'There is no alternative to the two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict'
Video by: Sharon GAFFNEY
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France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Renewed clashes in Syria's Druze-majority Sweida kill four people, monitor says
Renewed sectarian clashes in southern Syria 's Druze-majority Sweida province killed at least four people on Sunday, a war monitor said, as Damascus accused local groups of violating last month's ceasefire. The province witnessed deadly clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouins in July that drew the intervention of government forces and tribal fighters who came to support the Bedouins. A ceasefire put an end to the week of bloodshed – which killed 1,400 people, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – but the situation remained tense, flaring into violence again on Sunday. Humanitarian needs escalate in Sweida as truce frays 01:55 The Syrian government under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has been struggling to consolidate control since he led a shock insurgency that ousted former president Bashar al-Assad in December, ending the Assad family's decades-long autocratic rule. Political opponents and ethnic and religious minorities have been suspicious of Sharaa's de facto Islamist rule and cooperation with affiliated fighters that come from militant groups. State state television said clashes between government forces and Druze militias rocked the southern province of Sweida on Saturday after Druze factions attacked Syrian security forces, killing at least one member. The state-run Alikhbaria channel cited an anonymous security official who said the ceasefire has been broken. The Defense Ministry has not issued any formal statement. The Observatory said three Syrian security forces personnel were killed "as clashes erupted with local factions around Tal Hadid in the western Sweida countryside". The Observatory also reported the death of a "local fighter". Tal Hadid, controlled by government security forces, is a "key control point" at a relatively high altitude, according to the monitor, allowing whoever holds it to overlook neighbouring areas. Fighting also erupted around the city of Thaala, the Observatory said, "following bombardment of the area with shells and heavy weapons launched from areas under the control of government forces, while the sound of explosions and gunfire was heard in various parts of Sweida city". Syrian state-run news agency SANA accused Druze groups loyal to influential spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri of breaching the ceasefire by attacking government troops in Tal Hadid, killing one security forces officer and injuring others. In a statement, the Syrian interior ministry accused local groups of "launching treacherous attacks against internal security forces in several locations and striking some villages with rockets and mortars, resulting in the killing and wounding of a number of security personnel". A security source told Syrian state television that government forces regained control of Tal Hadid and other areas that were attacked on Sunday. 'Force inhabitants to comply' According to the monitor and Sweida locals, Damascus has been imposing a siege on the province, with the Observatory saying the government wants to "force inhabitants to comply". On Friday, Sweida residents held protests across the province to demand the withdrawal of government forces and the opening of an aid corridor from neighbouring Jordan. The road linking Sweida to Damascus has been cut off since July 20. Damascus accuses Druze groups of cutting it, but the Observatory says armed groups allied with the government took control of the area and have been blocking travel. The United Nations was able to send some aid convoys to the province, but an interior ministry source told Syrian state television on Sunday that the humanitarian corridor was temporarily closed "until the area is secured after outlaw groups violated the ceasefire". FRANCE 24 report in Sweida: Tens of thousands displaced since clashes began 02:58 Syria's minority communities have expressed concerns for their safety since the fall of Assad, who had presented himself as a protector of minorities. While the new Syrian authorities have repeatedly stated their intent to protect all of the country's ethnic and religious groups, the killing of more than 1,700 mostly Alawite civilians along the coast in March and the violence in Sweida have raised doubts about their ability to manage sectarian tensions. The government has said it will investigate July's violence in Sweida, and a committee in charge of the inquiry held its first meeting on Saturday.
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
Gunmen kidnap more than 50 people in Nigeria's northwest, UN report says
Gunmen kidnapped more than 50 people in northwest Nigeria in a mass abduction, according to a private conflict monitoring report created for the United Nations and seen by AFP on Sunday. "Armed bandits" targeted the village of Sabon Garin Damri in Zamfara state Friday, the report said, the latest attack in a region where residents in rural hinterlands have long suffered from gangs who kidnap for ransom, loot villages and demand taxes. The report said this was the first "mass capture" incident in the Bakura local government area this year, "the recent trend of mass captures in Zamfara has been concerning", noting "a shift in bandit strategy towards more large-scale attacks in northern Zamfara". A Zamfara police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Nigeria's rural vigilante patrols aim to protect local communities 10:57 Nigeria's "banditry" crisis originated in conflict over land and water rights between herders and farmers but has morphed into organised crime, with gangs preying on rural communities that have long had little or no government presence. The conflict is worsening a malnutrition crisis in the northwest as attacks drive people away from their farms, in a situation that has been complicated by climate change and western aid cuts. Last month, bandits in Zamfara killed 33 people they had kidnapped in February despite receiving a $33,700 ransom, while three babies died in captivity, officials and residents told AFP. Bandit-jihadist cooperation Since 2011, as arms trafficking increased and the wider Sahel fell into turmoil, organised armed gangs formed in northwest Nigeria, with cattle rustling and kidnapping becoming huge moneymakers in the largely impoverished countryside. Groups also levy taxes on farmers and artisanal miners. Violence has spread in recent years from the northwest into north-central Nigeria. Two weeks ago, Nigerian troops killed at least 95 members of an armed gang in a shootout and air strikes in the northwest state of Niger. But the military is overstretched. While improved co-operation between the army and air force has aided the fight, analysts say, air strikes have also killed hundreds of civilians over the years. Bandits, who are primarily motivated by money, have also increased their co-operation with Nigeria's jihadist groups, who are waging a separate, 16-year-old armed insurrection in the northeast. The recent emergence of the Lakurawa jihadist group in the northwest has worsened violence in the region. Governments of affected states have been forced to recruit anti-jihadist militias fighting the militants in the northeast to assist in countering the bandits.
LeMonde
9 hours ago
- LeMonde
Israeli PM Netanyahu in 'profound shock' over hostage videos released by Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed "profound shock" over videos showing two emaciated hostages in Gaza, with the EU also denouncing the clips on Sunday, August 3, and demanding the release of all remaining captives after nearly 22 months of war. Over the past few days, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released three videos showing two hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. The images of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David have sparked strong reactions among Israelis, fueling renewed calls to reach a truce and hostage release deal without delay. A statement from Netanyahu's office late Saturday said he had spoken with the families of the two hostages and "expressed profound shock over the materials distributed by the terror organizations." Netanyahu "told the families that the efforts to return all our hostages are ongoing," the statement added. Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of people had rallied in the coastal hub of Tel Aviv to urge Netanyahu's government to secure the release of the remaining captives. In the clips shared by the Palestinian Islamist groups, 21-year-old Braslavski, a German-Israeli dual national, and 24-year-old David both appear weak and malnourished. There was particular outrage in Israel over images of David who appeared to be digging what he said in the staged video was his own grave. The videos make references to the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where UN-mandated experts have warned a "famine is unfolding." 'Hamas must disarm' EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the images "are appalling and expose the barbarity of Hamas," calling for the release of "all hostages... immediately and unconditionally." Kallas said in the same post on X that "Hamas must disarm and end its rule in Gaza" – demands endorsed earlier this week by Arab countries, including key mediators Qatar and Egypt. She added that "large-scale humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach those in need." Israel has heavily restricted the entry of aid into Gaza. UN agencies, aid groups and analysts say that much of the trickle of food aid that Israel allows in is looted by gangs or diverted in chaotic circumstances rather than reaching those most in need. On Sunday, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed nine Palestinians who were waiting to collect food rations from a site operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Israeli attacks elsewhere killed another 10 people on Sunday, said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal. 'Emaciated and desperate' Israeli newspapers dedicated their front pages on Sunday to the plight of the hostages, with Maariv decrying "hell in Gaza" and Yedioth Ahronoth showing a "malnourished, emaciated and desperate" David. Left-leaning Haaretz declared that "Netanyahu is in no rush" to rescue the captives, echoing claims by critics that the longtime leader has prolonged the war for his own political survival. In his conversations with Braslavski and David's families on Saturday, Netanyahu accused Hamas of "deliberately starving our hostages," and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was "initiating a special UN Security Council meeting on the issue of the Israeli hostages." Braslavski and David are among the 49 hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack who are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Most of the 251 hostages seized in the attack have been released during two short-lived truces in the war, some in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.
