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.
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.”
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(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.
“If we in this Dáil can’t recognize that Israel is a terrorist state, then we’re in serious trouble,” she said in a video shared on her campaign’s Facebook page in June, referring to the lower house of the Irish legislature where she served. She went on to criticize Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, its military conduct in Gaza, and other Israeli policies.
Connolly, 68, is a long-time critic of the European Union in overwhelmingly pro-EU Ireland. She was backed by the left-dominated opposition, was not a household name, and was underestimated by many at the start of the campaign.
(December 9, 2023)
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.
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.
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.
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
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 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’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.
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.
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 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.“
(December 9, 2023)
Everyone’s always going to remember what they did. Their grandchildren will be disgusted by them. Their families will carry their shame for generations.
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.
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.
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.
(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.
(April 11, 2025)
Over 100,000 Israelis have reportedly stopped showing up for reserve duty. While their reasons differ, the scale demonstrates the war’s waning legitimacy.
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.
(May 1, 2025)
The anti-Druze sentiment started overnight Monday into Tuesday. An audio recording was released online insulting the Prophet Muhammad and quickly went viral. It was attributed to an unnamed Druze leader in Suwayda, though that has not been confirmed, and it has been speculated it was specifically released to inflame sectarian violence.
If that was the purpose, mission accomplished, because attacks on the Druze in Jaramana were happening the very next day.
(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.
Israel’s defense minister said on Wednesday that troops will remain in so-called security zones in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, remarks that could further complicate talks with Hamas over a ceasefire and hostage release.
They stressed the importance of a political horizon leading to an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The leaders also discussed regional issues, including the situations in Syria, Lebanon, and Sudan, emphasizing the importance of preserving their unity, territorial integrity, and protecting their people‘s resources and stability.
(April 10, 2025)
In many places around southwest Syria, there are protests against the Israelis ongoing incursion and recent killings in Nawa. There is a growing viewpoint that they’re increasingly living under an active occupation, and they aren’t happy about it.
(February 23, 2017)
For those progressives ready to make the leap to another party, there are various options to consider. To begin with, there are the left third parties that existed prior to 2016, including but not limited to the Vermont Progressive Party, the Green Party, Socialist Alternative, and the Justice Party. Most of these groups have demonstrated that they are capable of winning elections, under the right conditions and with strong enough candidates. All seem to have gotten some boost from the energy generated by the Sanders campaign.
There also are a couple of bold new attempts by Berners to found their own parties, which may appeal more directly to Bernie’s huge base. One is the Progressive Independent Party; it aims to create a coalition of third parties and likeminded groups on the left. The other is the Draft Bernie for a People’s Party movement, which actually seeks to recruit Bernie Sanders to found a new progressive populist party.
(January 2024)
In Israel, they like to say that they are fighting a war on seven fronts: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen, the West Bank, and Iraq. But the truth is that Israel has fought, and with great success, against one more front, which is not talked about much: the front of the global left and progressive activists.
This front encompasses a network of activists, academics, and media that often cast Israel in a negative light, focusing on narratives of colonialism and oppression. Israel’s victory in this campaign is perhaps the most important for the future of the world.