RSS
Fighting in Southern Gaza, Israeli Strikes Hit Central Areas
An explosion occurs following an Israeli air strike on a residential building, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, July 20, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Omar Naaman/File Photo
Israeli forces battled Palestinian terrorists in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday, and struck areas in the center of the coastal enclave where thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes have been seeking shelter.
Residents in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, said fierce battles raged between Hamas-led fighters and Israeli forces, especially in the center and in western areas where tanks advanced in the previous two days.
The armed wings of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas Islamist terrorist groups said fighters confronted Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
The Israeli military said its soldiers had killed a group of fighters who were moving towards them, and destroyed ammunition, tunnel shafts and infrastructure in Tel al-Sultan, in the eastern part of the city.
A ceasefire effort led by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States has so far failed because of disagreements between the combatants, who blame each other for the impasse.
Israeli strikes in the previous 24 hours killed at least 64 and wounded more than 100 others, the local health ministry said. At least 22 were killed by strikes on Sunday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.
Experts have cast doubt on the reliability of casualty figures from Hamas-controlled authorities in Gaza, in part because they don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israeli strikes in areas of central Gaza in the past week have been focused on the Al-Nuseirat camp.
The post Fighting in Southern Gaza, Israeli Strikes Hit Central Areas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Kurdish-led SDF Say Five Members Killed During Attack by Islamic State in Syria
Islamic State slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in the hillside overlooking Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. Photo: via Reuters Connect.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Sunday that five of its members had been killed during an attack by Islamic State militants on a checkpoint in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zor on July 31.
The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated Islamic State in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The Islamic State has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia. Deir el-Zor city was captured by Islamic State in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.
RSS
Armed Groups Attack Security Force Personnel in Syria’s Sweida, Killing One, State TV Reports
People ride a motorcycle past a burned-out military vehicle, following deadly clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes, and government forces, in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Armed groups attacked personnel from Syria’s internal security forces in Sweida, killing one member and wounding others, and fired shells at several villages in the violence-hit southern province, state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Sunday.
The report cited a security source as saying the armed groups had violated the ceasefire agreed in the predominantly Druze region, where factional bloodshed killed hundreds of people last month.
Violence in Sweida erupted on July 13 between tribal fighters and Druze factions. Government forces were sent to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops in the name of the Druze.
The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Sweida province is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes, and the communities have had long-standing tensions over land and other resources.
A US-brokered truce ended the fighting, which had raged in Sweida city and surrounding towns for nearly a week. Syria said it would investigate the clashes, setting up a committee to investigate the attacks.
The Sweida bloodshed last month was a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after a wave of sectarian violence in March that killed hundreds of Alawite citizens in the coastal region.
RSS
Netanyahu Urges Red Cross to Aid Gaza Hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke with the International Red Cross’s regional head, Julien Lerisson, and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.