WarSclerotic

A Syrian scientist at the head of a research center purportedly linked to the development of chemical weapons and bombed by Israel in the past was killed in a bombing, according to Syrian reports early Sunday.

Aziz Azbar, the head of the Syrian Scientific Research and Studies Center in Masyaf, was killed along with his driver in a bombing Saturday night, according to reports.

The deaths were reported by a number of Syrian and Lebanese news outlets as well as the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor and a Facebook page purportedly linked to the Syrian military.

Azbar was close to both Syrian President and the Iranian regime, which was thought to be using the facility for arms development, according to the observatory.

According to some reports, the car Azbar and his driver were in blew up when a passerby managed to attach a bomb to it.

There was no official confirmation of his death.

The Scientific Research and Studies Center in Masyaf, also known by its French acronym CERS, has been the target of at least two reported air attacks blamed on Israel, including one in late April said to have killed a number of Iranians.

Western officials have long associated CERS with the production of chemical weapons. Reports have also indicated an Iranian missile operation at the site.

After the July strike on the site outside of Hama in northern Syria, the observatory said the air attack had targeted a “workshop supervised by Iranians where surface-to-surface missiles are made.”

The site was also reportedly hit by Israel in September 2017.

سفيان السامرائي

✔@SufianSamarrai

غارات أسرائيلية على قاعدة عسكرية ب #حماة مخصصة للإسلحةالكميائية تؤدي الى تدمير كامل لمنظومةالأسد التشغيلية هناك#أسرائيل #سوريا #حزب_الشيطان

6:23 AM – Sep 7, 2017

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Israel does not comment on reports of airstrikes in Syria but has said it will work to keep advanced weapons out of terrorists’ hands and has vowed to stop Iran from gaining a foothold in the country.

A Syrian man collects samples from the site of a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, on April 5, 2017. (AFP/Omar Haj Kadour)

In April 2017, the Trump administration placed sanctions on hundreds of CERS employees following a chemical attack on the Syrian rebel-held city of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of civilians, including children.

Another CERS facility near Damascus was bombed by US, British and French forces in April after another chemical attack.

The Syrian regime has been accused of dozens of gas attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians during the war, even after it said it was giving up its stockpile.

A senior member of the Syrian opposition, citing security officials still working for the regime at the time, told The Times of Israel in 2014 that Assad’s forces were stockpiling chemical substances and missiles carrying chemical warheads at the site, which was not made available to international inspectors tasked with ensuring the destruction of the weapons.

Largely unmentioned by Iranian authorities, protests against the regime have been raging for several days in several major cities, including Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad and Tehran, driven by concerns over the economy as well as wider anger at the political system.

On Saturday, the conservative Fars news agency reported that hundreds of protesters had attacked a religious school in Karaj province near Tehran the night before.

The rulers of Iran may have a good reason to hide the scale of the demonstrations. According to reports, many protesters stressed that they blame their government, not Washington, for the expected effects of US sanctions, which are due to restart on Monday after the Trump Administration pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal.

“As long as the dictator [Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei] stands, the uprising will continue,” shouted demonstrators in the city of Karaj, the Arab News website reported on Friday.

In Isafan, marchers shouted “death to the dictator,” before appearing to set fire to police cars, CBS News reported.

“The enemy is here; they are lying when they say it is America,” protesters in Isfahan chanted, according to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) which receives support from some in the Trump administration.

The state-run IRNA news agency said Thursday around 100 people protested in the northern city of Sari, as well as unknown numbers in Shiraz, Ahavz and Mashhad, but that the demonstrations were broken up by police as they were taking place without permission from authorities.

Videos on social media, which could not be independently verified, purported to show clashes between protesters and authorities.

Videos on social media in recent days have shown people chanting “Death to the dictator,” but authorities have charged that such footage was promoted by emigre opposition groups funded by the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Foreign media are barred from observing or filming “unauthorized” protests.

The numerous protests that have sparked across Iran are a continuation of sorts of a nationwide anti-government movement that started gaining ground in late December and continued protesting sporadically throughout the year.

Since the US pulled out of the nuclear deal in May the Iranian rial has slipped to record lows, and has consequently led many in the authoritarian country to dare to explicitly call for an end to the rule of Iran’s Islamist leadership.

During past unrest, conservative outlets have focused on attacks against sensitive symbols such as religious buildings as a way of tarnishing the protests.

Fars said the religious school in Karaj province was attacked on Friday night. “At 9 p.m. on Friday they attacked the school and tried to break the doors down and burn things,” Fars quoted the head of the school in the town of Ishtehad, Hojatoleslam Hindiani, as saying.

It gave only his clerical rank — Hojatoleslam — not his given name.

“They were about 500 people and they chanted against the system but they were dispersed by the riot police and some have been arrested,” Hindiani said.

Amid the rapidly-spreading protests, Iran’s parliament announced Wednesday it would hold a special session to question President Hassan Rouhani about the plummeting currency and struggling economy.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani (2-R) delivers a speech after being sworn in before parliament in Tehran, on August 5, 2017. (AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE)

Lawmakers plan to separately question Labor Minister Ali Rabiei over the 12.5 percent unemployment rate. He already appeared before parliament in March, when they voted to keep him in office.

Pressure is building on Rouhani as Iran’s economic woes mount. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered Rouhani, the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary to work together and find a way to resolve the problems.

On Tuesday, 200 of 290 members of parliament signed a letter to Rouhani urging him to make changes to his economic team.

Rouhani’s administration has already replaced the central bank governor and taken other measures to shore up the currency, which hit a new low this week.

Meanwhile, some hardliners have called for new elections or for Rouhani’s civilian government to be replaced by a military-led one.

Early last week, Iran’s foreign ministry rejected reports it may be open to fresh negotiations with the United States, as the country’s currency hit a record low ahead of the re-imposition of the sanctions.

“The US or parts of the US may express wishes [about talks], but after the [US] illegal withdrawal from the JCPOA and their hostile policies and push for economic pressure on the Iranian nation, I think there is no such issue” in the works, the Tasnim News Agency reported spokesman Bahram Qassemi as saying.

The foreign ministry’s rebuke of “media speculation” came two days days after the influential parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, was quoted suggesting Iran could be open to talks with the US, if such a move has widespread backing from the country’s leaders.

Qassemi also dismissed any tie between a recent trip by the Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Oman and the Omani foreign minister’s visit to Washington last week.

In this April 24, 2018, file photo, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is interviewed by The Associated Press in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew,)

Oman hosted Iranian and Obama administration officials during the negotiations leading to the 2015 nuclear deal meant to limit Iran’s nuclear program.

The visit has been seen by some as a sign that Oman is acting as a mediator between the US and Iran. Muscat hosted secret preliminary talks between the Obama administration and Iran’s leadership in 2011.

Larijani was quoted in unsourced reports on Saturday purportedly saying that if the entire Iranian establishment was in agreement, Iran could negotiate with the US. This unsourced quotation was repeated prominently on Israel’s Hadashot TV news on Monday evening.

The unconfirmed reports of a possible shift in Iran’s stance on negotiations with the US have come as the free fall of its economy continued Monday, with the rial dropping to 122,000 to the dollar on the thriving black market exchange, from the previous low set the day before of 116,000 to the dollar.

Iranian and US banknotes on display at a currency exchange shop in downtown Tehran, Iran, on April 4, 2015. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

In a statement dated Sunday, the central bank alleged the rial’s drop was the result of foreign conspiracies and said the currency’s weakness against the dollar was not a reflection of “economic realities.”

“Recent developments in the gold and forex markets are part of the conspiracies hatched by the country’s enemies in order to agitate the economy and rob the people of their psychological security,” the statement said, according to Radio Farda.

The central bank stressed it was “closely watching the developments.”

The rial has lost half its value against the dollar in just four months, having broken through the 50,000-mark for the first time in March.

The government attempted to fix the rate at 42,000 in April, and threatened to crack down on black market traders.

But the trade continued with Iranians worried about a prolonged economic downturn turning to dollars as a safe way to store their savings, or as an investment in the hope the rial will continue to drop.

With banks often refusing to sell their dollars at the artificially low rate, the government was forced to soften its line in June, allowing more flexibility for certain groups of importers.

The US is set to reimpose its full range of sanctions in two stages on August 6 and November 4, forcing many foreign firms to cut off business with Iran.

The IDF said it carried out a second airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Saturday afternoon, targeting a cell launching incendiary balloons into Israel from the southern Palestinian enclave. The strike came hours after the military targeted a cell launching balloons in the northern Gaza Strip.

The airstrikes came amid reports that the Strip’s Hamas rulers were considering a long-term ceasefire deal with Israel.

Earlier in the day, firefighters battled two blazes in the Gaza border area started by flaming balloons. On Friday there were 26 fires started by incendiary devices flown from Gaza.

Since March 30, southern Israel has experienced hundreds of fires as a result of incendiary kites and balloons flown over the border from Gaza. Over 7,000 acres of land have been burned, causing millions of shekels in damages, according to Israeli officials.

Recently, balloons have been found farther and farther from the Gaza Strip, including as far away as the southern city of Beersheba.

Israel has struggled to counter the arson assault and has in some cases fired at Palestinians preparing to launch incendiaries, killing or injuring those involved.

Palestinians prepare to fly a kite near the Gaza border with Israel, east of Jabalia, on August 3, 2018. (AFP/ MAHMUD HAMS)

The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip said earlier Saturday that a 15-year-old Palestinian died of his wounds hours after being shot in the stomach by Israeli soldiers during clashes at the border on Friday.

Several Palestinians breached the border fence during the large protests.

Palestinian protesters at the Israel-Gaza border, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 3, 2018. (AFP/Said Khatib)

The army said some 8,000 people took part in the protests at five sites along the border Friday. The military said its forces responded with riot disposal means and live fire in accordance with appropriate rules of engagement.

In one incident, several Palestinians crossed the border fence, entered Israeli territory at the Kerem Shalom crossing, and threw firebombs and stones, before fleeing back into Gaza. “In response, an IDF tank shelled a post belonging to the Hamas terror group.”

Friday’s protests were held in memory of Mohammad Tareq, a Palestinian terrorist who murdered an Israeli man in a terror attack in the West Bank last week.

Organizers urged Gazans to attend Friday’s protests “in order to convey a message that Palestinians will not surrender to the dictates of Israeli terrorism until the siege is lifted,” the Haaretz daily reported.

For over three months, there have been near-weekly, violent protests along the Israel-Gaza border organized by Gaza’s Hamas rulers, leading to the most serious escalation between the two sides since the 2014 war.

The deadly clashes have seen Israeli security forces facing gunfire, grenades, Molotov cocktails, and efforts — sometimes successful — to damage or penetrate the border fence. Last month, an Israeli soldier was killed by a sniper.

According to the Gaza health ministry, 157 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the “March of Return” protests on March 30. Hamas has acknowledged that dozens of those killed were its members.

The Hamas leadership on Friday agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel on the condition that restrictions on the Gaza Strip’s border crossings be eased, Hadashot news reported. Now the leaders were waiting for an Israeli response after the cabinet meets Sunday, the TV report said.

In the wake of Hamas’s approval, the TV news station said that a “very senior” Israeli official travelled to Qatar for talks on how to implement the long-term ceasefire deal.

According to Hadashot, the first phase of the plan would see the Rafah border crossing with Egypt reopened on a permanent basis, and eased restrictions on the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

The second phase of deal, according to Hadashot, would see an agreement between Hamas and Fatah that would see the Palestinian Authority take control of the Gaza Strip under the auspices of Egypt. It was not clear how this could be reconciled with Hamas’s refusal to relinquish its weaponry — a stance that has scuppered previous Fatah-Hamas reconciliation efforts.

In return, the PA would resume paying its employees in Gaza whose salaries it has withheld, the TV report said. The second phase also outlines a roadmap for elections to be held in Gaza within six months.

A  third phase would implement long-proposed humanitarian projects like the establishment of a port in the Sinai in Egypt that would serve Gaza, the report said.

The last phase, Hadashot reported, was a 5-10 year ceasefire agreement with Israel, that would include negotiations for the return of the Israeli citizens and remains of IDF soldiers held by Hamas in Gaza.

These specifics were not officially confirmed.

However, an Israeli official told Channel 10 on Friday that Israel would not be willing to accept any long-term deal with Hamas that did not include the return of the held Israelis. He said the deal stipulated that the negotiations for their return must begin immediately.

As soon as news of the reported proposal broke Friday, the families of Israeli fallen soldiers and civilians held in Gaza appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli political leaders, urging them to include the release of Israelis in any deal.

“Any deal that doesn’t include the return of Oron [Shaul], Hadar [Goldin], [Avera] Mengistu and the rest of our citizens won’t be worth the paper it’s written on, or whatever verbal promises were made for it,” read a letter to Netanyahu from the Shaul family.

Left to right: Oron Shaul, Hadar Goldin and Avraham Mengistu. (Flash90/The Times of Israel)

“For the deal to have practical and moral validity, its first stipulation must be the release of our sons,” the letter said. “A deal without the return of our sons is a surrender that only serves as evidence of our country’s weakness.”

The Shaul family plans to protest the deal in front of the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday morning, when the security cabinet is to meet to discuss the agreement.

Reports in the Lebanese news paper Al-Akhbar earlier on Friday said the deal stipulated that Hamas must commit to “the end of the provocations along the border, or in other words, the phenomena of the flaming kites and ballons, border crossing operations and setting fire to border posts.”

The deputy head of Hamas’s politburo, Saleh al-Arouri, who served several Israeli jail terms for terrorism, arrived in the Gaza Strip late Thursday with other Hamas leaders for talks focused on renewed reconciliation efforts with Fatah and to raise the truce prospects with the terror group’s Gazan leadership, Hamas-linked media reported.

According to Al-Akhbar, Hamas’s leadership, including its Shura Council, or parliament, is expected to convene a vote on the proposal, which was brokered by UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov in meetings with Netanyahu, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, and Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.

The reports of a possible ceasefire came as the IDF said Palestinians protesting along the border breached the border fence and hurled firebombs. One Palestinian was killed and 25 Palestinians were injured during the Hamas-led “March of Return” demonstrations Friday afternoon, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said.

The army said some 8,000 people took part in five separate protests along the border, and that troops responded with riot disposal means and live fire in accordance with appropriate rules of engagement.

For over three months, there have been near-weekly, violent protests along the Israel-Gaza border organized by Gaza’s Hamas rulers, leading to the most serious escalation between the two sides since the 2014 war.

Palestinian protesters gather as tear gas canisters are launched by Israeli forces during a demonstration at the Israel-Gaza border, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 3, 2018. (AFP/Said Khatib)

The deadly clashes have seen Israeli security forces facing gunfire, grenades, Molotov cocktails and efforts — sometimes successful — to damage or penetrate the border fence. Last month, one Israeli soldier was killed by a sniper.

According to the Gaza health ministry, 157 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the “March of Return” protests on March 30. Hamas has acknowledged that dozens of those killed were its members.

The protests have also seen Palestinians fly airborne incendiary devices toward Israeli territory, sparking hundreds of fires in southern Israel and causing millions of shekels in estimated damages.

On Friday, firefighters had worked to extinguish 16 blazes caused by incendiary balloons across Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the Israeli Fire and Rescue Services said.

The confrontations have at times spiraled into military exchanges, with Palestinians firing dozens of rockets at southern Israeli towns and the army launching air strikes on Hamas positions in Gaza.