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New DelhiI: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid committee to approach the Allahabad High Court and told the district court not to act until then upon a survey ordered on a claim of the mosque having built on a pre-existing temple.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar directed Uttar Pradesh to maintain peace and harmony in the area, where four protesters were killed during the heavy stone pelting. The court also ordered the survey report of the advocate commissioner's report should be kept in sealed cover.

"We don't want anything to happen in the meanwhile...Let them (Shahi Jama Masjid committee) exercise appropriate remedies. We will keep this pending," the bench said.

Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, appearing for plaintiff Hari Shankar Jain and others submitted the next date of hearing has been fixed for January 8 before the civil judge (senior division).

Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the petitioner committee, contended the order is capable of great public mischief. He said as of 10 such suits are pending across the country where the survey is sought to be conducted.

"We hope and trust the trial court will not take any proceedings...We have not expressed any opinion on merits," the bench said, fixing the matter for consideration in the week commencing on January 6.

In case any revision application is filed, it should be heard within three days before the High Court, the bench ordered.

At the outset, the bench said it had some reservations with the order passed by the Civil Judge (senior division) on November 19.

The court told the Uttar Pradesh government represented by Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj that the district administration has to remain neutral and maintain peace in the area.

The court directed the plaintiff not to file any papers.

It also ordered the advocate commissioner's report should be kept in a sealed cover.

The petitioner committee questioned the validity of the survey ordered within a short period, triggering violence in the area and leading to the death of four protestors.

The plea filed by the Committee of Management, Shahi Jama Masjid, Sambhal claimed "the hot haste" in which the survey was allowed and conducted all within a day and suddenly another survey was conducted after a couple of days with a notice of barely six hours that had given rise to widespread communal tensions and threatened the secular and democratic fabric of the nation.

The survey was ordered by a civil judge (senior division) on a suit filed by advocate Hari Shankar Jain and others.

According to the plaintiffs, Shahi Jama Masjid at Chandausi was built by Mughal emperor Babar in 1526 after demolishing the Shri Harihar temple.

Aleppo: Dreaded Takfiri-terrorist groups reached Syria’s second city of Aleppo Friday, as they pressed a lightning offensive against forces of the Iranian and Russian-backed government.

The fighting is some of the deadliest in years, with 255 people killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Most of the dead have been combatants but the toll also includes 24 civilians.

The offensive began on Wednesday, the same day that a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighboring Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

‘Zionist plot’

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has vowed to support Syria in its fight against terrorists after the resurgence of Takfiri terrorism in the Arab country. 

“The new movements of Takfiri-terrorist groups are part of the plot of the US and the illegitimate Zionist regime,” Qalibaf said on Friday in a post on his X account.

He urged the neighbors of Syria “to be vigilant and not to fall into their trap.”

“After defeating the Zionist regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the axis of resistance will support the Syrian government and people against the new conspiracy like in the past,” Qalibaf stressed.

Captured 50 towns

By Friday, the terrorists had wrested control of more than 50 towns and villages in the north, according to the Britain-based Observatory, in the government’s biggest loss of territory in years.

They then entered western districts of Aleppo, a city of some two million people that was Syria’s pre-war manufacturing hub.

“Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions... were able to enter the outskirts of the Al-Hamdaniya and New Aleppo neighborhoods... after carrying out twin suicide attacks with two booby-trapped cars,” the war monitor said.

HTS, a dreaded terror alliance led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria branch, shelled a student residence in the city, killing four civilians, state media reported.

Syrian and Russian warplanes launched intense air strikes on the rebel enclave around Idlib, where the militants are based, carrying out 23 raids, according to the Observatory.

Army reinforcements have arrived in Aleppo, a Syrian security official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

An army statement said troops had repelled the assault on the city and retaken some positions.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said “more than 14,000 people — nearly half are children — have been displaced” by the violence.

The Israeli military has occupied several villages south of Damascus, with its tanks now being stationed around 20 kilometers from the outskirts of the Syrian capital, a new report says.

Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television network reported on Tuesday that the Israeli tanks have moved past the southwestern Syrian city of Quneitra and reached 3 kilometers away from the town of Qatana, near Damascus. 

Israel started the push to expand its occupation of Syria on Sunday, after foreign-backed militants, led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), announced the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government following a rapid two-week offensive that led to the capture of Damascus.

Israeli forces seized the buffer zone that separates the occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria in violation of a 1974 disengagement agreement between the Tel Aviv regime and Syria.

They also captured the strategic Mount Hermon in Golan, which provides high ground for the entire area.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Syrian Golan Heights will remain part of the occupied territories “for eternity.”

Israel's exploitation of the current chaotic situation to deploy its occupation forces to Syria has drawn condemnations from regional countries.

“We condemn the fact that Israel has entered Syrian territory and taken control of the buffer zone,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.

Similarly, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said, "The seizure of the buffer zone in the Golan Heights … confirms Israel’s continued violation of the rules of international law, and its determination to sabotage Syria’s chances of restoring its security, stability and territorial integrity.”

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that the regime has carried out nearly 300 air raids on Syria over the past two days.

They added that if the aerial assaults continue at their current pace, the Syrian Air Force will be all but destroyed in a matter of days.

New Israeli strikes hit the Syrian city Salamiyah, in the eastern countryside of Hama Province, as well as military installations north of Raqqah, and the Shayrat air base in Homs' countryside.