Clashes rage in Syrian city as Israel launches strike on Damascus
The Israeli army said that it struck near the entrance to the Syrian Ministry of Defence in Damascus.
Advertisement
Israel has launched a series of air strikes on convoys of government forces in southern Syria since the clashes erupted and has beefed up forces on the border, saying that it is acting to protect the Druze religious minority.
Syria's Defence Ministry had earlier blamed militias in Sweida for violating a ceasefire agreement that had been reached on Tuesday, causing Syrian army soldiers to return fire and continue military operations in the Druze-majority province.
'Military forces continue to respond to the source of fire inside the city of Sweida, while adhering to rules of engagement to protect residents, prevent harm, and ensure the safe return of those who left the city back to their homes,' the statement said.
Government soldiers stand next to confiscated items stolen during clashes in Sweida city (Omar Albam/AP)
A rebel offensive led by Islamist insurgent groups ousted Syria's long-time despotic leader Bashar Assad in December, bringing an end to a nearly 14-year civil war. Since then, the country's new rulers have struggled to consolidate control over the territory.
Advertisement
The primarily Sunni Muslim leaders have faced suspicion from religious and ethnic minorities.
The fears of minorities increased after clashes between government forces and pro-Assad armed groups in March spiralled into sectarian revenge attacks in which hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority, to which Assad belongs, were killed.
The latest escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province.
Government forces that intervened to restore order have also clashed with the Druze while reports have surfaced of members of the security forces carrying out extra-judicial killings, looting and burning civilian homes.
Advertisement
No official casualty figures have been released since Monday, when the Syrian Interior Ministry said 30 people had been killed. The UK-based war monitor, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said more than 250 people had been killed as of Wednesday morning, including four children, five women and 138 soldiers and security forces.
The observatory said at least 21 people were killed in 'field executions'.
The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam.
Israeli soldiers stand guard as Syrian Druze protest near the Israeli-Syrian border (Leo Correa/AP)
More than half the roughly one million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed in 1981.
Advertisement
In Israel, the Druze are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the military.
In Syria, the Druze have been divided over how to deal with the country's new leaders, with some advocating for integrating into the new system while others have remained suspicious of the authorities in Damascus and pushed for an autonomous Druze region.
On Wednesday, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said in a statement that the Israeli army 'will continue to attack regime forces until they withdraw from the area — and will also soon raise the bar of responses against the regime if the message is not understood'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
18 hours ago
- The Independent
First group of Syrian refugees returns home from Lebanon under new UN plan
The first group of Syrian refugees returned home from Lebanon on Tuesday under a new plan the United Nations developed with the Lebanese government following the downfall of Bashar Assad 's rule in December. Syria's uprising-turned-conflict displaced half of the country's pre-war population of 23 million over the last 14 years. Lebanon hosted an estimated 1.5 million refugees, at one point making up roughly a quarter of its six million people, with many having been smuggled across the border and unregistered with the UN. The new plan has the UN refugee agency offering $100 in cash to each repatriated Syrian refugee and the Lebanese authorities waiving any fees or fines they owe. The UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration will provide them with buses for their return journey. The UNHCR also says it will help returning Syrians with "cash grants, legal assistance for civil documents, psychosocial support, livelihood opportunities, and other protection services.' The strain on Lebanon as poverty spreads Lebanese authorities have repeatedly requested the repatriation of Syrian refugees over the years, a call that grew louder with the widespread poverty in the Mediterranean country and shrinking funding for aid agencies. But Syria under Assad was not yet safe for their return, according to major rights organizations. Many Syrians had also previously said the war, forced conscription under Syria's former government, and unpaid residency fines in Lebanon have held them back from returning. But Syria now has a new government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the surprise offensive that ousted Assad, and the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's government hopes Syrians will sign up for the joint repatriation plan. The UNHCR estimates that over 205,000 Syrians have crossed back into the country from Lebanon since December, of which at least 126,000 were confirmed to be full returns, said Abou Khaled. Thousands of Syrian refugees are ready to return home UNHCR Lebanon spokesperson Lisa Abou Khaled says about 17,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon have already signed up to go back to their home country, though the vast majority have opted not to take the buses. Tuesday's repatriation was a 'test run,' she said, with only 72 people, mostly going to Syria's third-largest city of Homs and rural Damascus. Syrian border authorities greeted the returning refugees with roses and water bottles, as they filled out forms after exiting the bus. Some took pictures in front of Syria's new green flag. Among them was Rasha, who told The Associated Press she was elated to return for the first time in 14 years. 'We're going home with nothing, but it's easier than having to keep paying rent,' she said, using only her first name. She and her husband are heading to Homs. Before, she wouldn't leave because her sons were at the age of conscription, which she described as 'sending your son to his death." They also couldn't afford to pay all the fines for overstaying in Lebanon for 14 years. Raghad fled to Lebanon when she was 10 years old after her father was killed in Homs, and is returning for the first time to her family home with her siblings and their children. 'We're hoping to fix it so we can live there for a bit," she said. 'I can't imagine myself living there without Dad." A humanitarian crisis still exists in Syria Despite Washington lifting decades-long sanctions, Syria is still reeling from an economic crisis that has pulled the vast majority of its population into poverty. It's still also trying to rebuild hundreds of billions of dollars in battered infrastructure after the conflict. Abou Khaled, the UNHCR Lebanon spokesperson, warns that this might hinder long-term returns if not resolved soon. 'We must acknowledge that there is a real humanitarian crisis in Syria that remains very significant,' she explained. 'Millions of people will need urgent help to be able to return in a sustainable way.' — Chehayeb reported from Beirut.
The Guardian
19 hours ago
- The Guardian
Zelenskyy says at least 22 people killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine, hours after Trump put pressure on Moscow
Update: Date: 2025-07-29T10:37:29.000Z Title: Volodymyr Zelenskyy Content: At least 85 people injured in overnight attacks after Trump said he will shorten the deadline for reaching an agreement on a ceasefire to '10-12 days' Jakub Krupa Tue 29 Jul 2025 11.37 BST First published on Tue 29 Jul 2025 08.44 BST From 9.06am BST 09:06 Ukrainian president has just confirmed that at least 22 people were killed, and 85 injured in attacks targeting 73 Ukrainian cities and villages overnight, just hours after 'everyone once again felt hope for an end to the killings.' He described some of the attacks in more detail, including a strike on a city hospital in Kamianske which killed three, including a pregnant 23-year-old woman, and a 'deliberate' attack on a civilian penal colony in Zaporizhia. Zelenskyy said: Every murder of our people by the Russians; every Russian strike, when there could have been a ceasefire long ago, if Russia had not refused – all this shows that Moscow deserves very tough, truly painful, and therefore fair and effective sanctions pressure. They must be forced to stop the killings and make peace. He thanked US president Donald Trump for his comments on Monday, and to all leaders putting pressure on Russia, but added: Peace is possible, but only when Russia stops the war that it started and stops tormenting our people. 11.37am BST 11:37 Meanwhile over in Brussels, EU trade spokesperson Olof Gill offered a bit more detail on what's going on with the EU-US agreement amid growing questions about some of the details of what was agreed and let's say less than whole-hearted support from some member states. Addressing the media at the European Commission's briefing just now, Gill said: 'Let me just be totally clear about what's happening here, folks. So on Sunday, the two presidents reached a deal, a political agreement. What we are doing now is taking that political agreement, fleshing out the details, making sure that everything we need to be in there is in there that will lead to a joint statement. I can't tell you precisely when that joint statement will be ready, but it should be soon. That joint statement itself is not a legally binding document, but rather it's a road map. It's a political commitment, a series of political commitments, if you like. And from that, we can generate the stability I talked about, the predictability I talked about, that we can get back to doing what we do best in terms of transatlantic trade and investment. Our companies are deeply integrated supply chains, moving products and services across the Atlantic on a daily basis, worth €1.6tn annually. And from there, we will look at further areas where we can reduce tariffs and other areas of cooperation. But the joint statement, we view it as a kind of a platform, a foundation, from which we can allow transatlantic trade to continue to grow and to develop.' He added: 'So we have now achieved and across the board, all inclusive tariff ceiling of 15%. That's not the perfect outcome for the EU, nor is it the perfect outcome for the US. We believe it gives us a platform for moving forward, for putting this kind of saga behind us, and focusing on allowing transatlantic trade to develop, to cooperate in key areas of economic and geopolitical importance in an unstable world. And we are confident that this can enjoy the backing of our member states, of our businesses, of our citizens. We are making the best of a challenging situation, and we are determined to make this deal work.' 11.03am BST 11:03 We are now getting a reaction from the Kremlin, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling journalists that Russia 'has taken note' of president Trump's comments yesterday. He then said that a 'special military operation' – that's their term for the illegal invasion of Ukraine – continues, but Russia 'remains committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests' – despite deadly attacks overnight. Peskov also confirmed that there was a 'slowdown' in Russian efforts to revive diplomatic relations with the US. 10.16am BST 10:16 Speaking of Russian and Russian-inspired attacks, Poland said today that it believed a Colombian national acting on behalf of Russian intelligence services carried out two arson attacks in Poland last year. The 27-year-old was trained by a person linked to Russian intelligence services, receiving detailed instructions on how to carry out the attacks, Polish authorities said. The man was also later involved in an arson attack on a bus depot in the Czech Republic and was planning to carry out another attack on a shopping mall before being detained by the Czech authorities. The Polish Internal Security Agency, or ABW, said that Russian intelligence services were using messaging service Telegram to 'systemically and at large scale recruit people of Latin American origin and with previous military experience' to carry out attacks, later distributing photos and videos online for propaganda reasons. The man was already sentenced to eight years in prison in the Czech Republic, and faces another sentence in Poland. The disclosure from the Polish authorities come after the Czech intelligence services warned in their annual report that Russian recruiters particularly targeted poorer economic migrants from outside the EU to carry out attacks (Europe live earlier this month). Updated at 10.21am BST 9.39am BST 09:39 9.06am BST 09:06 Ukrainian president has just confirmed that at least 22 people were killed, and 85 injured in attacks targeting 73 Ukrainian cities and villages overnight, just hours after 'everyone once again felt hope for an end to the killings.' He described some of the attacks in more detail, including a strike on a city hospital in Kamianske which killed three, including a pregnant 23-year-old woman, and a 'deliberate' attack on a civilian penal colony in Zaporizhia. Zelenskyy said: Every murder of our people by the Russians; every Russian strike, when there could have been a ceasefire long ago, if Russia had not refused – all this shows that Moscow deserves very tough, truly painful, and therefore fair and effective sanctions pressure. They must be forced to stop the killings and make peace. He thanked US president Donald Trump for his comments on Monday, and to all leaders putting pressure on Russia, but added: Peace is possible, but only when Russia stops the war that it started and stops tormenting our people. 9.00am BST 09:00 Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels Pharmaceutical exports from the EU to the US could be hit by 15% tariffs as soon as Friday, according to the White House. It published a text on the EU trade deal stating pharma will be taxed at the base rate agreed in deal sealed at Donald Trump's golf course on Sunday. But it has caused yet more confusion because it comes less than 24 hours after EU officials were told that pharma would remain duty free until Trump's 232 national security investigations into pharma and semiconductors concluded. As part of President Trump's strategy to establish balanced trade, the European Union will pay the United States a tariff rate of 15%, including on autos and auto parts, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors. However he had also said earlier this month he was going to phase in tariffs for pharma this week. The text also says that the EU has agreed not to introduce a tech tax. It says: 'The United States and the European Union intend to address unjustified digital trade barriers. In that respect, the European Union confirms that it will not adopt or maintain network usage fees. Furthermore, the United States and the European Union will maintain zero customs duties on electronic transmissions.' 8.53am BST 08:53 Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels The EU is considering partially suspending Israel from its flagship Horizon Europe science research programme, in the first concrete sanction of Benjamin Netanyahu's government since the killing of civilians in Gaza started. It is understood the move will need qualified majority of support from member states, meaning no one country can block it. As world continues to condemn the humanitarian catastrophe including demands by Donald Trump yesterday that the starvation of Gazan people must stop, it is the first sign that the bloc is prepared to take a concrete action. 'While Israel has announced a daily humanitarian pause in Gaza fighting and has met some of its commitments under the common understanding on humanitarian aid and access, the situation remains severe,' said a statement released by the Commission on 28 July. It added that the suspension would flow from its review of the trade association agreement with Israel, prompted by calls for a review of the agreement by the Netherlands backed by 17 countries in May. 'This suspension comes as a reaction to the review Art. 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Respect for these obligations constitutes an essential part of EU-Israel cooperation under the Agreement, including for bilateral scientific and technological cooperation between the two parties.' The decision was been taken by the college of European commissioners on Monday and will be put to the council of member states. Updated at 9.07am BST 8.44am BST 08:44 Jakub Krupa More than 20 people were killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight, just hours after US president Donald Trump sought to put more pressure on Moscow by shortening the deadline for reaching an agreement on a ceasefire to '10-12' days. At least 16 people were killed in an attack on a Ukrainian prison, with more than 35 injured. More people died in other attacks in different parts of the country, including on a hospital and a private home, authorities reported. Andriy Yermak, top aide to Ukraine's president , said: This is another war crime by the Russians, who will not stop if they are not stopped. He added: 'Putin's regime, which also issues threats against the United States through some of its mouthpieces, must face economic and military blows that strip it of the capacity to wage war.' President Zelenskyy expressed Ukraine's high hopes last night, saying that Trump's declaration was 'right on time, when a lot can change through strength for real peace.' Let's see if we get any further reaction to the overnight attacks. Elsewhere, we will be looking for more reactions from the EU and across the bloc to the EU-US trade deal signed at the weekend, the latest on German response to Gaza as chancellor Friedrich Merz meets with Jordanian King Abdullah II, and more news from across the continent. I will bring you all key updates from across Europe here. It's Tuesday, 29 July 2025, it's Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live. Good morning.
BBC News
19 hours ago
- BBC News
Witness History Eta's assassination of Juan Mari Jáuregui
On 29 July 2000, retired Spanish politician Juan Mari Jáuregui was assassinated by Basque separatists Eta. Deemed a terrorist organisation by the European Union, Eta killed more than 800 people between 1968 and 2010. Its goal was to create an independent Basque state out of territory in south-west France and northern Spain. Following Jáuregui's murder, his widow Maixabel Lasa worked to help victims of political violence and highlight their suffering, weakening Eta's support. A decade later, she received a message from one of the men involved in Jáuregui's murder. He wanted to meet her and take responsibility for his actions, beginning a remarkable friendship. In 2011, Eta declared a permanent ceasefire, and formally disbanded in 2018. Maixabel Lasa speaks to Ben Henderson. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous 'tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's 'rock star' philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages. (Photo: Maixabel Lasa. Credit: Arnaitz Rubio/Europa Press via Getty Images)
