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y77777 games Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will “abide” by an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We stand up for international law, and we will abide by all the all the regulations and rulings of the international courts,” Trudeau said. “This is just who we are as Canadians.” On Thursday, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity and crimes committed” since the Israel-Hamas war began more than a year ago. The ICC was created in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity in cases where its member states are unwilling or incapable of doing so. Canada is among its 124 member states. The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, although Israel has said he was killed in an air strike in Gaza in July. Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the allegations. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trudeau reiterated the federal government’s call for a ceasefire in the war. “We need to see a ceasefire that protects civilians. We need to get back on track towards a two-state solution with a peaceful Israel living alongside a peaceful Palestinian state,” Trudeau said. In Washington, D.C., Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly repeated the prime minister’s position. “We need accountability in our world, and so based on that, Canada will abide by its obligation under the ICC treaty,” Joly said. Netanyahu’s office is describing the arrest warrants as “an antisemitic decision.” Israel’s Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed, meanwhile, is speaking out against Canada’s stance to abide by the warrants. “We urge the Canadian government to stand firm in its support of Israel’s right to defend itself by rejecting and condemning the ICC’s decision,” Moed said in a statement. The United States, which is not an ICC member, is rejecting the ICC decision. "The United States fundamentally rejects the Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials. We remain deeply concerned by the Prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision," a White House National Security Council spokesperson said, adding the U.S. is discussing next steps with its partners. The ICC does not have its own police force to enforce the warrants. It will be up to the 124 member states to cooperate. With files from ReutersPressley: Biden 'must act' on clemency before leaving officeYu Miao smiles as he stands among the 10,000 books crowded on rows of bamboo shelves in his newly reopened bookstore. It’s in Washington’s vibrant Dupont Circle neighborhood, far from its last location in Shanghai, where the Chinese government forced him out of business six years ago. “There is no pressure from the authorities here,” said Yu, the owner of JF Books, Washington’s only Chinese bookseller. “I want to live without fear.” Independent bookstores have become a new battleground in China, swept up in the ruling Communist Party’s crackdown on dissent and free expression. The Associated Press found that at least a dozen bookstores in the world’s second-largest economy have been shuttered or targeted for closure in the last few months alone, squeezing the already tight space for press freedom. One bookstore owner was arrested over four months ago. The crackdown has had a chilling effect on China’s publishing industry. Bookstores are common in China, but many are state-owned. Independent bookstores are governed by an intricate set of rules with strict controls now being more aggressively policed, according to bookstore owners. Printing shops and street vendors are also facing more rigorous government inspections by the National Office Against Pornography and Illegal Publication. The office did not respond to interview requests from The Associated Press. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement to AP, said it was not aware of a crackdown on bookstores. Yu isn't alone in taking his business out of the country. Chinese bookstores have popped up in Japan, France, Netherlands and elsewhere in the U.S. in recent years, as a result of both stricter controls in China and growing Chinese communities abroad. It’s not just the books' contents that are making Chinese authorities wary. In many communities, bookstores are cultural centers where critical thinking is encouraged, and conversations can veer into politics and other topics not welcomed by the authorities. The bookstore owner who was arrested was Yuan Di, also called Yanyou, the founder of Jiazazhi, an artistic bookstore in Shanghai and Ningbo on China’s eastern coast. He was taken away by police in June, according to Zhou Youlieguo, who closed his own bookstore in Shanghai in September. Yuan's arrest was also confirmed by two other people who declined to be named for fear of retribution. The charge against Yuan is unclear. An official in Ningbo's Bureau of Culture, Radio Television and Tourism, which oversees bookstores, declined comment, noting the case is under investigation. The Ningbo police didn’t respond to an interview request. Michael Berry, director of UCLA's Center for Chinese Studies, said a sluggish Chinese economy may be driving the government to exert greater control. “The government might be feeling that this is a time to be more cautious and control this kind of discourse in terms of what people are consuming and reading to try to put a damper on any potential unrest and kind of nip it in the bud,” Berry said. These bookstore owners face dual pressures, Berry added. One is the political clampdown; the other is the global movement, especially among young people, toward digital media and away from print publications. Wang Yingxing sold secondhand books in Ningbo for almost two decades before being ordered to close in August. Local officials informed Wang he lacked a publication business license even though he wasn’t eligible to obtain one as a second-hand seller. Faded outlines marked the spot where a sign for Fatty Wang’s Bookstore once hung. Spray-painted black letters on the bookstore’s window read: “Temporarily closed”. “We’re promoting culture, I’m not doing anything wrong, right? I’m just selling some books and promoting culture,” Wang said, tying a bundle of books together with brown wrapper and white nylon string. “Then why won’t you leave me alone?” Wang added. Half a dozen other people heaved boxes of books into the back of a van. The books, Wang said, were being sold to cafe and bar owners who wanted to burnish little libraries for their patrons. Some would be sent to a warehouse in Anhui. The rest, he said, were to be sent to a recycling station to be pulped and destroyed. Bookstores are not the only target. Central authorities have also cracked down on other places such as printing shops, internet bars, gaming rooms and street vendors. Strict inspections have taken place all over the country, according to Chinese authorities. Authorities in Shanghai inspected printing places and bookstores, looking for “printing, copying or selling illegal publications,” according to a government document. This shows the authorities are not just barring the sale of some publications, but tracing them back to the printing process. They found some printing stores did not “register the copy content as required” and demanded they fix the problem quickly. In Shaoyang, a city in China’s south, authorities said they will be “cracking down on harmful publications in accordance with the law.” The Communist Party has various powers to control which books are available. Any publication without a China Standard Book Number is considered illegal, including self-published books and those imported without special licenses. Books can be banned even after they are published if restrictions are later tightened — often for unclear reasons — or if the writers say something upsetting to the Chinese authorities. Yet despite these restrictions and the crackdown on existing booksellers, more bookstores are opening. Recent figures are unavailable, but a survey by Bookdao, a media company that focuses on the book industry, shows more than twice as many bookstores opened than closed in China in 2020. Liu Suli, who has been running All Sages Books in Beijing for over three decades, says there are many idealists in the industry. “Everyone who reads has a dream of having a bookstore,” Liu says, despite the challenges. In many cases, those dreams are being fulfilled outside China. Yu and other Chinese booksellers around the world stock their shelves with books from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China, as well as books published locally. Zhang Jieping, founder of Nowhere, a bookstore in Taiwan and Thailand, said there's a growing demand for books from migrants who left China after the COVID-19 pandemic. “They don’t just want to speak fluent English or Japanese to fit in, they want cultural autonomy,” Zhang said. “They want more community spaces. Not necessarily a bookstore, but in any format — a gallery, or a restaurant.” Li Yijia is a 22-year-old student who arrived in Washington from Beijing in August. One Sunday morning, she wandered through JF Books where she found titles in Chinese and English. She said a Chinese bookstore feels like “another world in a bubble” which helps her critical thinking by allowing her to read books in both languages. “It also relieves homesickness, like a Chinese restaurant,” Li added. The closure of the bookstores leads the owners to different paths. Some ended up in jail, some went looking for jobs to feed their families. Some started a journey to leave censorship behind. Since he closed his Shanghai bookstore, Zhou, 39, has moved to Los Angeles, but hasn't decided what his next step will be. He said his fully licensed independent bookstore, which sold art books and self-published works by artists and translators, was fined thousands of dollars and he was interrogated over a dozen times during the past four years. He's seen colleagues jailed for selling “illegal publications.” All the self-published book artists and editors he worked with asked him to take down their work after warnings by local authorities. Zhou said he could not handle further harassment He said it was as if he were “smuggling drugs instead of selling books.” The existence of his bookstore, Zhou said, was “a rebellion and a resistance,” which is not there anymore. Associated Press writer Dake Kang in Ningbo, China, contributed to this report.

The Tampa Bay Rays have had six of their 2025 regular-season games shifted to the early season due to weather issues from playing outside, Major League Baseball announced Monday. The Rays' usual home, domed Tropicana Field, was damaged by Hurricane Milton last month with almost all of its roof shredded and no possibility of playing there next year. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Trudeau told Trump Americans would also suffer if tariffs are imposed, a Canadian minister saysWorld leaders gather to celebrate reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral

Even with access to blockbuster obesity drugs, some people don't lose weightESTERO, Fla. (AP) — Al Green scored 19 points and Sean Newman Jr. added seven in the overtime as Louisiana Tech knocked off Southern Illinois 85-79 in a first-round contest at the Gulf Coast Showcase on Monday night. Green had three steals for the Bulldogs (5-0). Kaden Cooper scored 18 points and added 12 rebounds and four steals. Amaree Abram went 8 of 13 from the field to finish with 18 points, while adding six steals. Kennard Davis led the way for the Salukis (2-4) with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Southern Illinois also got 15 points and eight rebounds from Jarrett Hensley. Ali Abdou Dibba also had 12 points and two steals. Cooper scored 12 points in the first half and Louisiana Tech went into the break trailing 31-27. Abram's 16-point second half helped Louisiana Tech close out the six-point victory. NEXT UP These two teams both play Tuesday in the six-team, round-robin tournament. Louisiana Tech squares off against Richmond and Southern Illinois faces Eastern Kentucky. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .

‘Not good for tax policy’: Economists question rationale of Ottawa’s new stimulus packageNone

Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson, the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player, leads fan balloting for the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl Games after one week of voting, the league announced on Monday. Ravens superstar Jackson set the overall pace with 44,681 votes followed by teammate Derrick Henry, the running back leader, in second overall at 40,729 votes. Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley was third overall at 40,602, only 127 votes behind Henry in the rusher's race, with Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen fourth overall on 36,574 and Detroit running back Jahmyr Gibbs fifth on 35,637. The Detroit Lions lead all clubs in total votes received, followed by the Ravens, the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers. The NFL's revamped all-star event will be staged in Orlando, Florida, for the second consecutive year. In all, 88 players will gather on February 2 in skills competitions and a flag football showdown with coaches Peyton and Eli Manning. While other vote totals were not revealed, Washington rookie Jayden Daniels was the top NFC quarterback in the fan voting and top receivers were Minnesota's Justin Jefferson in the NFC and Cincinnati's Ja'Marr Chase in the AFC. NFL fans can vote as often as they wish through December 23 with selections decided by a consensus of ballots by players, coaches and fans with each group counting for one-third of every player's final total. NFL players and coaches will cast votes on December 27. js/rcwThe Republican-controlled chamber recently agreed without opposition to update its conflict of interest rule to clearly exclude from voting any member who has a direct personal or pecuniary interest in a proposed new law. Senate rules previously set guidelines for senators to consider when evaluating potential conflicts of interest. But the rules did not explicitly require senators to sit out votes on those matters. The updated rules state that a senator "is precluded" from voting on legislation when his or her personal interest in it is "so substantial as to affect the senator's independent legislative judgment." "When that is the case, we feel it's appropriate that member of the body not vote," said Senate President Rod Bray, R-Martinsville. The new conflict of interest rule, similar to the old one , allows a senator with a conflict to still participate in committee and floor debate on the legislation, so long as the senator openly discloses his or her conflict prior to speaking. Senators may also continue to request an opinion from the Senate Ethics Committee to determine whether a potential conflict of interest is sufficiently substantial as to require the senator to sit out a vote, according to the rules. The Senate's updated conflict of interest rule more closely aligns with the longstanding Indiana House rule that specifies any representative with a direct personal or pecuniary interest "shall" ask to be excused on any vote related to that interest — except the state budget or general revenue legislation. "Any member requesting to be excused from voting may make a brief statement of the reasons for making such request and the question then shall be taken without further debate," according to the House rules. In general, both state senators and state representatives are expected to vote on every question that comes up when they are physically present in their chamber at the Statehouse and not otherwise ineligible to vote due to a conflict of interest or another excuse permitted by the Senate or House rules. The four-month regular session of the Indiana General Assembly is set to begin Jan. 8 when the 100 representatives and 50 senators return to Indianapolis focused primarily on devising a new, two-year state budget, while also potentially tackling property tax reform, education policy, health care costs, and gambling expansion, among other issues.

Unlike scores of people who scrambled for the blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy to lose weight in recent years, Danielle Griffin had no trouble getting them. The 38-year-old information technology worker from New Mexico had a prescription. Her pharmacy had the drugs in stock. And her health insurance covered all but $25 to $50 of the monthly cost. For Griffin, the hardest part of using the new drugs wasn’t access. It was finding out that the much-hyped medications didn’t really work for her. “I have been on Wegovy for a year and a half and have only lost 13 pounds,” said Griffin, who watches her diet, drinks plenty of water and exercises regularly. “I’ve done everything right with no success. It’s discouraging.” In clinical trials, most participants taking Wegovy or Mounjaro to treat obesity lost an average of 15% to 22% of their body weight — up to 50 pounds or more in many cases. But roughly 10% to 15% of patients in those trials were “nonresponders” who lost less than 5% of their body weight. Now that millions of people have used the drugs, several obesity experts told The Associated Press that perhaps 20% of patients — as many as 1 in 5 — may not respond well to the medications. It's a little-known consequence of the obesity drug boom, according to doctors who caution eager patients not to expect one-size-fits-all results. “It's all about explaining that different people have different responses,” said Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity expert at Massachusetts General Hospital The drugs are known as GLP-1 receptor agonists because they mimic a hormone in the body known as glucagon-like peptide 1. Genetics, hormones and variability in how the brain regulates energy can all influence weight — and a person's response to the drugs, Stanford said. Medical conditions such as sleep apnea can prevent weight loss, as can certain common medications, such as antidepressants, steroids and contraceptives. “This is a disease that stems from the brain,” said Stanford. “The dysfunction may not be the same” from patient to patient. Despite such cautions, patients are often upset when they start getting the weekly injections but the numbers on the scale barely budge. “It can be devastating,” said Dr. Katherine Saunders, an obesity expert at Weill Cornell Medicine and co-founder of the obesity treatment company FlyteHealth. “With such high expectations, there’s so much room for disappointment.” That was the case for Griffin, who has battled obesity since childhood and hoped to shed 70 pounds using Wegovy. The drug helped reduce her appetite and lowered her risk of diabetes, but she saw little change in weight. “It’s an emotional roller coaster,” she said. “You want it to work like it does for everybody else.” The medications are typically prescribed along with eating behavior and lifestyle changes. It’s usually clear within weeks whether someone will respond to the drugs, said Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrine specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Weight loss typically begins right away and continues as the dosage increases. For some patients, that just doesn't happen. For others, side effects such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea force them to halt the medications, Dushay said. In such situations, patients who were counting on the new drugs to pare pounds may think they’re out of options. “I tell them: It's not game over,” Dushay said. Trying a different version of the new class of drugs may help. Griffin, who didn't respond well to Wegovy, has started using Zepbound, which targets an additional hormone pathway in the body. After three months of using the drug, she has lost 7 pounds. “I'm hoping it's slow and steady,” she said. Other people respond well to older drugs, the experts said. Changing diet, exercise, sleep and stress habits can also have profound effects. Figuring out what works typically requires a doctor trained to treat obesity, Saunders noted. “Obesity is such a complex disease that really needs to be treated very comprehensively,” she said. “If what we’re prescribing doesn’t work, we always have a backup plan.” The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.Is he serious? Trump stirs unease with Panama, Greenland ploysESTERO, Fla. (AP) — Al Green scored 19 points and Sean Newman Jr. added seven in the overtime as Louisiana Tech knocked off Southern Illinois 85-79 in a first-round contest at the Gulf Coast Showcase on Monday night. Green had three steals for the Bulldogs (5-0). Kaden Cooper scored 18 points and added 12 rebounds and four steals. Amaree Abram went 8 of 13 from the field to finish with 18 points, while adding six steals. Kennard Davis led the way for the Salukis (2-4) with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Southern Illinois also got 15 points and eight rebounds from Jarrett Hensley. Ali Abdou Dibba also had 12 points and two steals. Cooper scored 12 points in the first half and Louisiana Tech went into the break trailing 31-27. Abram's 16-point second half helped Louisiana Tech close out the six-point victory. NEXT UP These two teams both play Tuesday in the six-team, round-robin tournament. Louisiana Tech squares off against Richmond and Southern Illinois faces Eastern Kentucky. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Walmart finally restocked the $249 Ninja SLUSHi and fans are grabbing it ‘frost’ and furiously

Trump Pick of Billionaire Feinberg for Pentagon Bolsters Hegseth

In keeping with a long-standing Thanksgiving tradition, President Joe Biden recently pardoned a pair of turkeys . During a ceremony at the White House, the birds — named Peach and Blossom — were spared from the dinner table and given a new lease on life. While it was an act of pure political pageantry, it highlights the president’s expansive pardon powers — which could be used liberally during his final two months in office. Historically, presidents have issued numerous pardons during their lame duck periods, including quite a few that have raised eyebrows. Here is what to know about presidential pardons. Article II of the Constitution enables the president to grant clemency for any federal crime, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. This authority is rooted in an old English law that permits monarchs to bestow mercy on criminals. “The president’s power to pardon is astronomical,” Taylor Stoermer, a historian at Johns Hopkins University, told McClatchy News. “The Constitution doesn’t even require an explanation. The only real limits are that it doesn’t apply to state crimes or impeachment cases.” “So the president can grant full pardons, commute sentences, or even offer amnesty, on an individual basis or for an entire class of people,” Stoermer said. Most presidents have issued numerous acts of clemency throughout their terms in office, according to historians. For example, Donald Trump, during his first term, granted 143 pardons and 94 commutations, according to the Pew Research Center. During Barack Obama’s eight years in office, he issued 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations. Among the commutations granted by both men were multiple that concerned low-level drug offenses , such as possession of marijuana. However, these acts of clemency have not typically been distributed evenly throughout a president’s tenure. Since 1945, every president — with the exception of Lyndon Johnson — granted clemency at a higher rate during the last four months of their terms, according to CRS. For example, Obama granted an average of 296 acts of clemency per month during his final four months in office, compared with an average of eight per month before that. Similarly, Trump issued an average of 50 per month during the last four months compared with an average of one per month before that. “Trump certainly kept to that pattern, and I would not be surprised if Biden does as well,” Thomas Balcerski, a presidential historian at Eastern Connecticut State University, told McClatchy News. Additionally, these 11th hour acts of mercy tend to be the most controversial ones. “Most save the big, bold pardons for the end of their terms,” Stoermer said. “And because exactly why you’d think: No voters to answer to.” Throughout history, presidents have issued a fair number of pardons, commutations and acts of amnesty that have received widespread scrutiny. “The most famous, of course, is Gerald Ford’s pardoning of Richard Nixon,” Vernon Burton, an emeritus history professor at Clemson University, told McClatchy News. In September 1974, following the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation, Ford issued a full pardon for any crimes Nixon “committed or may have committed” against the United States. Jimmy Carter also took flak for pardoning “all of the Vietnam War draft dodgers,” Burton said. “That was huge.” This pardon, issued on Carter’s first day in office in 1977, applied to roughly 100,000 military-age men who avoided going to war , according to Politico. “Then there’s George H.W. Bush pardoning key players in Iran-Contra,” Stoermer said. With less than one month until he left office, Bush pardoned six people , including a former secretary of defense, wrapped up in the illegal arms scandal. More recently, Obama reduced the sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera, a Puerto Rican activist whose political organization was responsible for dozens of robberies and bombings in the U.S. And Trump preemptively pardoned adviser Steven Bannon, who was charged with bilking donors out of money they gave toward the construction of a border wall. “These kinds of moves show how the pardon power can get tangled up in political strategy or personal connections—and that’s what makes it fascinating (or infuriating) to watch,” Stoermer said. Given that Biden’s son Hunter Biden has been convicted of felony offenses , some have wondered whether he will issue a pardon before he leaves office. “Would he pardon Hunter Biden? That’d be quite something,” Balcerski said. “There is some precedent.” On his last day in office, President Bill Clinton issued a pardon for his half-brother Roger Clinton, who had pleaded guilty to a cocaine distribution charge. “That was slightly less impactful because Roger Clinton had already served the time,” Stoermer said. “So that was mostly about clearing his record than dodging accountability.” Joe Biden, though, has said he has no plans to grant clemency to his son. Trump could break with long-standing tradition of issuing controversial pardons at the end of his term, historians said. The president-elect has vowed to pardon some of the people convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot on his first day in office. “I am inclined to pardon many of them ,” he wrote on social media in March, according to ABC News. Throughout the country, about 1,500 people have been charged in connection with the riot, including about 547 who were charged with “assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees.” “It wouldn’t be surprising to see an unprecedented wave of pardons right out of the gate, particularly for January 6 rioters,” Stoermer said. “That would take the use of the pardon power into completely uncharted territory.” “Of course, there is a precedent: Carter’s first-day pardon of draft evaders of the Vietnam era,” Stoermer said. “That applied to hundreds of thousands of people. But that’s not quite the same as a coup.”With Syrian rebels edging ever-closer to the capital, President Bashar Assad is making a last-ditch attempt to remain in power, including indirect diplomatic overtures to the U.S. and President-elect Donald Trump, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. Assad is ordering his army to fall back to defend Damascus, essentially ceding much of the country to insurgents, who seized the major cities of Aleppo and Hama in a lightning offensive over the past week. They’re now on the outskirts of Homs, less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the north. As his remaining troops dig in, Syria’s longtime ruler is signaling his willingness to reach a deal that would allow him to hold on to the rump territory his army controls, or guarantee his safe passage into exile if needed, said the people. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss secret meetings. One offer Assad made to the U.S. via the United Arab Emirates is for Syria to cut all involvement with Iran-backed militant groups, such as Hezbollah, if Western powers wield influence to stem the fighting, the people said. Another initiative saw Assad dispatch a senior Christian leader to meet Hungarian President Viktor Orban to relay what he sees as an existential threat to Syria’s Christian minority if Islamist rebels prevail, according to other people familiar with the plan. The intention was that Orban, a Trump ally, would convey this danger to the incoming U.S. president, they said. It’s a dramatic turn of events for a dynasty that’s ruled Syria with an iron fist for half a century, crushed peaceful protests in 2011 and clung to power through years of civil war that spurred one of the worst humanitarian crises of modern times. Iranian and Russian military support was crucial to the survival of the 59-year-old president, but both are now distracted and stretched thin by other conflicts. “Assad is in huge danger — it’s almost like in 2015 when the insurgents were at the gates of Damascus,” said Sergei Markov, a political consultant close to the Kremlin, referring to the year Russia intervened to save him. Western nations were equally surprised, including the U.S., which had largely relinquished much of its influence in Syria to Iran, Russia and Turkey but has reacted to protect its interests, according to senior officials. Multiple Western officials said it was difficult to see Assad remaining in power. The fall of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, could cut the highway linking Damascus and the country’s west and Mediterranean coast — the stronghold of the Assads and loyalists from their Alawite sect. The president’s whereabouts are unclear, although he’s believed to be in Damascus or his hometown of Qardaha, close to Russia’s Khmeimim air base. It’s also possible he’s in the Iranian capital, Tehran, a person familiar with U.S. policy said Saturday. Assad’s office issued a statement condemning “rumors and fake news,” saying the the president remains in the capital. Assad has ordered the bulk of Syria’s remaining army — estimated at between 30,000 to 40,000 fighters — to rush to defend Damascus, according to two people familiar with the matter. An army spokesman said in a TV address on Saturday that it was strengthening its defenses around the city and in southern Syria. The main rebel offensive has been led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, a former al-Qaida affiliate, and various armed groups backed by Turkey. Other fighters have joined in, including army defectors who’d fought the regime and laid down arms in previous ceasefires, said the people. As rebels converge on Damascus from the north and south, Iran had drawn back its presence in Syria, leaving its military advisers concentrated around the capital, according to the people. Some Tehran-backed Iraqi militia have also returned their country after the government ceded the eastern city of Deir Ezzor to U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, they said. Russian personnel now remain mainly around the capital and at the Khmeimim air base and Tartous naval base, they said. After a meeting with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts in Doha on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow is “trying to do everything not to allow terrorists to prevail.” “We don’t want them to follow the fate of Iraqis, Libyans and other nations who were disturbed by the people desiring to keep their domination,” he said. Trump said Saturday a withdrawal from Syria might “be the best thing that can happen” to Russia and that troops shouldn’t get involved in the fighting. Back channels Russia has launched airstrikes around Homs to try and stall the rebel advance. But with signs the Kremlin’s help may not be enough, Assad is pressing on with back-channel negotiations. A key goal would be retaining control of a portion of the country and addressing Turkey’s demands for a political transition and the potential return of millions of Syrian refugees, a major issue for Ankara. Assad is also proposing a new constitution and talks with the mostly exiled political opposition, according to the people familiar with the outreach. It’s unclear if the efforts will bear fruit. Events on the battlefield have their own momentum, and even countries such as Turkey that have influence over the rebels may not be able to fully control events. “I don’t think any of these outside powers have the leverage over their proxies to change the course of what is happening on the ground,” said Andreas Krieg, director of London-based MENA Analytica Ltd. “At this moment most bets are that the Assad regime may not be able to hold out.” Patriarch visit It was against that backdrop that Assad sent Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II to Hungary on Monday to relay his fears. Syria’s Christian community makes up about 10% of the country’s 24 million population. The plan to have Orban relate this message to Trump was described by an aide to the patriarch and another person with knowledge of the encounter. People close to Trump couldn’t immediately comment, but said he had dispatched his in-law and Middle East adviser, Massad Boulos, to the UAE on Saturday to discuss the situation in the region. Assad has pursued similar tactics before. HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani and other rebels have in recent days attempted to allay the fears of Christians and Syria’s other minorities that they envision a form of Islamic rule. Assad’s own Alawite community, which has stuck by him since 2011 and paid a heavy price to defend the regime, also appears to sense the end may be near. Nariman, an Alawite woman reached by phone in Damascus on Friday said she, her husband who’s in the security forces and their 23-year-old son were fleeing to their ancestral village near Jableh in western Syria. She said there were many families like hers. Nobody is going to fight for Assad this time, she said, asking not to be identified by her last name for reasons of safety. ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. 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