Hundreds of members of the main Syrian insurgent group that overthrew former President Bashar Assad from power marched through the streets of the capital in a show of force.

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The Israeli military said on Friday it hit a border crossing between Lebanon and Syria that was being used by Iranian-backed militants.

The air force "struck infrastructure that was used to smuggle weapons via Syria to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon at the Janta Crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese border," a statement said.

"The Hezbollah terrorist organization exploits civilian infrastructure for terrorist activities and for smuggling weapons designated for its terror attacks against Israeli citizens," the army said.

Lebanese security sources said the strikes also targeted three sites in the Qousaya hills in the Bekaa Valley, in eastern Lebanon.

Very loud explosions were heard across the valley, which is close to the border with Syria, the sources said

The pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia and Israel agreed to a ceasefire at the end of November after more than a year of mutual attacks. There have been repeated violations that have resulted in fatalities.

The Lebanese Army said on Thursday that Israel made an incursion into the southern areas of al-Qantara, Adsheet al-Qusayr and Wadi al-Hujeir in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) warned that “any actions that risk the fragile cessation of hostilities” in south Lebanon “must cease.”

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Turkey positions itself as Syria’s oil and gas saviour after fall of Assad regime

With the regime of former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad having fallen just a few weeks ago, neighbour Turkey has indicated that it may be willing to help Syria rebuild its oil and gas production.

“We are studying the use of crude oil and natural gas for reconstruction of Syria,” said Alparslan Bayraktar, who has served as Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources since 2023.

Speaking to several media outlets, Bayraktar added that Turkey plans “to tell our counterparts how we can make contributions in that sense. Our objective is to develop these projects.”

Turkey was also already working to help Syria with its electricity supply, he said.

For several years, Syria’s oil and gas production has been struggling under a raft of international sanctions, and since the toppling of the regime, almost all imports from Iran have ceased.

Before the 2011 uprising, the country’s oil production hovered around 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), but by mid-2015, this had dropped to 25,000bpd.

By 2023, this had risen slightly to approximately 92,000bpd, but dropped again in 2024 to 80,000bpd.

Turkey (along with several other nations) backed the Syrian rebels who overthrew al-Assad after a 13-year civil war, and was one of the first countries to reopen its Damascus embassy.

"Turkey positions itself as Syria’s oil and gas saviour after fall of Assad regime" was originally created and published by Offshore Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.

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