who survived Hamas captivity.

He said: “I had already been through security and I was walking to the gate when a security man came up to me, and asked me if I was a protester.

“I was puzzled. I said ‘no, I’m just trying to catch my flight’. He pointed at my sign and said that some people may find it offensive. I asked why and he said it was offensive because there has been an illegal occupation since 1948. It was then that I realised something else was going on.”

He continued: “I felt like this was pure antisemitism. I was telling them I was not a protester.

Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Russia and have been granted asylum by the Russian authorities, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday, citing a Kremlin source.
The Interfax news agency quoted the unnamed source as saying: “President Assad of Syria has arrived in Moscow. Russia has granted them (him and his family) asylum on humanitarian grounds.

The Syrian government has fallen after a lightning offensive by anti-regime forces across the country – ending President Bashar al Assad’s 24-year rule.

Mr Assad has left office and the country after giving orders for there to be a peaceful transfer of power, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Russia was not involved in the talks surrounding his departure, the ministry said, but has been in touch with opposition groups – and urged all sides to refrain from violence.

The leader’s whereabouts now, as well as those of his wife Asma and their two children, remain unknown.

Footage circulating on social media as the news emerged showed families ransacking presidential palaces in Damascus, with some taking selfies in the grand settings, as thousands celebrated in the streets.

Tehran, another of Mr Assad’s allies, said it would continue to closely monitor developments in Syria and the region.

The fate of the country lies in the hands of the Syrian people and should be pursued without foreign imposition or destructive intervention, Iran’s foreign ministry said.

Syrian rebels, made up of various opposition groups, said they were working to transition power to a new governing body with full executive powers.

“The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people,” the coalition said in a statement, describing events as a new birth for “great Syria”.

Later, in a post on the social media platform X, it added it aimed to build strategic partnerships within the region and the world.

Sources within various Palestinian terror groups in Gaza said Sunday that Hamas has told them to compile information on the hostages they hold in preparation for a potential ceasefire and hostage deal with Israel.

Hamas has told factions including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front and the Popular Resistance Committees to prepare information such as whether their hostages are alive or dead, the sources told AFP.

Qatar’s prime minister said on Saturday that there was renewed “momentum” for a ceasefire and hostage release deal following the election of Donald Trump in the United States.A Hamas source told AFP there had been “intensified contacts” recently between Hamas and Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish mediators, and that the group expects a new round of talks in Cairo “will begin in the coming days.”

The same source called on Israel to halt the war, claiming the presence of its forces made it “difficult to reach all the captive groups to know the details of the living and dead prisoners.”

Israeli Air Force fighter jets on Sunday struck dozens of targets across Syria, taking out weaponry that Israel feared could fall into the hands of hostile forces, in light of the dramatic fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime some two weeks into a lightning offensive by rebel groups.

Also on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces seized control of a buffer zone between the Israel-Syria border in the Golan Heights, in what it described as a temporary defensive measure.

Dozens of IAF aircraft struck numerous targets, with a focus on destroying “strategic weapons,” defense sources told The Times of Israel, describing the strikes as “very intensive.”

The weapons hit by the warplanes included advanced missile storage sites, air defense systems, and weapon production facilities, according to the defense sources. Israel also struck a chemical weapons site overnight Saturday-Sunday, according to foreign reports.

The Assad regime, which fell on Sunday after a lightning offensive by rebel forces, was an ally of the Iranian regime, and a part of its so-called Axis of Resistance against Israel.

For many years, Syria was used as a throughway for Iranian weapons, en route to terror groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon, with which Israel entered a shaky ceasefire last month.

Israel struck at least seven targets in southwest Syria on Sunday, two regional security sources told Reuters.

They included the Khalkhala air base north of Sweida city, which Syrian army troops withdrew from Saturday night. The regional sources said the army left behind a large stockpile of missiles, air defense batteries, and munitions, that were hit on Sunday.

Later, Israel conducted another wave of at least three airstrikes in the Syrian capital, targeting a security complex and a government research center, the sources told Reuters.

Those strikes caused extensive damage to the main customs headquarters and buildings adjoining the military intelligence offices within the security complex, in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus, the sources said, where Israel previously said Iranian scientists were developing missiles.

The research facility was also damaged, a source said.

One of the regional sources said the strikes hit infrastructure used to store sensitive military data, equipment, and guided missile parts.

Strikes were also reported in the Daraa and Suwayda Governorates, in southern Syria, according to local media.

The US also took advantage of the new reality in Syria, carrying out dozens of strikes on Islamic State targets in central Syria on Sunday.

American warplanes struck more than 75 Islamic State targets hitting the group’s leaders, operatives and camps, the US military said.

Strikes were carried out against “over 75 targets using multiple US Air Force assets, including B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s,” the US Central Command said on social media.

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