Syrian government forces leave Suwayda following ceasefire
Syrian government forces have begun to leave Suwayda following a ceasefire agreement with Druze leaders. Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr is on the outskirts of the city where she explains the security situation is still precarious.
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Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Could Israel be planning a second war on Iran?
Israel's leadership views its 12-day war with Iran last month as a success – several Iranian military leaders were killed, Iran's defensive military capabilities were weakened, and the United States was convinced to take part in a raid on the Iranian nuclear site at Fordow. But while Israeli leaders were quick to claim victory, they emphasised that they were ready to attack again if necessary, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he had 'no intention of easing off the gas pedal'. And Israel is already looking for the next opportunity to wage another devastating conflict aimed at bringing down the Islamic Republic in Iran, analysts told Al Jazeera. However, to do so, it would require the 'permission' of the US, which may not be willing to give it. Back in mid-June, a surprise Israeli attack led to the war, in which more than 1,000 Iranians and 29 Israelis were killed. Israel justified the war by claiming that it was acting preemptively and in 'self-defence' to take out Iran's nuclear programme, which Tehran has long said is for civilian purposes. Speaking to Al Jazeera earlier this week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed doubt over how long the current ceasefire will remain in place. 'We are fully prepared for any new Israeli military move, and our armed forces are ready to strike deep inside Israel again,' he said. Cause for war Despite Israel's emphasis that it was targeting Iran's nuclear facilities, it mainly assassinated high-ranking government and military officials, indicating a clear attempt to weaken and possibly bring down the regime. Trita Parsi, an expert on Iran and the cofounder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, a left-wing US think tank, believes Netanyahu is looking for an opportunity to resume that mission. 'The reason the Israelis want to attack again … is because they want to make sure they turn Iran into the next Syria or Lebanon – countries Israel can attack anytime with impunity,' he told Al Jazeera. Israel's next opportunity to muster up a pretext for a war could come after European countries reimpose debilitating sanctions on Iran. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reported to have held a call with his counterparts from Germany, France and the United Kingdom earlier in July, in which they agreed that United Nations Security Council sanctions would be reimposed if a new nuclear deal was not agreed upon by the end of August. The sanctions had been lifted when Iran and several Western countries agreed on a nuclear deal in 2015. The US pulled out of that deal two years into President Donald Trump's first term in 2018 and restored sanctions as part of a maximum pressure campaign. Now, European parties to the deal could do the same, and that could prompt Iran to walk out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, warned Parsi. 'That would provide [Israel] with a political window to [attack again],' he told Al Jazeera. Meir Javedanfar, Iran lecturer at Israel's Reichman University, added that Israel would nevertheless have to muster up or present credible intelligence that suggests Iran is rebuilding or repairing its nuclear programme. He warned that, 'to launch such an attack, Israel would need the agreement of the United States and its President Trump', permission he regarded as less likely in light of US concern over Israeli attacks on Syria. Israeli operations While Israeli strikes on Iran may not be imminent, a report in The New York Times on Wednesday suggests that it is carrying out covert operations responsible for sudden explosions and fires across the country. The paper cited three informed officials and a European diplomat who attributed the apparently random fires and explosions at apartment complexes, oil refineries, near an airport and a shoe factory, to acts of sabotage likely carried out by Israel. 'I think Benjamin Netanyahu has found a formula where it is able to attack Iran with impunity despite pushback from Donald Trump,' said Negar Mortazavi, an expert on Iran with the Center for International Policy (CIP), a think tank based in Washington, DC. Any ongoing covert operations are a result of Israel's extensive infiltration of Iranian security and infrastructure that became apparent during the early stages of the June conflict, with individuals targeted through what was presumed to be teams of local intelligence operatives and drones launched against Iranian targets from within Iranian territory. There was no evidence to suggest that Israel's network within Iran had ended with the war, analyst and Iran expert Ori Goldberg said. 'Israel has built a robust [security] system within Iran and, like all such systems, its muscles need flexing occasionally,' he said from Tel Aviv. 'Sometimes this isn't for strategic reasons, so much as tactical ones. As soon as you have infrastructure or people in place within another country, you have a limited time to use them, so if that's setting fires or setting detonations, it's a way of keeping them active and letting Iran know they're there.' Likelihood of new war Few could have predicted the complete absence of restraint with which Netanyahu, previously a figure considered to be somewhat averse to conflict, has attacked neighbouring states, Syria and Lebanon, as well as regional actors, such as Yemen and Iran, while maintaining his brutal assault upon Gaza. But while a renewed offensive upon Israel's historical bogeyman, Iran, might prove popular in the face of growing internal division over Israel's war on Gaza, how well received it might be by his principal ally remains to be seen. 'Trump is a concern and Israel will want to keep on the right side of whatever line he's drawn [on its actions],' Goldberg said. 'But Iran is a consensus issue within Israel. People might argue about Gaza, but never Iran. If Netanyahu feels himself under threat, he's going to want to crack the Iranian whip and unify people behind him.' Iran, for its part, won't be caught flat-footed a second time, say analysts. Mortazavi told Al Jazeera that Iran is expecting Israel to continue its aggression, even as it still holds out hope to reach a deal on its nuclear programme through diplomacy. 'I think they know that a deal will reduce the chances of an Israeli attack,' she said.
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
US, Israel recall teams from Gaza ceasefire talks after Hamas proposal
United States special envoy Steve Witkoff has said he is cutting short talks aimed at reaching a truce in Israel's war on Gaza, after the latest proposal from Hamas showed 'a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. Witkoff made the announcement in a statement on Thursday, just hours after the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had also recalled its negotiating team from Qatar amid the latest diplomatic flurry. There was no immediate comment from Hamas. The group has repeatedly accused Israel of blocking a ceasefire agreement. Earlier in the day, Hamas had submitted its latest response to a ceasefire framework floated by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US. Netanyahu's office confirmed receipt of the response, and said it was under review. Neither side disclosed the contents. Both Israel and Hamas are facing growing international pressure to reach an agreement as the humanitarian and hunger crisis in the territory continues to deteriorate sharply amid Israel's severe restrictions on the entry of aid. At least 115 people have died from malnutrition since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, mostly in recent weeks, as the United Nations and aid agencies have warned that Gaza's residents were facing mass starvation. 'While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith,' Witkoff said in a statement. 'We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,' Witkoff said, without elaborating. Witkoff, a businessman with no formal diplomatic experience prior to his appointment, said the US remains 'resolute' in seeking an end to the war in Gaza, adding it was 'a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way'. The current proposal under discussion has been reported to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living captives and the remains of 18 others. In turn, Palestinians imprisoned by Israel would be released and aid supplies would be ramped up as the two sides held negotiations on a lasting truce. Details of the current sticking point were not immediately clear, but officials from both sides have previously pointed to a dispute over what would happen in the wake of any new ceasefire. Israel has repeatedly said it plans to deploy the military long term in Gaza, seeking a complete defeat of Hamas, despite warnings that such a goal is unrealistic. Earlier this month, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reportedly laid out a plan for the forced transfer of Palestinians to a 'humanitarian city' within Gaza, a maximalist approach that critics say would violate international law. Israel's government has also faced domestic pressure over the plan, amid fears it would foreclose ceasefire negotiations and block the release of captives still held in Gaza. Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi said it remained unclear whether the US withdrawal from the talks was a 'negotiating tactic'. 'It's a very sternly worded tweet, talking about 'alternative options for a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,'' he said. 'We know that Trump simply hasn't ruled out ethnic cleansing, so-called 'self deportation', in his words, of Palestinians.' 'Right now, we simply don't know whether it's a negotiating position or the end of the negotiations,' Rattansi said. Israel's war in Gaza has killed at least 59,587 Palestinians since it began in the wake of the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed at least 1,139 people. This week, more than 100 aid groups blamed Israel's restrictions on aid for 'mass starvation' in the enclave.
Al Jazeera
14 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
How Israel pushed Gaza to breaking point, ‘starving, alone, and hunted'
Through its unrelenting war on Gaza, Israel has killed over 59,000 Palestinians, injured 143,000 others, and pushed hundreds of thousands into forced starvation caused by its blockade on the enclave and its militarised distribution system. More than 100 Palestinians have starved to death as a result in recent weeks, 80 of them children. Whatever its ultimate intention, according to analysts, Israel has pushed the people of Gaza to the breaking point. 'Israeli policy has left Gaza uninhabitable,' said Derek Summerfield, a United Kingdom-based psychiatrist who has written on the effects of war and atrocity. 'It's destroyed the idea of a society and every institution that might serve it, from universities to hospitals to mosques. It's become a sociocidal war,' he added, describing a conflict intended to destroy a society's entire structures and sense of identity. 'People have been left with nothing, and are feeling they can't go on.' The constant spectre of death and the complete devastation of Gaza have driven many Palestinians there to desperation. Some are trying to leave – even temporarily – due to the horrors they have experienced and in a conflict that may continue for months or years to come. Others continue to cling to their homes in defiance of escalating Israeli aggression. The mass starvation that aid agencies have warned about has become a reality for Palestinians in Gaza, as aid workers and journalists join the ranks of the hungry and the malnourished. On Wednesday, more than 100 aid agencies issued an open letter urging the Israeli government to work with the United Nations and allow aid into Gaza. Al Jazeera has called for action to protect all journalists trapped in Gaza, many of whom are no longer able to report due to their own acute hunger and deteriorating health. AFP agency made a similar call. 'Famine isn't just physical, it's mental,' said Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, who has written extensively on famine. 'It dehumanises and degrades the sufferer … It's the experience of – and then the memory of – having searched through garbage for food and everything you have done to survive.' 'You need to remember, starvation is an act, and as often as not a criminal one,' he continued. 'It's also one that takes time. It's not like dropping a bomb… Starvation can take 60 to 80 days. Semi-starvation, such as we're seeing in Gaza, can take longer. 'Israel has had ample and stark warnings that its actions are leading to mass starvation. This should surprise no one.' 'This isn't just about starving kids. It's about dismantling a society and reducing its people to desperate, starving victims,' de Waal added. 'It also encourages the abuser to think of the sufferer as dehumanised, so it becomes self-justifying.' Through its 21-month war, Israel's leaders have repeatedly claimed their war on Gaza was to 'defeat Hamas' and rescue the captives held in the territory. However, with every new offensive, its critics around the world have accused it of either turning a blind eye to the humanitarian consequences of its actions or actively seeking to punish Palestinians and force starvation upon them. 'I don't know if you can call this a strategy,' said Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House. 'I don't know how much is planned, how much is tactical, cynical, opportunistic or just incompetence. It all depends where you look.' Mekelberg broke down the factions competing for final say in Israeli policy, from the messianic ambitions of ultranationalist government ministers, such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who would like to see the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank expelled, to a security establishment that Mekelberg described as divided over whether it should continue or end the war. 'Lastly, you have the cynical and the opportunistic,' he continued, 'which is essentially Benjamin Netanyahu and his adherents. To them, this is all about politics and surviving for another day,' Mekelberg said of the prime minister, who is on trial on multiple corruption charges. The consequences of Israel's actions in Gaza will last generations, analysts said. Those who survive Israel's current war will carry its scars, as will their descendants, while those who leave are unlikely to be allowed to return. 'Israel has adopted a formula in the last few weeks where it is making conditions in Gaza intolerable and unable to support human life,' said Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya. 'If it can reduce life to such a level and at the same time increase the level of chaos and anarchy [across Gaza], the thinking is that people will leave.' Once they have been forced from their homeland, either through the conditions that Israel has imposed, or via the one-way entrance into what Israeli government ministers call a 'humanitarian city', while many critics call it a concentration camp, it intends to construct along the border with Egypt, they won't be allowed back, Rabbani said. Hardly a day has gone by since Israel's assault upon Gaza began in October 2023 that its war has not dominated headlines. In recent weeks, as starvation and the extent of the near-total destruction that Israel has visited upon the enclave have grown, so too has the disquiet among the international community. However, in the face of the protests, and with ceasefire negotiations supposedly ongoing, Israel's war has shown few signs of slowing. That has left Gaza's population, in the words of Summerfield, left to 'wander Gaza; starving, alone and hunted'.
