
Israeli Ground Forces Storm Syria in Bold Weapons Raid
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed troops completed 'a mission involving on-site questioning of several suspects' near the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Israeli forces simultaneously entered four locations within the Hader area during the operation. Furthermore, soldiers successfully located numerous weapons trafficked by the suspects, the military detailed.
Released military footage depicted uniformed Israeli troops operating at night, utilizing armored vehicles and moving on foot. Consequently, an Israeli army division remains actively deployed in the region to continue operations to prevent terrorist entrenchment in Syria, aiming specifically to protect Israeli civilians and Golan Heights residents. Recent Actions
Israel significantly bolstered its presence on the Golan Heights late last year, following the Islamist-led offensive that ultimately toppled Syrian President Assad in December. Troops moved into the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces since their 1973 war.
The IDF previously launched strikes against Syrian government targets. In July, Israel bombed forces in Damascus and Sweida province, compelling a Syrian withdrawal from the south amid intense sectarian violence. Israel claimed it acted to defend the Druze community; however, some diplomats and analysts argue the true goal involved weakening the Syrian military and pushing the new government away from the border.
Israel initiated hundreds of strikes on Syrian military sites after Assad's overthrow. The government stated its objective was preventing advanced weapons transfers to new authorities, whom Israel considers jihadists. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu persistently demands the full demilitarization of southern Syria.
Short link :
Post Views: 16
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Saudi Gazette
4 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
South Korea removes border propaganda speakers to ease tensions with North
SEOUL — South Korea has started to remove propaganda loudspeakers along its border with North Korea in an effort to reduce tensions, Seoul's military said. The South's ministry clarified that the move marked a "practical measure aimed at easing tensions", but did not affect its military's readiness. The ministry did not provide specifics on the removal process, nor did it clarify whether the loudspeakers may be reinstalled if tensions rise again. Prior to the dismantling of the speakers, there had been no communication between the two Koreas, spokesperson for the ministry Lee Kyung-ho said. The speakers used to blare anti-North Korean propaganda and K-pop songs across the border, a move that hit a nerve as Kim Jong-un's government had been intensifying its campaign to remove the influence of South Korean pop culture and language. After the election in June, the South's new liberal government decided to switch off the speakers, in a move to revive dialogue and rebuild trust with previous conservative government had turned them on in June 2024 and played daily broadcasts, in retaliation for North Korea flying trash-filled balloons across the Cold War-style psychological warfare campaigns further heightened tensions already inflamed by North Korea's advancing nuclear programme and South Korean efforts to expand joint military exercises with the United States and their trilateral security cooperation with Korean President Lee Jae-myung replaced ousted conservative Yoon Suk-yeol after winning an early election in June. He had vowed to improve ties with Pyongyang, which reacted angrily to Yoon's hard-line policies and refused to engage in Korea has not yet commented on South Korea's decision to remove the speakers. — Euronews


Saudi Gazette
4 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Netanyahu asks Red Cross to help hostages in Gaza, as families warn against an ‘expanding war'
TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas of not wanting a ceasefire deal and requested that the International Red Cross bring food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza, after public fury ignited over propaganda videos showing two emaciated Israeli captives. Tens of thousands of protestors joined a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening – some holding placards reading 'Stop the war' and 'Leave no one behind' – as they called for Netanyahu to strike a deal that would free the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Videos released by the militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad last week showed hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski in a visibly fragile state – images that galvanized a forceful reaction both at home and abroad. On Sunday, the International Red Cross (ICRC) in Israel and the Occupied Territories said that it was 'appalled' by the videos and urged that the 'dire situation must come to an end.' Several world leaders also condemned the videos of the Israel hostages, with French President Emmanuel Macron describing them as 'unbearable' and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saying the images 'show that Hamas should have no role in Gaza's future.' Netanyahu's office said on Sunday that the prime minister spoke with Julien Lerisson, the head of the Red Cross delegation in the region, to request 'his involvement in the immediate provision of food and medical care for the hostages.' The office also repeated Netanyahu's denial that starvation was rife in the enclave, despite a UN-backed food security agency's warning this week that 'the worst-case scenario of famine' is unfolding in Gaza. Hamas has said it is prepared to 'deal positively' with any Red Cross request to deliver food and medicine to hostages, but only on the condition that humanitarian corridors are opened up in Gaza. The militant group claims that the hostages' emaciated state is a reflection of worsening conditions in the strip. However, other hostages who have been freed in the past have similarly appeared gaunt and frail at the time of their release and described malnourishment while in captivity. Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said this weekend that the group does not intentionally starve the hostages, and that they eat the same food that Hamas fighters and the general Gaza population eat. 'They will not receive any special privileges amid the crime of starvation and siege,' he added. A member of Hamas' political bureau, Izzat Al-Rashiq, described the images as 'the definitive response to all who deny the existence of famine in Gaza.' Malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza spiked in July, the latest sign of a worsening hunger crisis, the World Health Organization warned last week. The agency said the enclave's malnutrition rates reached 'alarming levels,' with over 5,000 children under five admitted for outpatient treatment of malnutrition in just the first two weeks of July. Gazans also face lethal danger when attempting to collect aid from distribution sites, where violent clashes can erupt. On Sunday, a shooting incident near an aid site in northern Gaza killed at least 13 people and left dozens wounded, according to the Emergency and Medical Services in Gaza. Allowing Red Cross access would be a shift for Hamas, which has previously opposed any access to the hostages by the humanitarian group. The ICRC, which has only facilitated previous releases of hostages throughout the war, said in March that it was 'hugely disappointing' to have not yet been able to visit any hostages so far, emphasizing that it was not for lack of trying. Recent ceasefire talks have borne little fruit, with Israeli and US negotiators recalled from negotiations last month. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff at the time blamed Hamas for poor coordination and 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire,' saying the US would consider 'alternative options.' On Sunday, Netanyahu cited the latest images of Hamas captives as evidence of bad faith. 'When I see this, I understand exactly what Hamas wants. They don't want a deal. They want to break us with these horrifying videos, with the false horror propaganda they're spreading around the world,' he said. The Israeli leader is now 'pushing for the freeing of the hostages through military defeat (of Hamas),' one Israeli official told CNN on Sunday – a route that the hostages' families have repeatedly warned against. 'We are in discussions with the Americans. There is a growing understanding that Hamas is not interested in a deal,' the official said, adding that Netanyahu wants to combine the freeing of the hostages 'with the entry of humanitarian aid into areas outside the combat zones and, as much as possible, into areas not under Hamas control.' Steve Witkoff, the United States' Special Envoy to the Middle East, held a nearly three-hour meeting with the families of those still being held in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, telling them that the US' 'first priority' is getting the hostages back to Israel, the forum said. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. CNN has reached out to Witkoff's team to confirm that he made these comments. As Israel's war in Gaza grinds on, it has faced increasing resistance from the Israeli public, whose frustration over the fates of the remaining hostages has intensified. According to polling released by the Israel Democracy Institute during a ceasefire period in March, over 70% of Israelis supported negotiating with Hamas for an end to the fighting and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. The hostages' families have repeatedly urged Netanyahu to strike a deal, warning that Red Cross assistance alone will not be enough, and that further expansion of the fighting in Gaza could endanger the remaining hostages' lives. 'Netanyahu is preparing the greatest deception of all. The repeated claims of freeing hostages through military victory are a lie and a public fraud,' Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement on Sunday. The group also condemned Hamas, saying it 'cannot hide the fact that we are dealing with an evil terrorist organization that has been holding innocent people in impossible conditions for over 660 days.' Hamas publicly insists that it remains committed to hostage release talks – but only if conditions in Gaza improve first. The group recently stopped engaging in any discussions regarding a ceasefire or the release of hostages, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN last week. 'It is essential to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation significantly and to obtain a written response from the enemy regarding our response,' Basem Naim, a senior Hamas political official, also told CNN. 'This is a condition to go back to negotiations.' — CNN


Leaders
4 hours ago
- Leaders
West Bank's Palestinians Protest against Gaza War
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank protested on Sunday against the war in Gaza and to show solidarity with Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, according to AFP. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the main square in Ramallah and waved the Palestinian flags in one of the largest marches held on Sunday. They carried photos of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israel, along with photos embodying the hunger crisis unfolding in the Palestinian enclave during the 21 months of war. 'My son is in (Israel's) Megido prison and he suffers from many things, such as the lack of medicine the lack of food,' Rula Ghanem, a Palestinian academic and writer who took part in the march, told AFP. Since the beginning of Gaza War, the number of Palestinians jailed by Israel have skyrocketed due to violent acts or posting political statements on social media. 'The international community is a partner in all this suffering, as long as it does not intervene quickly to save the Palestinian people and save the prisoners inside the prisons and detention center,' the Palestinian Commission of Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs' spokesman Thaer Shriteh told AFP. Other major Palestinian cities such as Nablus in the north and Hebron in the south also witnessed wide protests with several government employees receiving a day off to attend the demonstrations. Dozens of Gazans including children have lost their souls due to malnutrition throughout the war that started in October 2023. Since the beginning of Hamas-Israel War, the Israeli strikes have killed more than 60,332 Palestinians and wounded over 145,870, according to Gaza's Health Ministry . Related Topics: Hamas Ready to Cooperate with ICRC If Israel Opens Humanitarian Corridors in Gaza Belgium Air Force Airdrops Humanitarian Aid over Gaza Sydney's Historic March for Gaza: Tens of Thousands Call for Ceasefire Short link : Post Views: 6