S. Sudan peace deal collapses as rival leader Riek Machar placed under house arrest

LONDON: The Syrian Arab Republic and South Korea established diplomatic relations on Thursday, marking a significant milestone in foreign policy for both republics.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani signed an agreement with his South Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yul, in Damascus to establish diplomatic relations. A high-level South Korean delegation met Syria’s President Ahmad Al-Sharaa at the People’s Palace in the Syrian capital.

The agreement would initiate friendship and cooperation between Syria and Korea, opening embassies and exchanging diplomatic missions between the two countries, the SANA agency reported.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the move was aimed at restoring the country’s international standing, which had weakened due to the policies of the former Assad regime.

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “This development opens a new chapter of cooperation with Syria, whose bilateral relations with South Korea had been severed due to its close ties with North Korea.”

Syria was the only UN member without diplomatic ties to South Korea, which gained independence in 1948. It is now the 191st country to establish official relations with Seoul.

The Assad regime, which collapsed in December 2024, had built close ties with Seoul’s neighboring foe, North Korea, which provided it with military assistance during the Cold War.

Three non-UN members, the South Pacific island nations of the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Holy See, have not yet established ties with Seoul.

JERUSALEM: An Israeli military official said Thursday that reserve pilots who publicly called for securing the release of hostages, even at the cost of ending the Gaza war, would be dismissed from the air force.
“With the full backing of the chief of the General Staff, the commander of the IAF (Israeli air force) has decided that any active reservist who signed the letter will not be able to continue serving in the IDF (military),” the official told AFP in response to a letter signed by around 1,000 reserve and retired pilots.
The letter, which was published on a full page in multiple daily newspapers, directly challenges the policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has insisted that increased military pressure on Gaza is the only way to get Palestinian militants to release hostages seized during Hamas’s October 2023 attack.
“We, the aircrew in the reserves and retired, demand the immediate return of the hostages even at the cost of an immediate cessation of hostilities,” the letter said.
“The war serves primarily political and personal interests, not security interests,” it said, adding that the resumed offensive “will result in the deaths of the hostages, IDF soldiers and innocent civilians, and the exhaustion of the reserve service.”
“Only an agreement can return the hostages safely, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of hostages and the endangerment of our soldiers.”
The military official said most of the signatories of the letter were not active reservists.
“Our policy is clear — the IDF stands above all political dispute. There is no room for any body or individual, including reservists in active duty, to exploit their military status while simultaneously participating in the fighting and calling for its cessation,” the official said.
Netanyahu said he supported the move to dismiss any active pilots who had signed the letter.
“Refusal is refusal — even when it is implied and expressed in euphemistic language,” a statement released by his office said.
“Statements that weaken the IDF and strengthen our enemies during wartime are unforgivable.”
Some 251 people were seized during Hamas’s attack, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
A truce that lasted from January 19 to March 17 saw the return of 33 Israeli hostages — eight of them in coffins — in exchange for the release of around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Efforts to restore the truce and release more hostages have so far failed.
The army said it was continuing its ground operations in southern Gaza and that it had “dismantled dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites and several tunnel shafts leading to underground terror networks in the area.”
The army said that a Wednesday strike in Gaza City had “eliminated” a Hamas commander from the area it alleged had participated in the October 2023 attack.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said at least 23 people, including women and children, were killed in the strike which levelled a four-story residential building.
In an update Thursday, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said at least 1,522 Palestinians have been killed in the renewed Israeli offensive, taking the overall death toll since the start of the war to 50,886.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.