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IDF Chief Attributes Hostage Release to Stiff Israeli Military Pressure
Israeli army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi listens to an officer as he visits soldiers during the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Hamas, in a location given as Gaza, in this handout image released on Nov. 16, 2023. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israel Defense Forces’ Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi spoke to Nahal Infantry Brigade soldiers in the Gaza Strip, asserting that Hamas would not have agreed to the hostage release and ceasefire deal if military pressure had not been placed on the group, according to a press release on Sunday.
Halevi visited the troops operating in the Beit Hanoun area, holding a situational assessment with Major General Yaron Finkelman, the commander of the Southern Command; Brigadier General Itzih Cohen, the 162nd Division Commander; and other top-ranking commanders.
“We are very resolute with Hamas in order to achieve the terms we want, and we will remain very resolute moving forward, as I will explain this to you shortly,” Halevi said. “Look, we would not have reached an agreement under these terms if Hamas had not been in such a difficult situation, and we see this. It’s you that brought Hamas to such a difficult situation, along with other troops, strikes, intelligence, and continuous action, I don’t need to tell you.”
He hailed the IDF operations in northern Gaza since October 6, 2024, which killed about 3,000 terrorists and apprehended hundreds more.
“Right now, this is our position of strength, and look, when our people—civilians, soldiers—are held by the enemy in very harsh conditions, we also bear responsibility for the fact that they are there,” he said. “We are proud to make the effort to bring them home.”
The post IDF Chief Attributes Hostage Release to Stiff Israeli Military Pressure first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.
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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.
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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.