German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Israel on December 6 and 7 for his first official visit since taking office, a German government spokesperson said on Friday.
Archiv: Syrien / Syria
Germany: Resumption of arms transfers to Israel reckless, unlawful and risks complicity in Israel’s international crimes
(November 24, 2025)
“Germany’s decision to lift its partial suspension of weapons shipments to Israel is reckless, unlawful and sends entirely the wrong message to Israel: that it can continue committing genocide, war crimes, and apartheid against Palestinians and unlawfully occupy the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza without fear of consequence.
“Germany is one of Israel’s major arms suppliers. The partial and long overdue suspension of arms transfers by Germany was one of the few forms of meaningful pressure applied by the international community to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“Now is absolutely not the time to ease this pressure. On the contrary, this is the time to ensure that Israel stops its violations of international law, including its unlawful occupation as indicated by the International Court of Justice in July 2024 and agreed by the UN General Assembly. Regrettably, with this move, Germany is going down a dangerous path that must be immediately reversed and must not be followed by other states.
Israeli forces kill at least 13 people in southern Syria raid, officials and residents say
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.
LIVE: Israel bombs Syria, Gaza after extrajudicial killings in West Bank
– 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.
Security Council must seize ‘moment of renewed hope’ in Gaza
The ceasefire in Gaza is largely holding but recent violence by Israel and Palestinian militants put the truce at risk, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council on Monday.
Ramiz Alakbarov briefed on conditions in the battered enclave and the occupied West Bank, before touching on developments in Lebanon and Syria.
“Today we meet at a moment of renewed hope,” he said, speaking from Jerusalem.
“While progress on the ground is fragile and deep uncertainty persists, we must seize the opportunity before us to chart a better future for Palestinians, Israelis and the wider region.”
WATCH: Rising Israeli attacks cast doubt on regional peace initiatives
(video)
Israel’s military carries out strikes in Lebanon and Gaza, killing dozens of people
(November 19, 2025)
The new wave of strikes came a day after an airstrike killed 13 people in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, the deadliest of Israeli attacks on Lebanon since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war a year ago.
Meanwhile, after Israel reported its soldiers were fired on in southern Gaza, health officials in the territory said Israeli strikes killed at least 25 Palestinians in one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the Oct. 10 ceasefire agreement took effect. Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to a buffer zone in Syrian territory that Israel seized last year.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Turkey extends Iraq, Syria operations for 3 years, renews UN mission in Lebanon
UNIFIL, established by the United Nations in 1978, operates in southern Lebanon to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces, maintain peace and security along the Lebanon–Israel border and support the Lebanese government in extending its authority in the region. Turkey has contributed troops and naval units to the mission since 2006 as part of its broader commitment to UN peacekeeping operations.
Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
Maps: Israel has attacked six countries in the past 72 hours
In just three days, Israel has carried out strikes in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and Yemen.
Call to action! Political Prisoners for Palestine on hunger strike from Britain to the U.S.
(August 30, 2025)
Free T. Hoxha, Casey Goonan, The Filton 24, Anan Yaeesh, Elias Rodriguez, Jakhi McCray, Tarek Bazrouk, Ghassan Elashi and Shukri Abu Baker of the Holy Land 5;
Free the Black prisoners resisting the U.S Empire from its interior, free Mumia Abu Jamal, Imam Jamil al-Amin, Joseph Bowen, Fred Burton, Veronza Bowers, Kojo Bomani Sababu, Kamau Sadiki, and all of the prisoners of the Black Liberation Movement;
Free the 16 Lebanese and dozens of Syrian prisoners in Zionist jails, abducted and held hostage to impose Zionist-Imperialist control over Lebanon and Syria;
Free the over 10,800 Palestinian Prisoners who are routinely subjected to physical and sexual assault, psychological torture and abuse, sleep deprivation, starvation and denial of access to food and medical care, who continue to lead, inspire and guide Palestinian, Arab and international Resistance.
Israel sees Sykes-Picot borders as ‚meaningless‘, US envoy Tom Barrack says
A billionaire real estate investor, Barrack, like his boss at the White House, has chaffed at the traditional US foreign policy establishment – including its preference for maintaining quiet ties with American establishment media. Instead, he has given shoot-from-the-hip style interviews.
On Thursday, he called himself an “events-driven mercenary”.
“What’s going on in Gaza makes the rest of the Arab world totally freaked out,” Barrack said.
“In Israel’s mind, these lines that were created by Sykes-Picot are meaningless. They will go where they want, when they want, and do what they want to protect the Israelis and their borders,” Barrack said.
Arab League condemns Benjamin Netanyahu‘s ‚Greater Israel‘ remarks
The League considered these statements to be a violation of the sovereignty of Arab states and an attempt to undermine security and stability in the region.
In a statement released Tuesday, the League said these remarks represent a serious threat to collective Arab national security and a flagrant challenge to international law and the principles of international legitimacy. The statements also reflect expansionist and aggressive intentions that cannot be accepted or tolerated, and they reveal an extremist mindset steeped in colonial delusions.
Netanyahu says backs ‚Greater Israel‘, which includes parts of Jordan and Egypt
Similar views have been echoed by ministers within Netanyahu‘s government.
Last year, in a documentary, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was filmed advocating for the expansion of Israeli borders to include Damascus.
He suggested that Israel would gradually grow to encompass not only all Palestinian territories but also parts of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu says he’s on a ‘historic and spiritual mission,’ also feels a connection to vision of Greater Israel
(August 12, 2025)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells i24 he feels he is on a “historic and spiritual mission,” and that he is “very” attached to the vision of a Greater Israel, which includes areas slated for a future Palestinian state and possibly also areas that are part of present-day Jordan and Egypt.
The interviewer Sharon Gal, who was briefly a right-wing member of Knesset, gifts to Netanyahu what he says is an amulet of “a map of the Promised Land.”
WATCH: Is Israel using the Druze to expand hegemony in region?
Israel claims it has attacked Syria to protect its Druze minority, but analysts say its primary goal is to “divide and weaken” the country while expanding its hegemony in the Middle East.
Syrian Bedouins ‚massacred‘ by Druze anti-government militias, says state media
Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, a Druze spiritual leader who has been critical of the new Syrian government, has been accused of leading the main armed anti-government groups in Sweida.
Syrian army withdraws from Sweida after ceasefire
Following clashes with local Bedouin tribes that resulted in over 100 deaths, Syrian government soldiers entered Sweida on Tuesday with the claimed goal of enforcing a truce that was agreed upon with leaders of the Druze community. Witnesses, however, claimed that during a violent rampage across the city, government forces allied with the Bedouin to target Druze combatants and civilians. Earlier this evening, it was reported that the death toll had topped 300.
Turkey says ceasefire in Syria may take place within hours
16 July 2025 20:05 BST
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday that a ceasefire could take hold in Syria within the next three to four hours, as Israeli military strikes continue to target Syrian government forces in Sweida and Damascus.
“By working together with the Americans, I hope that
US calls upon Syria to pull out troops in southern border
16 July 2025 19:23 BST
The statements were made after fighting between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern city of Sweida hours following a ceasefire agreement.
Israel bombs Damascus, stoking conflict with Syria’s new government
Israel on Wednesday launched what it said were “dozens” of strikes across Syria, including in the capital, escalating a conflict with a fledgling government that was already grappling with domestic unrest in which scores of people have been killed.
Israel tied Wednesday’s strikes and others this week to that internal conflict, saying it was attacking forces of the new Islamist government to protect the Druze minority.
Syria announces ceasefire after latest outbreak of deadly sectarian violence
Syria’s Interior Ministry said Monday that more than 30 people had been killed, but has not updated the figures since. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said Tuesday that 166 people had been killed since Sunday, including five women and two children.
LIVE: Israel kills dozens as it bombards Gaza, Lebanon and Syria
Israel’s military killed more than 50 Palestinians in Gaza since dawn as thousands of civilians fled the besieged north after it threatened to attack “the combat zone”.
Israel launched air strikes on the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, killing at least 12 people, as well as attacking Syrian troops in the city of Suwayda.
Pope to ROACO: May Eastern Churches bear witness amid pain of conflict
The Pope highlighted Eastern Christians’ “sense of the sacred, their deep faith confirmed by suffering, and their spirituality, redolent of the divine mysteries”.
Pope Leo went on to recall the violence ravaging the Christian East with “diabolical intensity previously unknown,” noting that some ROACO members were unable to come to Rome for the annual meeting due to the conflict in the Middle East.
“Our hearts bleed when we think of Ukraine, the tragic and inhumane situation in Gaza, and the Middle East, ravaged by the spread of war,” he said.
Every individual, added the Pope, must examine the causes of these conflicts and seek to resolve them, while rejecting explanations that are manipulative or false.
“It is truly distressing to see the principle of ‘might makes right’ prevailing in so many situations today, all for the sake of legitimizing the pursuit of self-interest,” he said.
Pope Leo laments ‚diabolical intensity‘ of Middle East conflicts
Pope Leo said on Thursday that conflicts in the Middle East were raging with an unprecedented „diabolical intensity“ and appealed for greater respect for international law, in comments to Catholic bishops and aid agencies operating in the region.
At a meeting in the Vatican, the pontiff said countries in the region were being „devastated by wars, plundered by special interests, and covered by a cloud of hatred that renders the air unbreathable and toxic.“
Iran asks Gulf states to mediate for ceasefire with Israel
Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press U.S. President Donald Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire with Iran in return for Tehran‘s flexibility in nuclear negotiations, two Iranian and three regional sources told Reuters on Monday.
Public condemnation, private interest: Arab world response to Israel‘s Iran strikes – opinion
Therefore, although it is still too early to disclose the full extent of Arab involvement, there are indications that Israel operated over the airspace of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria – the latter likely without its knowledge or consent.
Jordanian fighter jets intercepted Iranian drones over Jordanian territory.
It is also reasonable to assume that the regional air system, established following the Abraham Accords and Israel’s inclusion in the US Central Command (CENTCOM) – known as the Middle East Air Defense – was activated to intercept Iranian drones, as it was during Iran’s two previous attacks in April and October 2024.
Trump meets with Syria‘s new leader, a former Islamist militant, after announcing sanctions to be lifted
In a readout on the two leaders‘ meeting in Saudi Arabia, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr. Trump had told the Syrian leader that „he has a tremendous opportunity to do something historic in his country,“ and urged him to join Saudi Arabia in signing onto the U.S.-backed Abraham Accords, to normalize ties with Israel.
LIVE: Israeli forces attack Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Gaza in one day
Israel has attacked Yemen, Lebanon and Syria, as well as Gaza, where air raids killed at least 54 people on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Gaza’s more than 2 million people “will be moved” in a new ground offensive as Israel’s total blockade on the enclave reaches 65 days.
Israel and EU seek to boost trade amid war of extermination
A document obtained via a freedom of information request gives some insight into such efforts. It concerns a discussion held between Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade commissioner, and Nir Barkat, Israel’s economy minister, in March.
Two main topics were addressed, according to a readout of the meeting – see below.
Israel beruft Zehntausende Reservisten ein
Seit gut zwei Monaten lässt Israel keine Hilfslieferungen mehr in das abgeriegelte Gebiet, in dem rund zwei Millionen Palästinenser leben.
Israel hatte Mitte März nach einer knapp zweimonatigen Waffenruhe seine Luftangriffe im Gazastreifen wieder aufgenommen. Die israelische Armee startete zudem eine neue Bodenoffensive.
Israel calls up thousands of reservists, plans to expand Gaza offensive amid stalled hostage talks
(May 3, 2025)
Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan 11, reported that Zamir’s plan included evacuating Palestinian civilians from northern and central Gaza ahead of expanded operations in those areas, mirroring tactics used earlier this year in southern Gaza’s Rafah.
Citing unnamed officials, Kan 11 said Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet was expected to approve the plan Sunday.