Assassination attempts in Syria, US moves to delay Gaza invasion

International newspapers published today addressed the security chaos in Syria and US movements on the Gaza file.

Five Assassination Plots Targeting al-Sharaa and Two Ministers

A United Nations report cited by The National (UAE) revealed that five assassination attempts targeted the head of Syria’s interim government, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and two senior ministers in his cabinet, all of which were foiled over the past year.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in the report, prepared by the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, that al-Sharaa was the primary target of these attempts, which took place in Aleppo province and Daraa province in southern Syria.

The report stated that the plots were attributed to a group called “Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah,” which the UN assessed to be a “front for ISIS,” used to provide “a degree of plausible deniability and to enhance ISIS operational capabilities.”

It also noted that Interior Minister Anas Hassan Khattab and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani were among the targets, without providing specific dates or operational details about the assassination attempts.

According to the report, “Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah” consists of between 5 and 12 decentralized cells primarily focused on targeting Syrian components. These cells include ISIS members as well as former members of “Hurras al-Din” and other armed factions.

The UN estimated ISIS fighters at around 3,000 across Syria and Iraq, most of them based inside Syrian territory. The report said ISIS has established networks across all Syrian provinces, planting sleeper cells in urban centers, including Damascus, and concealing the scale of its activities by not claiming many attacks.

It added that between June and last November, at least 129 attacks were attributed to ISIS, most involving improvised explosive devices, car bombs, assassinations, and ambushes. The majority of these attacks were concentrated in Deir ez-Zor province, with about 70 percent targeting the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The report further stated that as of late November, ISIS had expanded its attacks into Idlib and Aleppo provinces, targeting interim government forces.

Trump’s Progress on Gaza May Obstruct a New Israeli Ground Invasion

An analysis by The Jerusalem Post said steps led by US President Donald Trump’s administration in Gaza, particularly the deployment of an international peacekeeping force led by Indonesia and a phased plan to disarm Hamas, could be used to delay or prevent any large-scale Israeli ground operation before the upcoming Israeli elections.

According to the newspaper, Washington is pressing for Hamas to hand over heavy weapons within a deadline that may expire in early May, while temporarily allowing some light weapons to remain as part of a phased disarmament track. Thousands of Indonesian troops are also expected to deploy as part of an international stabilization force, in what the US administration views as a tangible shift in Gaza’s security equation.

Israeli sources expressed doubts about the plan’s ability to dismantle Hamas’s full arsenal, particularly small arms, while Washington may seek to market partial progress as sufficient achievement to dissuade Israel from launching a new invasion in the near term. 

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ANHA