Israeli troops are seen near the buffer zone fence on the eastern side of the Golan Heights, on Dec. 10, 2024.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Israel was creating a "sterile defense zone" in southern Syria to prevent hostile forces from approaching its borders.
Katz added that Israeli forces are "currently completing their deployment in the buffer zone and strategic areas to protect the Golan Heights and Israeli citizens."
The buffer zone is a demilitarized area established by the 1974 disengagement agreement between Israeli and Syrian forces. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 4, 2024 shows a view of Gaolan Port Bridge (with twin main towers on the left) and Huangmaohai Bridge (with three main towers on the right) in south China's Guangdong Province.
The Huangmaohai Cross-Sea Passage, linking Guangdong's Zhuhai City and Jiangmen City, was officially opened to traffic on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)
A drone photo taken on Dec. 10, 2024 shows workers working at the construction site of the Baini River grand bridge in Tanbu Town of Guangzhou City, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)
A craftsman makes a traditional Tibetan mask at a cooperative in Dagze District of Lhasa, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Dec. 9, 2024. Shilok is an inheritor of a traditional Tibetan mask making technique, a regional intangible cultural heritage with time-consuming procedures including sculpting, layering, air-drying, and painting.
In 2012, Shilok set up a cooperative for making Tibetan opera masks with the help of the local government and started to work here with his apprentices. "Most of our orders are from Tibetan opera troupes," Shilok said.
In recent years, the cooperative has provided a space for local people to learn mask-making skills, created employment opportunities, and contributed to the protection and development of intangible cultural heritages. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)
People feed red-billed gulls at the Haigeng Dam in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Dec. 11, 2024. (Photo by Peng Yikai/Xinhua)
People sit by a light decoration at a Christmas fairyland in Valletta, Malta, on Dec. 10, 2024. (Photo by Jonathan Borg/Xinhua)
Zhao Rui (C) of Xinjiang Flying Tigers goes for a layup during a match between Xinjiang Flying Tigers and Liaoning Flying Leopards at the 2024-2025 season of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Dec. 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Hu Huhu)
A helicopter transports supplies from China's research icebreaker Xuelong in Antarctica, Dec. 7, 2024. Currently on China's 41st Antarctic expedition, research icebreakers Xuelong and Xuelong 2, or Snow Dragon and Snow Dragon 2, carried out unloading operations surrounding Zhongshan Station, a Chinese research base in Antarctica. (Xinhua/Huang Taoming)
