The Syrian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement extending “its condolences to the families of the Syrian and American security personnel who were killed in the terrorist attacks that took place in Palmyra and northern Syria.” The statement reiterated Syria’s “firm commitment to fighting the Islamic State.” A US official told CNN that since the December 13 attack, US forces and partner forces have carried out 10 operations that resulted in the killing or arrest of approximately 23 individuals. On December 14, Syria’s Ministry of Interior said that its units carried out an operation in Palmyra to arrest five suspects accused of involvement in the killing of US service members in “coordination with the General Intelligence Directorate and the International Coalition forces.”
Archiv: Westasien („Naher / Mittlerer Osten“) / West Asia („Near / Middle East“)
US launches retaliatory strikes in Syria on dozens of ISIS targets
Hegseth said „Operation Hawkeye Strike“ was carried out in Syria „to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites in direct response to the attack on U.S. forces that occurred on Dec. 13 in Palmyra, Syria.
U.S. Central Command also confirmed in a statement that Jordanian fighter aircraft also participated in Friday’s strikes.
„This is not the beginning of a war — It is a declaration of vengeance,“ said Hegseth.
US War Department Says ‘No Force Posture Changes’ in Syria After Three Americans Killed
(December 15, 2025)
“Currently, we have no force posture changes to announce,” a War Department official told Antiwar.com when asked if the Trump administration was planning to withdraw from Syria.
The US withdrew a few hundred soldiers from Syria earlier this year, but the comment signals a full withdrawal isn’t on the table. There are currently around 1,000 US troops in the country, a Pentagon official told The New York Times.
3 killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire
December 14, 2025 at 8:07 pm
(…)
The attacks came amid reports that Lebanon had received warnings from Arab and international parties on Israeli preparations to launch a large-scale offensive in Lebanon.
‘We’re living in terror’: fears in southern Syria over Israel’s growing occupation
(December 9, 2025)
A year after Israeli forces entered southern Syria, crossing into a UN buffer zone and in some cases beyond, its occupation remains and the frequency of the Israeli military raids on towns is increasing. An Israeli incursion in the town of Beit Jinn at the end of November left at least 13 Syrians dead, including two children.
Residents say they have traded the tyranny of Assad for a military occupation. Checkpoints are now operated by Israelis, not Assad officers. Night-time raids and phone searches continue.
US Needs Troops in Syria to Stop ISIS Comeback, CENTCOM Nominee Says
(June 24, 2025)
The U.S. and the SDF stayed clear of Syria’s civil war, which led to the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia.
The country’s new president is Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the Islamist rebel group Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that swept to power last December and has vowed to establish a tolerant, multi-ethnic state.
After months of deliberation, the U.S. has thrown its support behind the new Syrian leader. President Trump announced last month that he would lift sanctions on the country, a decision he made with encouragement from Saudi Arabia while Trump was in the Middle East.
US rebuffed Israeli demands to keep more US troops in northeast Syria, sources say
(April 23, 2025)
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East chief at the National Security Council, Eric Trager, rebuffed Israeli and northeast Syrian officials in the last several weeks, saying that the US is transitioning from a “military to political role” in northeast Syria and that the drawdown of US troops would continue, the sources told MEE, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions.
“Israel is opposed to the US withdrawing from northeast Syria,” one former US official told MEE. “They want to see the US extract concessions from Turkey on demilitarisation before any American boots leave Syrian soil.”
US military said poised to slash troops in Syria; Israel seeks to limit reduction
(April 16, 2025)
Israel has been kept in the loop about plan that could see US troop presence shrunk from 2,000 to 1,000; Jerusalem fears it will increase Turkey’s ‘appetite’ to control Syria.
(…)
Trump announced a full withdrawal of US troops from Syria during his first term but never followed through completely. Then too, Israel opposed the move, expressing concern that an American withdrawal would create a power vacuum in the region, allowing Tehran to expand its military entrenchment near the Israeli border.
It’s not just Gaza. From the West Bank to Syria and Lebanon, Israel’s onslaught continues
(December 1, 2025)
Broken ceasefires, bombing, ground incursions and mounting deaths: Israeli imperialism is now expanding across the region
Presidency: Israel‘s war on Palestinians will not bring security or stability
RAMALLAH, November 28, 2025 (WAFA) – Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for President Mahmoud Abbas, said today that Israel’s ongoing war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, will not achieve security or stability for anyone, and will not grant legitimacy to any measures taken by Israeli authorities.
He stated that the continued Israeli military offensive in Tubas for the third consecutive day, along with the aggression on Jenin and its refugee camp and on Tulkarm and its two refugee camps, will keep the region trapped in a cycle of violence and escalation.
Germany‘s Merz to visit Israel, meet PM Netanyahu
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.
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.
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)
Updates: Israel troops launch new ground invasion over Gaza’s ‘yellow line’
(November 21, 2025)
Here are the day’s main developments:
– An Israeli drone attack injured four children in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya area as attacks throughout the Strip continue despite the ceasefire.
– At least 67 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on October 10, according to the UN children’s agency.
– The Israeli army killed two Palestinian teenagers during a raid in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Kafr Aqab.
– Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to an independent Palestine, saying: “There will be no Palestinian state – as simple as that.”
– One person was killed in an Israeli air strike on southern Lebanon in the latest deadly violation of last year’s ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.
Israel steps up military operations in Lebanon, Gaza Strip and West Bank
(November 21, 2025)
Massive strikes against Hezbollah and Hamas in southern Lebanon, deadly bombings in Gaza, and Israeli army raids in the occupied West Bank: In recent days, Israel has intensified its military operations, causing more than 50 total deaths in Lebanon and Gaza, and arresting hundreds of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
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.
Money, mercenaries and mayhem: How Israel and UAE are investing in regional chaos
Israeli and Emirati online networks have worked in tandem to shape narratives around Sudan and Gaza, targeting Sudan’s army even as RSF massacres mounted in El Fasher.
On the defence-industrial side, firms are expanding inside the UAE, tightening a two-way flow of money, tech, and intelligence. Israeli defence firm Controp is opening a UAE subsidiary making it the latest emblem of this deepening security embrace.
All the while, Emirati rulers boast of their „development model“ as a „shining example for the region“: authoritarian, anti-political, drenched in consumerism and spectacle.
It is a façade of progress built on repression. A mirage of modernity concealing a machinery of tyranny.
JD Vance rejects claims of Israeli influence on Trump: ‚They are not controlling this president‘
Vance also directly rejected the idea of external control over the president, affirming, “So when people say that Israel is somehow manipulating or controlling the president of the United States, they are not controlling this president of the United States, which is one of the reasons why we have been able to have some of the success we have had in the Middle East.”
Vance reinforced his assertion of the president’s autonomy by referring to the negotiations surrounding the Gaza agreement.
Israel does not control President Trump, JD Vance affirms at TPUSA event
Vance was referring to a question as to Israel‘s alleged influence over US President Donald Trump‘s foreign policy.
„I’m a Christian man, and I’m just confused why there’s this notion that we might owe Israel something or that they are our greatest ally or that we have to support this multi-hundred-billion dollar foreign aid package to Israel to cover this – to quote Charlie Kirk – ethnic cleansing in Gaza,“ the student asked.
Israeli minister says Saudis can ‚keep riding camels‘ if normalisation requires Palestinian state
Speaking on Thursday at a conference organised by the Israeli daily Makor Rishon, Smotrich, who heads the far-right Religious Zionism party, said: „Sovereignty [over the occupied West Bank] is the real test. If Saudi Arabia tells us normalisation in exchange for a Palestinian state, then the answer, my friends, is no thank you – keep riding camels on the desert sands, and we will continue to develop economically and socially, and with all the great things we know how to do.“
„Israel would lose all US support if West Bank was annexed,“ says Trump
“That will not happen,” Trump insisted. “I gave my word to the Arab countries. We can’t do this now. We have received strong support from the Arab world. If Israel were to proceed, it would lose all American support.”
Trump’s comments come amid ongoing U.S. efforts to stabilize a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, which has held for the past two weeks, and to advance a broader regional peace initiative involving several Arab states aligned with Washington.
Vance says he was insulted by Israeli lawmakers‘ „very stupid political stunt“ on West Bank annexation
Vice President JD Vance criticized on Thursday a vote by the Israeli parliament to advance a bill on the proposed annexation of the occupied West Bank, calling it „a very stupid political stunt.“
„I personally take some insult to it,“ Vance said at Israel‘s Ben Gurion airport as he departed the country after his visit. „The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.
‚Threat To Peace‘: Rubio Warns Israel Against Pursuing West Bank Annexation In Rare U.S. Rebuke
Ahead of his visit to Israel, Rubio stated that the Knesset’s initial vote to extend Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria risks undermining President Trump’s regional stabilization plan. He warned that such a move could prove “counterproductive” to ongoing peace initiatives and noted that several non–Middle Eastern nations are prepared to deploy troops to help secure Gaza.
There have been very positive discussions with Hamas, and Countries from all over the World (Arab, Muslim, and everyone else) this weekend, to release the Hostages, end the War in Gaza but, more importantly, finally have long sought PEACE in the Middle East.
These talks have been very successful, and proceeding rapidly. The technical teams will again meet Monday, in Egypt, to work through and clarify the final details. I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST. I will continue to monitor this Centuries old “conflict.” TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE OR, MASSIVE BLOODSHED WILL FOLLOW — SOMETHING THAT NOBODY WANTS TO SEE!
Trump said to tell PM in tense phone call after Hamas responded to Gaza deal: ‘You’re always so f*cking negative. This is a win.’
According to a US official, Netanyahu told Trump the ambivalent Hamas response was “nothing to celebrate.”
“I don’t know why you’re always so fucking negative,” responded Trump, per the official. “This is a win. Take it.”
Trump expected Hamas to reject the plan, and was pleasantly surprised by the terror group’s response, says Axios.
After negotiations, Israel has agreed to the initial withdrawal line, which we have shown to, and shared with, Hamas. When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal, which will bring us close to the end of this 3,000 YEAR CATASTROPHE. Thank you for your attention to this matter and, STAY TUNED!
Hamas response to Trump plan wins hardline support, lifting hostage release hopes
A further possible boost to hopes for peace came with a supportive statement from Iran-backed Islamic Jihad, which is smaller than Hamas but seen as more hardline.
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„What is important is that Netanyahu does not sabotage this, because now that Hamas agreed, Netanyahu will disagree, as he usually does,“ said Jerusalem resident Jamal Shihada.
6 Dead In Gaza Strikes Hours After Trump Called On Israel To Stop Bombing
Israeli fire killed six people across Gaza Strip, local authorities said. One strike killed four people in a house in Gaza City while another killed two others in Khan Younis in the south, medical workers and local authorities said.
Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE. Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!
(16 hours ago)
Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.