The strikes came after Druze clerics and armed factions reaffirmed their loyalty to Damascus. They urged the new authorities to appoint local officials to government posts in Sweida province, heartland of the Druze religious group.
Their statement followed fighting between Druze fighters and Syrian forces, including government-affiliated groups that killed more than 100 people in Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus and in Sweida, the Observatory said.
The conflict ignited around midnight Monday following the circulation of an audio recording on social media containing criticism of Islam‘s Prophet Muhammad, attributed to a Druze cleric. However, cleric Marwan Kiwan denied responsibility for the controversial audio in a social media video.
(April 29, 2025)
“With God’s help and the valor of your comrades-in-arms who continue to fight even now, we will end this campaign when Syria is dismantled, Hezbollah is severely beaten, Iran is stripped of its nuclear threat, Gaza is cleansed of Hamas and hundreds of thousands of Gazans are on their way out of it to other countries, our hostages are returned, some to their homes and some to the graves of Israel, and the State of Israel is stronger and more prosperous,” the far-right minister tells a gathering at the Eli Yeshiva.
(February 3, 2025)
Israel is building military bases in the demilitarised buffer zone with Syria, according to satellite images seen by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit.
The images were taken between December 19, 2024, just 11 days after Syria’s deposed President Bashar Al-Assad fled to Moscow, and February 1, 2025. They show six sites constructed in that time inside the buffer zone. Another is being constructed outside the buffer zone and inside Syrian territory.
(February 2, 2025)
As the Israeli military swept into a string of Syrian villages nearly two months ago, the soldiers assured locals that the presence would be temporary — the aim limited to seizing weapons and securing the area after the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
But the earthmoving vehicles that followed suggest a more permanent presence.
Israel may have backed that regime change, but it’s not stopping them from attacking Syria every chance they get. (…)
Israel used the regime change as a pretext to seize substantial land in the demilitarized zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the rest of Syria. Since then they’ve moved deeper into Syria, and Wednesday they reached the al-Mantara Dam in Quneitra Province.
The dam is the largest in southern Syria, and gives them effective control over the six major sources of fresh water in southern Syria. They have also recently taken the al-Wahda Dam along the Yarmouk River Basin.
The military operation’s scale and focus raise pressing questions about Israel’s intentions and its long-term impact on Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Analysts have drawn comparisons to the chaos seen in Iraq after the US-led invasion and Libya’s fragmented post-Gaddafi reality.
Israel’s occupation of additional Syrian territories near the Golan Heights compounds this uncertainty.
(October 10, 2024)
Lapid advocated regime change in Lebanon, saying, “the international community will need to appoint a sort of oversight committee for Lebanon to manage its civilian life for a set period until elections can be held and a new government can take control.”
Crucial to this effort would be the establishment of a collaborator Lebanese army loyal to Israel and its Western and Gulf allies.
(…)
Lapid claimed it would be easy to recruit Lebanese by paying soldiers in a new army $500 a month. New recruits would then be trained by French, Emirati, and US military officers.
The South Lebanon Army (SLA) was established by Israel in 1976 after the collapse of the Lebanese government due to civil war.
(September 22, 2024)
Israel‘s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli accused Lebanon of not fulfilling the definition of a state and argued that the Israeli military should establish buffer zones inside of Lebanon in order to protect Israeli citizens living in the country‘s north.
Putin pointed out that the Russian side has never rejected negotiations with Ukraine. It was Ukraine that declared its unwillingness, which was cemented by Zelensky’s decree.
Putin also pointed out that the Ukrainian authorities have preliminarily signed the draft agreement with Moscow, prepared in March, 2022, in Istanbul; however, after Russian forces were withdrawn, Ukraine disregarded the document. The President presented the document, which includes 18 articles and appendixes, to the African leaders. The document included clauses on neutrality and guarantees of security.
„It also touches upon armed forces and other things. It was all written down – up to numbers of vehicles and personnel,“ Putin disclosed.
Ramaphosa went on to outline a proposal that has been agreed upon by the seven countries involved in the mission:
– Both leaders must listen to one another;
– The war must be settled through negotiations and diplomatic means;
– There must be a de-escalation of conflict on both sides;
– The sovereignty of countries in terms of the UN Charter and internationally recognised principles should be recognised;
– There needs to be a guarantee of security for all the countries involved. This issue has been raised by all sides;
– The movement of grains across the Black Sea must be opened up to remove blockages so that commodities can reach markets;
– humanitarian efforts must be set up for those affected by the war;
– Prisoners of war must be released and children returned to Ukraine;
– There must be reconstruction of the destruction caused by the war; and
– Further engagements should be held to encourage more dialogue through the Africa Peace Mission.
Firstly, Kiev must accept that any potential peace agreement will need to take into account the loss of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye Regions, which voted to join the Russian Federation last year. Before sending its military into Ukraine, Moscow offered more generous terms, and Lavrov warned on Friday that “the longer they put off talks, the more difficult it will be for them to reach an agreement with us.”
Ukraine and its European backers have admitted that the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements – under which Kiev promised to grant limited autonomy to Donetsk and Lugansk – were a ruse to buy Ukraine time to prepare for war with Russia. This situation will never be repeated, Lavrov told RT.
(March 20, 2015)
The concept of so-called ‘hybrid conflict’ is a combination of conventional warfare using state-of-the-art technology (e.g. precision strikes against critical infrastructures, special forces operations) and indirect/non-military actions (no declaration of war, the use of armed civilians, avoiding clashes with the opponent’s regular armed forces, information warfare).[1] Russia might use the presence of large Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic states as a pretext to interfere with their internal affairs, which increases the possibility of hybrid conflict in Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. Russia could initiate such a conflict by instigating separatism, supporting protests staged by sections of the Russian-speaking community (e.g. over the status of the Russian language), sending groups of armed individuals wearing unmarked uniforms across the border, organising acts of sabotage against critical infrastructures, staging provocations with an ethnic or cultural background, undertaking actions aimed at disrupting the operation of public administration (e.g. cyber-attacks on government servers) and conducting disinformation campaigns.
(11.Mai 2014)
Die Menschen sowohl im Osten, wie auch im Westen der Ukraine werden in der bereits seit Jahren explizit von der Berliner Nomenklatura systematisch betriebenen Spaltung und damit Zerstörung des (nach Russland) größten Flächenstaates Osteuropas lediglich benutzt. Der Öffentlichkeit, gerade der in einem der reichsten und einflussreichsten Länder auf dem Planeten, nämlich Deutschland – wird eine Konfrontation vorgegaukelt, die so nicht existiert. Dienen soll diese inszenierte Dialektik zweier sich bekriegender Seiten ausschließlich den imperialen Zwecken der seit bald dreizehn Jahren weltweit wie ein Krebsgeschwür wuchernden Kriegsgewinnlern, feudalen Finanzmogulen, Spionage-Apparaten, Kontrollbehörden, etc. Deren Interesse bedient ein Zerfall, eine Zerstörung der Ukraine, als Dynamo für ein Fortsetzen des bald dreizehnjährigen Krieges „on terror“, mit dem nun nichtfiktiven, sehr realen Feind Russland, China, bzw umgekehrt dem „Westen“.
Denken wir nur ein paar Monate zurück: Deutsche Soldaten gefangen genommen von „Pro-Russen“ in der Ukraine? Gefahr eines „Weltkrieges“? Zerfall der Ukraine?
Nehmen wir an, ich hätte letzten September, so um den 11., eine entsprechende Prognose abgegeben. Wie, meinen Sie, wäre ich genannt worden?
(May 26, 2023)
On the contrary, if the rest of an independent Ukraine joins the European Union or NATO, the conflict is likely to erupt again with the risk that it may turn into a full-scale third world war. . He added that a final scenario, temporarily acceptable to Russia, would witness the complete division of Ukraine between Russia and the European Union, with the formation of a Ukrainian government in exile in Europe.
(May 26, 2023)
In his Telegram channel, Medvedev wrote about different scenarios of how the ongoing conflict may end.
„Ukraine disappears after the completion of the special military operation in the process of its division between Russia and a number of EU states. A government of Ukraine is being formed in exile in one of the European countries,“ Medvedev said, adding that the conflict in this case will end with „reasonable guarantees of its non-renewal in the short term.
Ms Sturgeon insisted her resignation was not in response to the „latest period of pressure“, which has included controversies over gender reforms, trans prisoners and the strategy on independence.
Zehn Länder stimmten am Freitag in New York für das von den USA und Albanien eingebrachte Dokument. Darin wird Russland zudem zum sofortigen militärischen Rückzug aus der Ukraine aufgefordert. Vier Länder in dem mächtigsten UNO-Gremium mit insgesamt 15 Mitgliedern enthielten sich. Das waren China, Indien, Brasilien und Gabun.
(11.Mai 2014)
Die Menschen sowohl im Osten, wie auch im Westen der Ukraine werden in der bereits seit Jahren explizit von der Berliner Nomenklatura systematisch betriebenen Spaltung und damit Zerstörung des (nach Russland) größten Flächenstaates Osteuropas lediglich benutzt. Der Öffentlichkeit, gerade der in einem der reichsten und einflussreichsten Länder auf dem Planeten, nämlich Deutschland – wird eine Konfrontation vorgegaukelt, die so nicht existiert. Dienen soll diese inszenierte Dialektik zweier sich bekriegender Seiten ausschließlich den imperialen Zwecken der seit bald dreizehn Jahren weltweit wie ein Krebsgeschwür wuchernden Kriegsgewinnlern, feudalen Finanzmogulen, Spionage-Apparaten, Kontrollbehörden, etc. Deren Interesse bedient ein Zerfall, eine Zerstörung der Ukraine, als Dynamo für ein Fortsetzen des bald dreizehnjährigen Krieges „on terror“, mit dem nun nichtfiktiven, sehr realen Feind Russland, China, bzw umgekehrt dem „Westen“.
Denken wir nur ein paar Monate zurück: Deutsche Soldaten gefangen genommen von „Pro-Russen“ in der Ukraine? Gefahr eines „Weltkrieges“? Zerfall der Ukraine?
Nehmen wir an, ich hätte letzten September, so um den 11., eine entsprechende Prognose abgegeben. Wie, meinen Sie, wäre ich genannt worden?
(22 Sep 2013)
The Kremlin aide added that the political and social cost of EU integration could also be high, and allowed for the possibility of separatist movements springing up in the Russian-speaking east and south of Ukraine. He suggested that if Ukraine signed the agreement, Russia would consider the bilateral treaty that delineates the countries‘ borders to be void.
„We don‘t want to use any kind of blackmail. This is a question for the Ukrainian people,“ said Glazyev. „But legally, signing this agreement about association with EU, the Ukrainian government violates the treaty on strategic partnership and friendship with Russia.“ When this happened, he said, Russia could no longer guarantee Ukraine‘s status as a state and could possibly intervene if pro-Russian regions of the country appealed directly to Moscow.
(today)
Glasjew deutete nach dem Bruch der Ukraine mit Russland an, dass Russland den Vertrag, der die Grenzen zwischen den beiden Ländern festlegt, als ungültig betrachten würde und erwähnte, dass im russischsprachigen Osten und Süden der Ukraine separatistische Bewegungen aufkommen könnten. Russland könne den Status der Ukraine als Staat nicht mehr garantieren und werde möglicherweise intervenieren, wenn sich prorussische Regionen des Landes direkt an Moskau wenden würden, so der Kremlberater.
(today)
Madame President,
Excellencies,
Russia‘s war in Ukraine shows no sign of letting up.
The past seven months have seen unspeakable suffering and devastation.
The latest developments are dangerous and disturbing.
They are further steps away from any prospect of peace – and towards an endless cycle of horror and bloodshed.
As I have said from the start, this senseless war has unlimited potential to do terrible harm – in Ukraine, and around the world.
The idea of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, has become a subject of debate.
This in itself is totally unacceptable. All nuclear-armed states should recommit to the non-use and progressive elimination of nuclear weapons.
I am also deeply concerned by reports of plans to organize so-called “referenda” in areas of Ukraine that are currently not under government control.
Any annexation of a State’s territory by another State resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the UN Charter and of international law.
With defeat looming, Putin is trotting out a new strategy: He will annex Ukrainian territory and then threaten to use nuclear weapons if the Ukrainians and their allies in the West don’t let him get away with it. If the West were to give in to his nuclear blackmail, what would stop him from announcing tomorrow that Kyiv is also Russian territory (which he clearly believes)? Or Tallinn? Or Tbilisi? Or even Warsaw or Helsinki? We cannot live in a world where an evil dictator can redraw international borders at will with threats of nuclear annihilation. And we don’t have to.
Putin’s own words make his true purpose unmistakable. Just before he invaded, Putin asserted — and I quote — Ukraine was “created by Russia” and never had, quote, “real statehood.”
And now we see attacks on schools, railway stations, hospitals, wa- — on centers of Ukrainian history and culture.
In the past, even more horrifying evidence of Russia’s atrocity and war crimes: mass graves uncovered in Izyum; bodies, according to those that excavated those bodies, showing signs of torture.
This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and Ukraine’s right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should not — that should make your blood run cold.
In a national address on Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin says Russia will be mobilising further troops for the war in Ukraine. He claims the west is using the threat of nuclear weapons to blackmail Russia, and that ‚those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them‘.
Putin also said Russia would give its full support to the referendums announced for this weekend in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to join the Russian Federation
Innerhalb von Staaten wurden das Böse und die Gewalt in der Geschichte der Zivilisation über Kriege, Leichenberge und Verwüstungen hinweg allein durch die Herrschaft der Gesetze und ein staatliches Gewaltmonopol tabuisiert und eingedämmt. Nach außen gibt es zwar das Völkerrecht, das den friedlichen Umgang aller Staaten miteinander regeln soll. Aber genau besehen gibt es das Völkerrecht nur, weil die freiheitlichen Demokratien hochgerüstete Armeen unterhalten. Sie signalisieren damit, dass sie bereit sind im Falle überzogener Bedrohungen für die eigene Sicherheit in den Krieg zu ziehen.
Here‘s an example:
“First, these proxy officials will arrange sham referenda on joining Russia. Then, Russia will use those sham referenda as a basis to try to claim annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory,” Kirby told reporters during Tuesday’s White House press briefing. Kirby added that the referendums “will take place later this year, possibly in conjunction with Russia’s regional elections.”
Die geografischen Ziele des von Russland als „militärischer Sondereinsatz“ bezeichneten Angriffskrieges in der Ukraine sind laut Russlands Außenminister Sergej Lawrow nicht mehr auf den Donbas begrenzt.
Nach Ansicht von Analysten setzt Moskau womöglich genau darauf: dass der Schock über den Krieg nachlässt und das Interesse erlahmt. Denn je länger sich der Konflikt hinzieht und festfährt, desto höher ist demnach aus russischer Sicht die Chance, die Ukraine zu einer Einigung zu zwingen.
Jeder Kriegsmonat kostet die Ukraine laut der Denkfabrik Penta Center umgerechnet 4,7 Milliarden Euro. Daher sei das Land auf den Rückhalt der westlichen Staaten angewiesen. Für einen Sieg brauche es nicht nur modernere Waffen, sondern auch die westliche Entschlossenheit, den wirtschaftlichen Druck auf Russland aufrechtzuerhalten, um Moskau zu schwächen.
It is the Protocol – not Brexit – that has created a border in the Irish Sea. As such it represents an existential threat to the future of our place in the Union. No Conservative and Unionist government can stand by and watch as the pro-union people of Northern Ireland diverge further and further from the rest of the United Kingdom. The checks on the Irish Sea border are the symptom of the underlying problem, that Northern Ireland is subject to a different set of laws imposed by a foreign entity without any say by any elected representative of its people.
A senior Russian military commander has said that the goal of Russia’s new offensive is to seize control of southern Ukraine and form a land bridge to Crimea, indicating that Russia plans a permanent occupation of Ukrainian territory taken in the war.
Rustam Minnekayev, acting commander of the central military district, also told members of a defence industry forum on Friday that control over southern Ukraine would give Russia access to Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova, indicating that Russia may attack the port city of Odesa.
(11.Mai 2014)
Die Menschen sowohl im Osten, wie auch im Westen der Ukraine werden in der bereits seit Jahren explizit von der Berliner Nomenklatura systematisch betriebenen Spaltung und damit Zerstörung des (nach Russland) größten Flächenstaates Osteuropas lediglich benutzt. Der Öffentlichkeit, gerade der in einem der reichsten und einflussreichsten Länder auf dem Planeten, nämlich Deutschland – wird eine Konfrontation vorgegaukelt, die so nicht existiert. Dienen soll diese inszenierte Dialektik zweier sich bekriegender Seiten ausschließlich den imperialen Zwecken der seit bald dreizehn Jahren weltweit wie ein Krebsgeschwür wuchernden Kriegsgewinnlern, feudalen Finanzmogulen, Spionage-Apparaten, Kontrollbehörden, etc. Deren Interesse bedient ein Zerfall, eine Zerstörung der Ukraine, als Dynamo für ein Fortsetzen des bald dreizehnjährigen Krieges „on terror“, mit dem nun nichtfiktiven, sehr realen Feind Russland, China, bzw umgekehrt dem „Westen“.
Denken wir nur ein paar Monate zurück: Deutsche Soldaten gefangen genommen von „Pro-Russen“ in der Ukraine? Gefahr eines „Weltkrieges“? Zerfall der Ukraine?
Nehmen wir an, ich hätte letzten September, so um den 11., eine entsprechende Prognose abgegeben. Wie, meinen Sie, wäre ich genannt worden?
Laut ukrainischen Angaben soll Russland ein Referendum über die Gründung einer „Volksrepublik Cherson“ vorbereiten. Die russische Führung würde damit dem Beispiel in den Regionen Luhansk und Donezk folgen.