Uncertainty for Afghans who supported US after Taliban takeover
16/07/2025
Retired IDF Major General Giora Eiland on FRANCE 24 to discuss situation in Gaza
16/07/2025
Sycamore Gap tree vandals jailed over 4 years in England
16/07/2025
France: Opposition slams PM Bayrou's budget cut plan
16/07/2025
Trump admin in 'denial' over climate change, having cut funding to NOAA and National Weather Service
Americas
16/07/2025
Thousands of Afghans and families brought to UK after data breach
16/07/2025
France's PM Bayrou faces backlash over budget cut proposals
16/07/2025
What you need to know about the Druze minority in Syria
16/07/2025
Israel: Major cracks in Netanyahu coalition
16/07/2025
Netanyahu under mounting political pressure after party quits over military service exemption
Middle East
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LeMonde
3 hours ago
- LeMonde
The devastating ambition of Israel's defense minister
In just a few weeks, Benjamin Netanyahu will reach a cumulative total of 18 years as Israel's prime minister. Thanks to his political maneuvering skills and alliance with supremacists, he hopes to remain prime minister until October 2026, when the current four-year term of the Knesset, Israel's unicameral parliament, will end. Such stability contrasted sharply with the chaotic succession of five snap elections held between April 2019 and November 2022. The politician's remarkable longevity is based on a proven formula for achieving a majority of 61 out of 120 seats in the Knesset. This formula included securing around 30 seats for his party, Likud; maintaining an alliance with two ultra-Orthodox parties that consistently control about 15 seats; and shoring up a parliamentary majority with an additional 15 lawmakers currently drawn from the far-right supremacist bloc. Netanyahu had also always been careful to prevent the rise of any personality who could challenge him from within the Likud. The 'transfer' of Gaza's population Now over 75 years old, he has seen ambitions sharpening within his own party. The most serious contender at this point is Israel Katz, who is six years his junior. Katz owes his career to the prime minister, who since 2009 has entrusted him with the portfolios of transport, intelligence, energy, finance and twice foreign affairs. Netanyahu appointed him as defense minister in November 2024 to replace former general Yoav Gallant, due to his loyalty and tenacity as Israel's foreign minister. While Gallant believed the Israeli army had achieved its military objectives in Gaza months earlier, Katz revived Netanyahu's rhetoric about achieving "total victory" over Hamas. Katz further solidified this hardline stance by establishing a "special agency for the voluntary departure of Gaza's residents" within his ministry. Katz is actively promoting the "transfer" of Gaza's population to distance himself from his mentor, Netanyahu, who is bound by certain rhetorical constraints. Already a vocal advocate for annexing the West Bank, Katz is counting on the popularity of supremacist ideas within the Likud party, given that over 80% of Israeli Jews supported expelling Gaza's residents.
LeMonde
a day ago
- LeMonde
Syria: After Druze killings, Sweida barricades itself in defiance of Syrian authorities
The residential dead end of Masakin al-Khoudr resembles a war zone. Cars have been crushed by tanks. Buildings are pockmarked with bullet holes. Some apartments are charred. At the foot of one building, Abu Ahmed and his neighbors stood guard with rifles slung over their shoulders on Wednesday, July 23, eight days after government forces entered their neighborhood in western Sweida. "I am protecting my house and my children in case the army comes back, even though I couldn't do much against a tank," admitted the 50-year-old vegetable grower, wearing the white skullcap and mustache typical of the Druze. Encircled by Bedouin tribal fighters and government forces, the majority-Druze city in southern Syria remains on high alert despite the ceasefire in effect since Saturday, July 19. Residents have barricaded themselves in fear of another offensive. Clashes continue between Druze factions and Bedouins in villages north and west of the city. Roadblocks, marked by mounds of earth and manned by local fighters, dot the city and surrounding countryside. The Sweida Military Council – a coalition of Druze factions formed after the fall of the al-Assad regime in December 2024 – escorts journalists inside the city. Civilians walk around with Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders, prepared for any eventuality. Weapons are commonplace in this province, which had been left to criminal gangs and local factions after the 2011 revolution, and which was targeted in 2018 by an attack from the Islamic State group (IS). "I raised my sons not to hurt anyone. I won't teach them how to use weapons. We want peace in our country, Syria. But foreigners are attacking us," said Ahmed, standing with his two sons, aged 13 and 16. He insisted that foreign fighters were among those who attacked the neighborhood.
Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
Israel considering alternatives to talks with Hamas, Netanyahu says
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that his government is considering "alternative options" to ceasefire talks with Hamas after Israel and the US recalled their negotiating teams from Qatar, throwing the future of the negotiations into further uncertainty. Netanyahu's statement came as a Hamas official said negotiations were expected to resume next week and portrayed the recall of the Israeli and American delegations as a pressure tactic. The teams left Doha on Thursday as President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas' latest response to proposals for a deal showed a "lack of desire" to reach a truce. Witkoff said the US would look at "alternative options," without elaborating. In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu echoed Witkoff, saying, "Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal." "Together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas's terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region," he said. He did not give any further details about what the alternative options might be. Israel's government also didn't respond to whether negotiations would resume next week. Hamas official Bassem Naim said on Friday that the group was told that the Israeli delegation returned home for consultations and would return early next week to resume ceasefire negotiations. Pressure on Hamas Hamas said that Witkoff's remarks were meant to pressure the group for Netanyahu's benefit during the next round of talks and that in recent days negotiations had made progress. Naim said several gaps had been nearly solved, such as the agenda of the ceasefire, guarantees to continue negotiating to reach a permanent agreement and how humanitarian aid would be delivered. The sides have held weeks of talks in Qatar, reporting small signs of progress but no major breakthroughs. Officials have said a main sticking point is the redeployment of Israeli troops after any ceasefire takes place. The deal under discussion is expected to include an initial 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up, and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting ceasefire. The talks have been bogged down over competing demands for ending the war. Hamas says it will only release all hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and end to the war. Israel says it will not agree to end the conflict until Hamas gives up power and disarms. The militant group says it is prepared to leave power but not surrender its weapons. Hamas is believed to be holding the hostages in different locations, including tunnels, and says it has ordered its guards to kill them if Israeli forces approach. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza but fewer than half are believed to be alive. Their families say the start-stop talks are excruciating. "I thought that maybe something will come from the time that the negotiation, Israeli team were in Doha," said Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is being held hostage. "And when I heard that they're coming back, I ask myself: When will this nightmare end?" Worsening humanitarian situation A breakthrough on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas has eluded the Trump administration as humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate in Gaza. Israel has come under mounting pressure as hunger among Gaza's more than 2 million people has worsened and deaths related to malnutrition have accelerated. In recent days more then two dozen Western-aligned countries and more than 100 charity and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, harshly criticising Israel's blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out. The charities and rights groups said even their own staff were struggling to access enough food.
