Today’s news round on Syria highlights key developments reflecting the region’s complexities and escalating tensions. Archaeological findings in an ancient Syrian city reveal what may be the oldest known alphabetic writing, predating previous scripts by 500 years, offering new insights into early urban civilizations. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes reportedly killed over 90 pro-Iran fighters in Palmyra, with additional strikes eliminating a senior Hezbollah commander linked to a 2007 attack on US troops, underscoring Israel’s intensified military actions across Syria. Jordan reported thwarting border infiltration attempts linked to drug and arms smuggling from Syria, further indicating regional instability. Israel’s construction along the ceasefire line with Syria, viewed as territorial expansion, raises fears of heightened tensions. Amidst this, the UN warns of dire conditions pushing some Lebanese refugees in Syria to risk returning to war-torn Lebanon, while also stressing the need to prevent Syria from being dragged further into broader conflicts involving Gaza and Lebanon. Finally, Charles Lister’s op-ed argues against US troop withdrawal from Syria, emphasizing their critical role in countering ISIS and maintaining regional stability.
Evidence of oldest known alphabetic writing unearthed in ancient Syrian city
What appears to be evidence of some of the oldest alphabetic writing in human history is etched onto finger-length, clay cylinders excavated from a tomb in Syria by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers.
The writing, which is dated to around 2400 BCE, precedes other known alphabetic scripts by roughly 500 years, upending what archaeologists know about where alphabets came from, how they are shared across societies, and what that could mean for early urban civilizations, according to the researchers.
“Alphabets revolutionized writing by making it accessible to people beyond royalty and the socially elite. Alphabetic writing changed the way people lived, how they thought, how they communicated,” said Glenn Schwartz, a professor of archaeology at Johns Hopkins University who discovered the clay cylinders. “And this new discovery shows that people were experimenting with new communication technologies much earlier and in a different location than we had imagined before now.”
A Near Eastern archaeologist, Schwartz studies how early urban areas developed throughout Syria and how smaller cities emerged in the region. With colleagues from the University of Amsterdam, he co-directed a 16-year-long archaeological dig at Tell Umm-el Marra, one of the first medium-size urban centers that popped up in western Syria.
At Umm-el Marra, the archaeologists uncovered tombs dating back to the Early Bronze Age. One of the best-preserved tombs contained six skeletons, gold and silver jewelry, cookware, a spearhead, and intact pottery vessels. Next to the pottery, the researchers found four lightly baked clay cylinders with what seems to be alphabetic writing on them.
“The cylinders were perforated, so I’m imagining a string tethering them to another object to act as a label. Maybe they detail the contents of a vessel, or maybe where the vessel came from, or who it belonged to,” Schwartz said. “Without a means to translate the writing, we can only speculate.”
Using carbon-14 dating techniques, researchers confirmed the ages of the tombs, the artifacts, and the writing.
Over 90 said dead, including 15 Hezbollah operatives, in alleged Israeli strike in Syria
A Britain-based Syria war monitor said on Friday that Israeli strikes on the city of Palmyra this week killed 92 pro-Iran fighters after a United Nations representative said they were likely the deadliest to date.
The unverified report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday’s attack targeted three sites in Palmyra, with one hitting a meeting of pro-Iranian groups that also involved commanders from Iraq’s Al-Nujaba group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The toll has risen to “92 dead: 61 Syrian pro-Iran fighters,” 11 of them working for Hezbollah, “and 27 foreign nationals mostly from Al-Nujaba, plus four from Hezbollah,” the Observatory said.
The UN deputy special envoy to Syria, Najat Rochdi, told the Security Council on Thursday that the raid was “likely the deadliest Israeli strike in Syria to date.”
The Observatory said the strikes also targeted “a weapons depot near the industrial area” in Palmyra, a modern city adjacent to globally renowned Greco-Roman ruins.
Israel Eliminates Senior Hezbollah Commander Behind 2007 Attack on US Troops
A recent Israeli airstrike in Syria has reportedly killed Ali Mussa Daqduq, a senior Hezbollah operative involved in a 2007 Iran-backed attack that claimed the lives of five US soldiers in Iraq, Times of Israel reported.
The operation underscores Israel’s intensified strikes against Hezbollah amid ongoing regional tensions.
Daqduq played a central role in the 2007 Karbala attack, where gunmen disguised as US security personnel infiltrated a military base, killed one soldier with a grenade, and captured and executed four others. US forces captured Daqduq shortly after, uncovering his ties to Iran’s Quds Force, which provided support and training for the attack. Despite being extradited to Iraq for prosecution, he was released in 2012, resuming his leadership of Hezbollah operations.
Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, Israel has conducted numerous strikes targeting Hezbollah and Iranian forces, often focusing on weapons shipments and infrastructure. Daqduq, who joined Hezbollah in 1983, had been tasked with establishing observation posts against Israel on Syrian soil and leading a network of operatives, including Syrian mercenaries.
His son, Hassan Ali Daqduq, was also killed in a December 2023 Israeli drone strike in Syria.
Jordan army says it thwarts border infiltration across Syria, one killed
The Jordanian army said on Sunday it had killed one person and arrested six others who tried to cross the border from Syria.
According to Reuters, officials say there has been a spike in such attempts in recent weeks by drug and arms smugglers linked to pro-Iranian militias who hold sway in southern Syria.
The army says they have also used drones in their operations.
Damascus denies any complicity and says it tries to curb rampant drug and arms smuggling across the border with Jordan.
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Israel Expands Construction Along Ceasefire Line With Syria, Raising Tensions
Israel appears to be intensifying its territorial control in the region, constructing developments along the 1974 Alpha Line, a buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The construction, according to ResponsibleStateCrat.com, revealed by aerial footage, has encroached on the demilitarized area, violating the ceasefire agreement monitored by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Israel justifies the work as a defensive measure against potential terrorist threats, but the violations have sparked concerns about escalating tensions.
This activity is part of broader Israeli offensives in the region since October 2023, including intensified strikes on Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria. While Israel claims these operations are necessary for security, critics argue they represent territorial expansion. The Golan Heights, seized by Israel in 1967 and annexed in 1981, remains a point of contention, with international bodies deeming the annexation illegal despite U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the area in 2019.
Experts suggest the construction aligns with Israel’s strategy to solidify its hold over the Golan Heights and exploit Syria’s weakened state post-civil war. Regional spillover from the ongoing conflicts threatens peace and security, with UN officials warning of dire consequences if hostilities escalate further. Israeli actions, bolstered by U.S. support, continue to reshape the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East.
UN warns some who fled to Syria risking lives to return to Lebanon
The U.N. has voiced concern that conditions were so dire in Syria that some Lebanese residents who had fled there seeking refuge from the Israel-Hezbollah war were opting to return to Lebanon, according to AFP..
There are “Lebanese families who are beginning to take the very difficult and potentially life-threatening decision to return to Lebanon,” said Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, the United Nations refugee agency’s representative in Syria.
“These are very, very small numbers, but for us, even small numbers are worrying signals,” he told reporters in Geneva via video link from the Syrian-Lebanese border.
The UNHCR estimates that around 560,000 people fled into Syria from neighbouring Lebanon since late September, when months of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the war in Gaza escalated into an all-out war. Lebanese authorities put the number even higher, at more than 610,000.
Vargas Llosa said that around 65 percent of those crossing into Syria — itself torn apart by 13 years of civil war — were Syrian nationals who had sought refuge in Lebanon from that conflict. He pointed out that from 2017 up to September 23 this year, around 400,000 Syrians had returned to their country from Lebanon.
UN envoy says ‘extremely critical’ to avoid Syria being dragged into war
The UN special envoy for Syria said on Sunday that it was “extremely critical” to end the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza to avoid the country being pulled into a regional war.
“We need now to make sure that we have a ceasefire in Gaza immediately, that we have a ceasefire in Lebanon, and that we avoid Syria being dragged even further into the conflict,“ Geir Pedersen was quoted by AFP to have said ahead of a meeting with the Syrian foreign minister in Damascus.
The Israeli military has intensified its strikes on targets in Syria since its conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon escalated into full-scale war in late September after almost a year of cross-border hostilities.
Don’t leave Syria. The mission is far from over.
Charles Lister wrote an op-ed for the Middle East Institute titled “Don’t Leave Syria. The Mission Is Far From Over,” arguing against a potential U.S. withdrawal from Syria, which President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly considered. Lister emphasizes that U.S. troops play a vital role in combating ISIS and maintaining regional stability, despite the low cost and risk of the mission.
Lister traces the history of U.S. involvement in Syria, starting with a small deployment in 2015 as part of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), which liberated vast territories from ISIS control and trained over 225,000 local security forces. While ISIS has been territorially defeated, the group remains active, conducting hundreds of attacks in Syria, especially in areas under the control of the Assad regime. The regime, alongside its allies Russia and Iran, lacks the capability or will to address the resurgence of ISIS, further justifying the continued U.S. presence.
Lister underscores the efficiency of the U.S. mission, which accounts for a mere 0.2% of the total defense budget and costs taxpayers approximately $8 per year. With 900 troops in Syria, the deployment represents a fraction of America’s global military footprint and provides significant geopolitical leverage against adversaries like Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime.
He warns that withdrawing from Syria would likely empower adversaries and risk a resurgence of ISIS, mirroring the consequences of neglected crises such as the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023. Lister highlights the strategic success of the U.S. mission in Syria, which has achieved remarkable results with minimal expense and casualties, positioning it as a model for future security challenges.
In conclusion, Lister argues that abandoning the mission in Syria would not benefit the U.S. but would destabilize the region and strengthen America’s enemies. He calls for continued U.S. engagement, emphasizing that the mission is far from over.
