Trump says weapons are already being sent to Ukraine
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that weapons are already being shipped to Ukraine.
Trump, speaking to reporters, added he has not spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin since sanctions against Russia were announced on Monday. —Reuters
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
20 minutes ago
- GMA Network
Clashes rage in Druze region as Syria struggles to enforce ceasefire
A damaged car is seen at an Internal Security Forces checkpoint working to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Sweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Walgha, Sweida province, Syria July 19, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi DAMASCUS - Sectarian clashes escalated in Syria's predominantly Druze region of Sweida on Saturday, with machine gun fire and mortar shelling ringing out after days of bloodshed as the Islamist-led government struggled to implement a ceasefire. Reuters reporters heard gunfire from inside the city of Sweida and saw shells land in nearby villages. There were no immediate, confirmed reports of casualties. The government had said security forces were deploying in the southern region to try to keep peace, and urged all parties to stop fighting after nearly a week of factional bloodshed in which hundreds have been killed. Late on Saturday, the interior ministry said clashes in Sweida city had been halted and the area cleared of Bedouin tribal fighters following the deployment. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said clashes since last week around Sweida had killed at least 940 people. Reuters could not independently verify the toll. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said "Arab and American" mediation had helped restore calm, before the clashes escalated. He criticized Israel for airstrikes during the week. Violence in Druze region challenges Damascus The fighting is the latest challenge to the control of Sharaa's Islamist-dominated government, which took over after rebels toppled autocratic president Bashar al-Assad in December. It started last week as clashes between the Druze - a religious minority native to southern Syria, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and parts of Lebanon and Jordan - and Syrian Bedouin tribes. Government forces then arrived to try to quell tensions, clashing with Druze gunmen and attacking the Druze community. Saturday's violence once again pitted Druze against Bedouin, witnesses said. The fighting has drawn in neighboring Israel, which carried out airstrikes in southern Syria and on the defense ministry in Damascus this week while government forces were fighting with the Druze. Israel says it is protecting the Druze, who also form a significant minority in Israel. But Israel and Washington differ over Syria. The US supports a centralized Syria under Sharaa's government, which has pledged to rule for all citizens, while Israel says the government is dominated by jihadists and a danger to minorities. In March, Syria's military was involved in mass killings of members of the Alawite minority, to which much of Assad's elite belonged. Israel-Syria tensions In a statement on Saturday, the Syrian presidency announced an immediate ceasefire and urged an immediate end to hostilities. Sharaa said Syria would not be a "testing ground for partition, secession, or sectarian incitement". "The Israeli intervention pushed the country into a dangerous phase that threatened its stability," he said in a televised speech. Sharaa appeared to blame Druze gunmen for the latest clashes, accusing them of revenge attacks against Bedouins. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Sharaa was siding with the perpetrators. "In al-Shara's Syria, it is very dangerous to be a member of a minority — Kurd, Druze, Alawite, or Christian," he posted on X. US envoy Tom Barrack announced on Friday that Syria and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire. Barrack, who is both US ambassador to Turkey and Washington's Syria envoy, urged Druze, Bedouins and Sunnis, together with other minorities, to "build a new and united Syrian identity". Israel has attacked Syrian military facilities in the seven months since Assad fell, and says it wants areas of southern Syria near its border to remain demilitarized. On Friday, an Israeli official said Israel had agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to Sweida for two days. Sweida hospital fills with casualties Mansour Namour, a resident of a village near Sweida city, said mortar shells were still landing near his home on Saturday afternoon, and that at least 22 people had been wounded. A doctor in Sweida said a local hospital was full of bodies and wounded people from days of violence. "All the injuries are from bombs, some people with their chests wounded. There are also injuries to limbs from shrapnel," said Omar Obeid, director of the hospital. —Reuters
GMA Network
21 hours ago
- GMA Network
Israel and Syria agree on ceasefire as Israel allows Syrian troops limited access to Sweida
Smoke rises as a Bedouin fighter stands near a damaged car, as Sweida province has been engulfed by nearly a week of violence triggered by clashes between Bedouin fighters and factions from the Druze, at Sweida governorate, Syria, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri BEIRUT/JERUSALEM - Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US envoy to Turkey said on Friday, after days of bloodshed in the predominantly Druze area that has killed over 300 people. On Wednesday, Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus and hit government forces in the south, demanding they withdraw and saying that Israel aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority that also has members in Lebanon and Israel. "We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity," Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey, said in a post on X. Barrack said that Israel and Syria agreed to the ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and neighbors. The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian consulate in Canada did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Syria's Sweida province has been engulfed by nearly a week of violence triggered by clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions. Earlier on Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area of southern Syria for the next two days. The Syrian presidency said late on Friday that authorities would deploy a force in the south dedicated to ending the clashes, in coordination with political and security measures to restore stability and prevent the return of violence. Damascus earlier this week dispatched government troops to quell the fighting, but they were accused of carrying out widespread violations against the Druze and were hit by Israeli strikes before withdrawing under a truce agreed on Wednesday. Israel had repeatedly said it would not allow Syrian troops to deploy to the country's south, but on Friday it said it would grant them a brief window to end renewed clashes there. "In light of the ongoing instability in southwest Syria, Israel has agreed to allow limited entry of the (Syrian) internal security forces into Sweida district for the next 48 hours," the official, who declined to be named, told reporters. Describing Syria's new rulers as barely disguised jihadists, Israel has vowed to shield the area's Druze community from attack, encouraged by calls from Israel's own Druze minority. It carried out more strikes on Sweida in the early hours of Friday. The US intervened to help secure the earlier truce between government forces and Druze fighters, and the White House said on Thursday that it appeared to be holding. Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has worked to establish warmer ties with the US, accused Israel of trying to fracture Syria and promised to protect its Druze minority. Reuters reporters saw a convoy of units from Syria's interior ministry stopped on a road in Daraa province, which lies directly east of Sweida. A security source told Reuters that forces were awaiting a final green light to enter Sweida. But thousands of Bedouin fighters were still streaming into Sweida on Friday, the Reuters reporters said, prompting fears among residents that violence would continue unabated. The Syrian Network for Human Rights said it had documented 321 deaths in fighting since Sunday, among them medical personnel, women and children. It said they included field executions by all sides. Syria's minister for emergencies said more than 500 wounded had been treated and hundreds of families had been evacuated out of the city. 'Nothing at all' Clashes continued in the north and west of Sweida province, according to residents and Ryan Marouf, the head of local news outlet Sweida24. Residents said they had little food and water, and that electricity had been cut to the city for several days. "For four days, there has been no electricity, no fuel, no food, no drink, nothing at all," said Mudar, a 28-year-old resident of Sweida who asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear of reprisals. "The clashes haven't stopped," he said, adding that "we can't get news easily because there's barely internet or phone coverage." The head of the UN human rights office urged Syria's interim authorities to ensure accountability for what it said are credible reports of widespread rights violations during the fighting, including summary executions and kidnappings, the office said in a statement. At least 13 people were unlawfully killed in one recorded incident on Tuesday when affiliates of the interim authorities opened fire at a family gathering, the OHCHR said. Six men were summarily executed near their homes the same day. The UN refugee agency on Friday urged all sides to allow humanitarian access, which it said had been curtailed by the violence. Israel's deep distrust of Syria's new Islamist-led leadership appears to be at odds with the United States, which said it did not support the recent Israeli strikes on Syria. —Reuters
GMA Network
21 hours ago
- GMA Network
Singapore says cyber espionage group targeting critical infrastructure
A view of the central business district skyline in Singapore May 27, 2025. REUTERS/ Edgar Su SINGAPORE - Singapore said on Friday that it was responding to cyberattacks on its critical infrastructure by an espionage group alleged by security experts to be linked to China. "UNC3886 poses a serious threat to us, and has the potential to undermine our national security,' Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam said in a speech. "It is going after high value strategic threat targets, vital infrastructure that delivers essential services." He did not give details of the attacks, citing security risks, nor of any consequences. Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant has described UNC3886 as a "China-nexus espionage group" that has attacked defense, technology and telecommunications organizations in the US and Asia. Beijing routinely denies any allegations of cyberespionage, and says it opposes all forms of cyberattacks and is in fact a victim of such threats. The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent after office hours. Singapore's critical infrastructure sectors include energy, water, banking, finance, healthcare, transport, government, communication, media, as well as security and emergency services, according to the country's cyber agency. Reuters earlier this week reported that the Taiwanese semiconductor industry and investment analysts had been targeted by Chinese-linked hackers as part of a string of cyber espionage campaigns. —Reuters
