The fall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad earlier in December has set millions of Yemenis thinking about what lies in store for their own country. Some say the fall of the Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen – who control Sanaa and much of northern and western Yemen – may be the “next surprise” in the region.

The violence in Tartous province marks the deadliest challenge yet to the Islamist-led authorities which swept Bashar al-Assad from power.

In a separate attack, an Israeli drone strike near the hospital’s entrance killed one civilian, WAFA news agency reported. Meanwhile, rescue teams in Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood recovered the bodies of four Palestinians trapped under the rubble of a home destroyed in an Israeli airstrike last night.

Yemenis have openly declared their support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched its devastating war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 45,361 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Even with hopes running high, so much can go wrong when a country ousts a longtime dictator and tries to start anew.

In fact, so stubbornly did the Israeli government resist embracing the truth that it took JJAC 10 years to convince it, in 2014, to recognize the Middle Eastern refugees by creating Yom HaPlitim, Jewish Refugee Day, which is now observed every year on November 30.

Houthi underlined that the American occupation in Syria focuses on oil resources, engaging in blatant and open looting of Syrian oil, adding that the “Israeli” enemy destroyed Syria’s military capabilities in the largest air aggression since the establishment of the occupying entity.

“CENTCOM forces conducted the deliberate strikes to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden,” CENTCOM said.

Israel is celebrating the fall of Assad because it breaks the noose that Iran had been patiently tightening around Israel’s borders in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Tehran’s pincer is now broken and rendered useless. From the point of view of Israel’s wider conflict with the Islamic Republic, the collapse of Assad’s regime is a strategic victory.

The leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist rebel group that led the assault that ultimately toppled Bashar Assad's government in Syria, has reached an agreement with other rebel leaders in its coalition to dissolve their factions and merge them under the Defense Ministry,

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the Israeli Air Force had struck Houthi targets in Yemen.