DAMASCUS, Syria — Israeli forces raided a Syrian village and opened fire when they were confronted by residents Friday, killing at least 13 people, Syrian officials said, in the deadliest Israeli attack since troops seized a swath of southern Syria a year ago.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry called the attack a “horrific massacre” and said women and children were among those killed.
– At least 13 Syrians have been killed and others wounded during an Israeli ground incursion and air strikes on the town of Beit Jinn, southwest of Syria’s capital Damascus.
– Palestine’s Foreign Ministry is demanding action from the international community to halt Israel’s “war crime” as it continues its large-scale military assault on the occupied West Bank.
Minister Assaf also called on Arab information ministers to collectively negotiate with global digital platforms to reverse their biased positions in favor of the occupation forces and their narrative, and to stop combating Palestinian content, asserting that the Palestinian narrative and discourse have triumphed over the fabricated Israeli narrative.
He called on concerned Arab and international institutions and bodies to intensify their efforts to document and expose the occupation‘s crimes against the Palestinian media and people, enhance solidarity campaigns, and pressure to end the unlawful protection enjoyed by the perpetrators.
„The male and female journalists in Palestine have embodied the highest meanings of national and professional belonging, and have continued to fulfill their noble mission of revealing the truth and conveying the suffering of our people to the world, despite all the dangers. The blood of the martyrs, the knights of truth, will remain a testament to the occupation‘s crimes and a motive for pursuing its perpetrators, until complete justice is achieved and impunity is ended,“ Assaf said.
Israeli forces on Wednesday deployed military reinforcements, bulldozers and heavy equipment towards the Nur Shams camp in Tulkarm Governorate in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reported.
The municipality of Tammun also reported that a large number of Israeli forces stormed the town as aircraft fired on its residents and neighbourhoods.
As part of the large-scale operation, the Israeli army bulldozed roads, cut water lines, closed the town‘s entrances, and turned at least 10 houses into military barracks.
“What is unfolding in El Fasher recalls the horrors Darfur was subjected to twenty years ago,” Mr. Fletcher said, referring to the atrocities of the early 2000s that shocked the world and eventually led to International Criminal Court indictments.
“But somehow today we are seeing a very different global reaction – one of resignation,” he continued. “This is also a crisis of apathy.”
“The Sudan crisis is, at its core, a failure of protection, and our responsibility to uphold international law,” Mr. Fletcher said. “Atrocities are committed with unashamed expectation of impunity…the world has failed an entire generation.”
(October 30, 2025)
The United States condemns in the strongest terms the horrific violence occurring in El Fasher. The situation is both tragic and appalling.
We have said this before, and we will say it again – the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias have committed genocide.
The RSF has and continues to systematically kill men and boys – even infants – and deliberately target women and children for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence. These crimes are ethnically motivated.
RSF militias are targeting civilians as they flee, killing innocent people escaping conflict, and preventing those who remain from accessing life-saving supplies.
The United States condemns these abhorrent atrocities in no uncertain terms. Those responsible should be held accountable, including through sanctions, as noted by the Sudan Sanctions Panel of Experts in its most recent report.
(…)
Colleagues, ending wars is a priority for President Trump, and the United States remains committed to working with our partners and other stakeholders to resolve the crisis.
Together, we are focused on securing an immediate humanitarian truce, halting external support, and advancing a transition to civilian governance.
Since the powerful paramilitary group made a major incursion into the city last week, the UN human rights office has received “horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacement,” said Seif Magango, spokesperson for the UN human rights office (OHCHR).
Speaking from Nairobi to journalists in Geneva, Mr. Magango said numerous testimonies had been received from residents who had fled in terror as the city fell, then “survived the threatening journey to Tawila, approximately 70 kilometres away” – a journey that takes three to four days on foot.
(October 28, 2025)
Middle East Eye has reviewed dozens of video clips and images allegedly taken in el-Fasher since the RSF assault began.
Some were published by the RSF itself; others emerged on social media, particularly Sudanese Telegram groups.
The footage depicts chaotic and bloody scenes, captured by triumphant RSF fighters. Investigations suggest the videos are new.
The Arabic dialect spoken is Sudanese – particularly Darfuri – and the fighters’ dress is consistent with members of the RSF.
(October 28, 2025)
The directive came during a meeting this morning at Baabda Palace with Army Commander General Rudolph Haykal, who briefed the President on the details of last night’s Israeli incursion into Blida, during which municipal employee Ibrahim Salamehwas killed while performing his duties.
President Aoun condemned the attack, describing it as “part of a continuous pattern of Israeli aggression” and noting that it occurred “shortly after the meeting of the Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (Mechanism), which must not limit itself to recording incidents, but act to end them by pressing Israel to respect the November ceasefire agreement and cease its violations of Lebanese sovereignty.”
Israeli troops carried out an incursion into a southern Lebanese town overnight and killed a municipal employee who was sleeping in the local town hall, Lebanese state media said on Oct 30.
Israeli military confirmed the incident, saying that its forces had opened fire overnight during an operation to destroy the infrastructure of the militant group Hezbollah in the southern Lebanese town of Blida.
Lebanon’s army has deployed to the area but its media did not have further details to share. The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon did not immediately have further details on the incident.
Israel‘s military confirmed the raid, saying it was operating against Hezbollah infrastructure when its forces fired on a „suspect“.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group, Israel maintains troops in five areas in southern Lebanon and has kept up regular air strikes.
Horrific stories of mass-atrocities committed by the RSF militia continue to emerge, along with the tens of thousands of civilians who have fled the North Darfur city of El Fasher in Sudan.
The agency has received reports of summary executions of civilians trying to escape what was the last Sudanese military government stronghold of El Fasher – with indications of ethnic motivations for killings – and of former combatants who have put down their weapons, which is prohibited under humanitarian law.
“The risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in El Fasher is mounting by the day,” warned UN human rights chief Volker Türk.
“Urgent and concrete action needs to be taken to ensure the protection of civilians in El Fasher and safe passage for those trying to reach relative safety.”
Das sudanesische Ärztenetzwerk teilte mit, RSF-Kämpfer hätten nach ihrem Einmarsch in Al-Faschir am Sonntag Dutzende Zivilisten getötet und Krankenhäuser und andere Gesundheitseinrichtungen geplündert.
Das Darfur-Netzwerk für Menschenrechte berichtete von mehr als 1.000 teilweise willkürlichen Festnahmen.
However, sources told Middle East Eye that the UAE, which is the RSF’s most significant patron, refused to address the situation in el-Fasher, which has been under siege for over 500 days.
The Rapid Support Forces claimed to have captured the city on Sunday, the last state capital in Darfur yet to fall to the paramilitaries.
Israel‘s defence minister has approved a plan for the conquest of Gaza City and authorised the call-up of around 60,000 reservists to carry it out, his ministry confirmed on Wednesday.
„The president is working in Berlin today. There will be a bilateral meeting with Federal Chancellor Merz, then they will jointly take part in a video conference with European leaders, NATO Secretary General Rutte and US President Trump,“ Nykyforov told reporters.
Following the meeting, statements by Zelenskyy and Merz to the media are possible at approximately 4:00 p.m. Berlin time (5:00 p.m. Kyiv time).
Der ukrainische Präsident Wolodymyr Selenskyj ist für die heute geplante Ukraine-Videokonferenz mit Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz und US-Präsident Donald Trump persönlich nach Berlin gereist. Kurz nach 12 Uhr ist er in der deutschen Hauptstadt angekommen und wurde von Merz am Bundeskanzleramt empfangen.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the leaders of the European Union for their clear support of independence and territorial integrity, and noted that the Russian Federation is not preparing to end the war, so it is necessary to continue to put pressure on Russia – „pressure of strength, pressure of sanctions, pressure of diplomacy.“
“We see that the Russian army is not preparing to end the war. On the contrary, they are making movements that indicate preparations for new offensive operations. In such circumstances, it is important that the unity of the world is not threatened,” Zelenskyy said on X Tuesday.
The President noted that Russia must be held accountable for its refusal to stop the killings.
It is premature to call the Russian advances in the Dobropillya area an operational-level breakthrough, though Russian forces very likely seek to mature their tactical advances into an operational-level breakthrough in the coming days. Russian forces used a similar tactical penetration in mid-April 2024 to facilitate the seizure of operationally significant territory northwest of Avdiivka.[32] The next several days in the Pokrovsk area of operations will likely be critical for Ukraine’s ability to prevent accelerated Russian gains north and northwest of Pokrovsk.
Commercial satellite images show the Israeli military building up troops and equipment near the border with Gaza that would support a possible new ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave, according to three U.S. officials and a former official who viewed the imagery.
The images show troop movements and formations that the four sources recognized as signs of an imminent major ground operation.
The Security Cabinet convened at 6 p.m. at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem for the debate and a subsequent vote. The session is scheduled to last until 11 p.m. but expected to last well into the night.
“We don‘t want to be there as a governing body,” he said. “We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.”
It would mark a stunning escalation of the nearly 22-month war in the territory that has already been largely destroyed and where experts say famine is unfolding. It would put the lives of countless Palestinians and about 20 living hostages at risk, and deepen Israel‘s already stark international isolation.
It would also face fierce opposition within Israel: Families of the hostages would consider it a virtual death sentence, and much of the security establishment is also reportedly opposed to an open-ended occupation that would bog down and further strain the army after nearly two years of regional wars.
Trump was asked whether he‘d support a full Israeli occupation of Gaza as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has suggested. The president sidestepped, saying only that everything beyond food aid is „pretty much up to Israel.“
“Well, I don‘t know what the suggestion is. I know that we have, we are there now trying to get people fed,” Trump said.
Driving the news: Witkoff flew in from Miami to meet Trump for dinner on Monday, the sources say, fresh off a visit last week to Israel and Gaza.
A U.S. official said it was decided that the Trump administration will „take over“ management of the humanitarian effort in Gaza because Israel isn‘t handling it adequately.
The official didn‘t say what the U.S. role would actually entail, but said Gulf countries like Qatar will contribute funds, while Jordan and Egypt will also likely be involved.
Negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, which began in Doha following the confrontation with Iran, have been stalled for some time, and Ynet has learned Monday evening that U.S. President Donald Trump has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a green light to launch a more aggressive military operation against Hamas in Gaza.
According to Channel 12, the plan will be submitted to the full security cabinet for approval on Thursday.
In the southern part of the Strip, we can see that the Israeli ground operations are concentrated around the eastern and central parts of the city of Khan Younis. Palestinian armed factions and Israeli ground forces are trading fire there.
Israel’s ground campaign is accompanied by very heavy fire from its air force and also from Israeli artillery units that continue to pound the al-Mawasi area, where families were told to go to in order to get away from Israel’s bombardment.
Die Stadt liegt auf höherem Gelände, was militärisch vorteilhaft ist. Um Tschassiw Jar hat die Ukraine starke Befestigungsanlagen errichtet.
Mit der Eroberung stünde russischen Truppen nun der Weg offen, weiter in Richtung Kramatorsk und Slowjansk vorzurücken. Zudem liegt die Stadt an wichtigen Versorgungsrouten, die die ukrainische Armee im Donbas nutzt. Unter russischer Kontrolle könnte es ukrainische Nachschublinien stören oder durchbrechen.
Russia announced on Thursday that its forces have captured the strategically important town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, following nearly 16 months of intense combat.
If confirmed, the development would mark a major territorial gain for Moscow and could pave the way for further advances toward key Ukrainian strongholds in the Donetsk region, including Kostiantynivka, Sloviansk, and Kramatorsk, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.