Israeli troops have seized a demilitarised buffer zone in the Golan Heights in a move that has been criticised by Egypt and Qatar.
Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces had entered the 155-square mile area after a rebel advance ended Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s rule on Sunday.
The zone was established by a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Syria in 1974.
Mr Netanyahu said the 50-year-old deal had collapsed and Syrian troops had abandoned their positions in the zone, necessitating the Israeli takeover as a “temporary defensive position”.
It came as Egypt‘s foreign ministry condemned the seizure of the buffer zone and accused Israel of “exploiting the power vacuum… to occupy more Syrian territories and create a fait accompli in violation of international law”.
Cairo called for the United Nations Security Council to take “a firm position towards the Israeli aggression on Syria”.
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Qatar also condemned the seizure, with its foreign ministry calling it a “dangerous development”.
The Israelis captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War, fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states, primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, and they later annexed it.
The whole international community, apart from the United States, considers the strategic plateau to be occupied Syrian territory.
Image: An Israeli soldier in the Golan Heights buffer zone. Pic: Reuters
Speaking from Mount Bental, an observation point in the Golan Heights near the Syrian border on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said the Assad regime fell as a “direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah”.
Israel carried out attacks on Iran and the Lebanese militant group this year as fears grew the war in Gaza would spiral into a much wider regional conflict.
In his comments on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said Tehran and Iranian-backed Hezbollah were the “main supporters of the Assad regime”.
Image: Israeli soldiers stand guard after the IDF seized the zone. Pic: Reuters
‘Octopus’s arms are being severed’
He was joined by his defence minister Israel Katz who said the fall of the Assad regime was a “severe blow” to the “Iranian-axis of evil”.
Mr Katz added: “The octopus’s arms are being severed one by one.”
Israel’s military later warned residents of five southern Syria communities to stay home for their safety as it took control of the buffer zone.
Following the success of the Syrian rebel offensive, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said his country has a “special concern” that Israel is “using this situation” to its advantage.
The agreement that demarcated the buffer zone was reached after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which started when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel.
United Nations peacekeepers have patrolled the demilitarised buffer zone since 1974.
Image: Israeli military vehicles in the buffer zone. Pic: Reuters
Israel’s foreign minister said on Monday the country’s military has struck suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets in Syria following the collapse of the Assad regime.
Gideon Saar said the attack was carried out to stop the weapons from falling into “the hands of extremists”.
Meanwhile, US forces have carried out dozens of airstrikes on Islamic State targets in central Syria, according to American officials.
In a statement, the US Central Command said the strikes were aimed at ensuring Islamic State does not take advantage of the situation in Syria.
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2:30
How the rebels’ capture of Syria unfolded
Assad regime falls
Syrian rebels said they had captured the country’s capital Damascus and ousted Mr Assad’s regime on Sunday after a lightning offensive that lasted just over a week.
The rebel forces seized military bases, toppled regime statues, freed prisoners and captured major cities as they brought an end to the Assad dynasty’s 54 years of rule.
Mr Assad and his family arrived in the Russian capital Moscow on Sunday as Syrians took to the streets to celebrate the successful rebel offensive.
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
Image: The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
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Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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5:07
The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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3:27
How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”