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UN investigators say 4,000 Syrian rights abusers identified

UN investigators say they have compiled secret lists of 4,000 perpetrators of serious crimes in Syria and hope the fall of Bashar al-Assad will help ensure accountability up to the highest level."It is very important that the top level perpetrators are brought to justice," said Linnea Arvidsson, who coordinates the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria (COI)."The focus should be on those who carry the main responsibility for the violations that have been committed for so many years, rather than the lower-level perpetrators," she told AFP in an interview.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: UN investigators say 4,000 Syrian rights abusers identified

Many in Israel-occupied Golan want peace, return to Syrian control

With the overthrow of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, many in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights say they want peace with Israel and a return to Syrian control.Kamil Khater, a barber in the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams, said: "We, the Syrians... want peace with everyone, including Israel."But once the transition in Damascus is complete, he said, they want Golan to "return to the homeland, Syria".Israel conquered most of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed those areas in 1981, in a move only the United States has recognised.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Many in Israel-occupied Golan want peace, return to Syrian control

Prison will not silence me, Iran's Mohammadi says

Narges Mohammadi, the Iranian 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate on temporary medical leave from prison, said in a video call released Thursday that she would never let prison silence her.The 52-year-old has been jailed repeatedly over the past 25 years, most recently since November 2021, for past convictions relating to her advocacy against the obligatory hijab for women and capital punishment in Iran.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Prison will not silence me, Iran's Mohammadi says

Paraguay returns Israel embassy to Jerusalem

Paraguay's President Santiago Pena vowed on Thursday to stand with Israel, as he inaugurated the Latin American country's embassy after it moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for a second time."We were with you, we are with you, and we will always stand with the people of Israel", Pena said during a ceremony to inaugurate the mission that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Paraguay returns Israel embassy to Jerusalem

New Syria leaders vow to search for abducted US journalist Tice

Syria's new leadership said Thursday it was searching for abducted US journalist Austin Tice and had secured the release of another American it said had been held by the ousted government.In 2022, US President Joe Biden accused Syria of holding Tice, a freelance photojournalist detained near Damascus a decade earlier, and demanded that the government of Bashar al-Assad release him.The transitional government, which took the helm in Syria after Assad's ouster on Sunday, said that "the search for American citizen Austin Tice is ongoing".
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: New Syria leaders vow to search for abducted US journalist Tice