RSS
Israel Says It Carried Out Warning Strike on Extremists in Syria Preparing to Attack Druze
Armed Druze men stand at a checkpoint in Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, Syria, April 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
Israel said it carried out a strike in Syria against extremists who attacked members of the Druze community, following through on a promise to protect the minority group as sectarian violence spread near Damascus on Wednesday.
It appeared to be Israel‘s first military action in support of Syrian Druze since Bashar al-Assad was toppled, reflecting its deep mistrust of the Sunni Islamists who replaced him and posing a further challenge to interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s efforts to establish control over the fractured nation.
A Syrian Interior Ministry source told Reuters Israeli drone strikes targeted government security forces, killing one of their members, in the mainly Druze town of Sahnaya on Damascus’ outskirts. The Druze adhere to a faith that is an offshoot of Islam and have followers in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military had carried out “a warning operation and struck an extremist group” as it prepared to continue an attack on Druze in Sahnaya.
“At the same time, a message was passed on to the Syrian regime – Israel expects it to act in order to prevent harm to the Druze,” they said.
Since Assad was ousted in December, Israel has seized ground in the southwest, vowed to protect the Druze, lobbied Washington to keep the neighboring state weak, and blown up much of the Syrian army’s heavy weapons in the days after he was toppled.
Sharaa, who was an al Qaeda commander before renouncing ties to the group in 2016, has repeatedly vowed to govern Syria in an inclusive way. But incidents of sectarian violence, including the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, have hardened fears among minority groups about the now dominant Islamists.
The sectarian violence began on Tuesday with clashes between Druze and Sunni gunmen in the predominantly Druze area of Jaramana. It was ignited by a voice recording cursing the Prophet Mohammad and which the Sunni militants suspected was made by a Druze. More than a dozen people were reported killed on Tuesday, before the violence spread to Sahnaya on Wednesday.
In a statement on state news agency SANA, the director of security for the Damascus countryside said a ceasefire was reached in Jaramana but outlaws had escalated attacks in the Sahnaya area on Wednesday, killing 16 members of the security forces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reports on conflict in Syria, said at least 22 people were killed in Sahnaya – six Druze fighters and 16 members of government security forces or fighters aligned with them.
‘EXTREME PANIC AND FEAR’
The Interior Ministry has said it is investigating the origin of the audio recording.
Grand Mufti Sheikh Osama al-Rifai, appointed Syria‘s top Muslim cleric in March, said in a recorded statement that the spilling of any Syrian blood was forbidden.
Residents of Sahnaya reported intense street fighting throughout Wednesday. “We’re in extreme panic and fear because of the indiscriminate shelling, which is forcing most of us to stay totally shuttered inside our homes,” said Elias Hanna, who lives on the edge of Sahnaya.
“We’re worried that the massacres of the coast will repeat themselves near Sahnaya against the Druze,” he said.
Geir Pedersen, UN special envoy to Syria, is “deeply concerned” by violence in the country, especially in suburbs of the capital Damascus and in Homs,” the United Nations said.
He called for immediate measures to ensure the protection of civilians, and prevent incitement of communal tensions.
The new Islamist-led leadership in Damascus has called for all arms to fall under their authority, but Druze fighters have resisted, saying Damascus has failed to guarantee their protection from hostile militants.
The Israeli government reiterated its pledge to defend Syrian Druze in March after the attacks on Alawites – bloodshed that was sparked by deadly attacks on government security forces and blamed by the Islamist authorities on Assad loyalists.
Israel has a small Druze community and there are also some 24,000 Druze living in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day war. Israel annexed the territory in 1981, a move that has been recognized by the US but not most countries.
The spiritual leader of Druze in Israel, Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif, said late on Tuesday he was “closely monitoring” developments in Syria and had discussed them with Israel‘s defense minister.
Israel struck Syria regularly when it was governed by Assad, seeking to curb the role of his ally Iran.
The post Israel Says It Carried Out Warning Strike on Extremists in Syria Preparing to Attack Druze first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
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.”
RSS
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.
RSS
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.