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Hezbollah Massacred Syrians; They Are Glad for Israel’s Help
An Iranian flag hangs as smoke rises after what the Iranian media said was an Israeli strike on a building close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, April 1, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Israel’s assassination of the senior leaders of the Hezbollah terror group, including its chief, Hassan Nasrallah, was mourned by many Shiite Muslims and celebrated by even larger numbers of Sunni Arabs.
But for one group of people in the small mountain town of Madaya, Syria, the elimination of Hezbollah’s senior leadership was especially important.
Madaya is located about 40km north-west of Syria’s capital, Damascus, and about 52km from the Lebanon border. During the Syrian civil war, the town was the site of one of Hezbollah’s cruelest and most vicious attacks.
Between July 2015 and April 2017, Madaya was besieged by Hezbollah. Hezbollah sent thousands of its fighters from Lebanon to support Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in his battle to defeat anti-regime forces opposed to his authoritarian regime.
This campaign to was characterized by widespread violence, including massacres, and inhuman acts of cruelty against civilians.
By October 2016, one million Syrians were actively under siege according to news reports, while some 4.5 million were in need of humanitarian aid.
Hezbollah planted some 12,000 landmines around Madaya, and created 65 checkpoints manned by snipers to stop food, fuel, and medicine being delivered to the town, and prevent residents from leaving.
According to survivor testimony, Hezbollah killed children, raped women, and buried people alive.
An International Committee of the Red Cross worker described the townspeople as experiencing a “colossal level of suffering.”
Over the course of the 22 months of the siege, Madaya dissolved into a genuine hellscape for its inhabitants and those sheltering there, more than 20,000 at the time, as Madaya took in people from nearby villages who were attempting to escape the terrorist group.
Disease and infection including typhoid and meningitis broke out, but the town’s two doctors had nothing but the most basic supplies at just one field hospital.
There was also a lack of access to clean water, electricity, and basic goods. At the time, Doctors Without Borders Director of Operations Brice de le Vingne said, “There is no way in or out, leaving the people to die,” he said.
There were reports of starving residents resorting to eating grass to stay alive, and desperate residents walking through the 12,000-strong minefield in search of food, many losing limbs or their lives in the process.
Starving residents were described as “walking skeletons.”
And so, following news of attacks against thousands of Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and Syria via explosives hidden in their pagers and walkie talkies on Sept. 17 and 18, widely attributed to Israel, scores of Syrians openly celebrated the demise of those who had tortured and murdered their family, friends, and neighbors.
Many Syrians also took to social media to express their satisfaction over the death of senior Hezbollah commander Hussein Ali Ghandour in a highly sophisticated Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh district on Sept. 20. Syrian activist Ashakaki tweeted: “No one should ask the residents of Madaya why they are rejoicing today. When one of the murderers is gone, the world becomes better.”
Syrians also openly celebrated the death of long-time Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah one week later, on Sept. 27, with fireworks. Ahmed al-Ali, who lost multiple friends to Hezbollah terrorists, described it as the “the most beautiful day of my life.”
Yasmine Muhammad said upon hearing of Nasrallah’s death, “I consider this revenge for the thousands of Syrians who were killed by Hezbollah, the main support of Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah committed the most heinous massacres against Syrians, and it also participated in the starvation and displacement of thousands of Syrians.”
The starvation and displacement that Muhammad spoke of was a hallmark of Hezbollah’s siege warfare across Syria.
Today, while it has reduced in intensity, Syria’s ongoing civil war — now in its 14th year — is still not over. Tens of thousands of Iranian-backed Shi’ite terror operatives, including Hezbollah, remain entrenched in Syria, forming part of Iran’s “Ring of Fire” around Israel that includes Yemen, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
But as the reactions of many Syrians to Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah demonstrate, it is not just Israelis who have suffered as a result of Iran’s strategy of aggression and expansionism.
And many Syrians, Lebanese, and others, whether or not they are able to say so publicly, will be rooting for Israel to finish the job of demolishing Hezbollah, a central part of Iran’s “Ring of Fire.”
Alana Schetzer is a Policy Analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
The post Hezbollah Massacred Syrians; They Are Glad for Israel’s Help first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.