The funeral of 75 bodies recovered in Gaza... and 8,000 still under the rubble

Today (Sunday), Israeli forces carried out bulldozing operations of agricultural lands, after incursion into areas in southern Syria.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that “an Israeli occupation force, consisting of a tank and a number of military vehicles, penetrated west of Al-Hanout farm in the southern countryside of Quneitra, and began to bulldoze lands planted with olive trees.”

She pointed out that “in the northern countryside of Quneitra, the occupation forces released two young men whom they had detained yesterday (Saturday) during their incursion into the vicinity of the village of Taranja, while they were working in the olive fields in the area.”

She pointed out that “the occupation forces entered the Al-Aqrabiya area, located between the village of Abdeen and the town of Jumla in the Yarmouk Basin area in the western countryside of Daraa, and set up a barrier that impeded the movement of residents, before withdrawing.”

According to the agency, “The Israeli occupation continues to violate the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, through its repeated incursions into southern Syria, raiding civilian homes and arresting them, leveling lands, and carrying out missile and other attacks.”

Syria is constantly demanding the withdrawal of Israeli forces from its territory, stressing that all the measures it is taking are null and void, and do not have any legal effect in accordance with international law. It also calls on the international community to assume its responsibilities and oblige Israel to withdraw completely from southern Syria.

Iraqi sources reported that the armed factions are facing “financial hardship” due to US sanctions against their leaders, but they ruled out stopping the payment of salaries to their fighters registered within the regulations of the Popular Mobilization Authority, which obtains its resources from the state.

The commander of the US Central Command (Centcom), Brad Cooper, said yesterday (Saturday) that “the economic stranglehold has prompted pro-Iranian groups in the region, including Iraqi factions, to withhold the salaries of their fighters and transfer funds to Tehran to cover the public sector deficit.”

However, Iraqi sources, some of whom are familiar with the atmosphere of the factions, told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the factions have been suffering for months from real financial hardship, as a result of sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department.”

But she confirmed that “members of the factions, who are often under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces, receive their salaries on a regular basis from the state.”

On the ground, an explosion occurred inside the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces, east of Baghdad, on Saturday evening. The authority said it was caused by the explosion of quantities of “damaged equipment.” The explosion resulted in the death of one soldier and the injury of five others.

Lebanon is awaiting the outcome of the contacts conducted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to convince him of the necessity of holding a Lebanese-Israeli meeting at the military level, under American sponsorship, on the date specified for that, that is, between 20 and 22 October, in Florida.

Rubio had confirmed this to the Lebanese President, General Joseph Aoun, during their call on Thursday.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned from an informed source that Aoun informed Rubio of Lebanon’s readiness to participate in the military meeting with Israel, perhaps as a step to compel Netanyahu to establish a ceasefire and remove the formation of the “verification mechanism” for the army’s deployment in the “pilot zone” from the stagnant circle, in preparation for expanding the scope of its work.