Middle East: Tribal forces withdraw from Sweida – DW – 07/20/2025
Druze-majority Sweida province has also been hit by Israeli strikes in recent days, with Israel attacking government forces who had tacitly supported the Bedouins.
Although Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has been more closely allied with the Bedouins, he urged them to lay down their arms, saying that paramilitaries "cannot replaced the role of the state in handling the country's affairs and restoring security."
"We thank the Bedouins for their heroic stances but demand they fully commit to the ceasefire and comply with the state's orders," he added.
The truce between the two groups was partly brokered by the United States, which dropped several of its sanctions against Syria in June following the ouster of strongman Bashar Assad.
Thank you for reading until now. We'll resume the blog shortly.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called on the interim Syrian government to "prevent ISIS and any other violent jihadists from … carrying out massacres" in the conflict-stricken south of the country.
"The rape and slaughter of innocent people which has and is still occurring must end," he wrote on his personal account on X.
"If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria free of ISIS and of Iranian control, they must help end this calamity by using their security forces."
Rubio also demanded that the new Islamist-led regime in Damascus hold to account "anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks" and called for fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups in Sweida to stop.
Syrian government forces returned to the region on Saturday after withdrawing earlier in the week.
After the new German government resumed deportations to Afghanistan this week, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has floated a similar approach for Syria – despite the current unrest in the war-torn country.
"It's possible that, in future, Syrians who have committed criminal offenses [could be] deported," he told the newspaper. "I think that's possible in principle – provided the country develops in [the right] direction."
Southern Syria has been rocked by violence again this week, with the new Islamist-led regime in Damascus struggling to prevent clashes between Druze and Bedouin factions in Sweida and powerless to stop Israeli intervention. Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed.
"We are watching Syria with concern," said Wadephul, calling on the interim government under Ahmed al-Sharaa to ensure that all sections of the population and all religious groups can co-exist.
"No-one should have to fear for life and limb," he said. "But as it stands, we are of the opinion that we have to give this interim government a chance."
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday visited Taybeh, the Palestinian Christian village in the occupied West Bank whose residents accuse Israeli settlers of torching a church there on July 9.
A staunch Israel supporter, Huckabee struck a rare critical tone, going as far as calling the desecration of a place of worship, in that case the Church of St. George in Taybeh, an "act of terror."
Huckabee, who is an evangelical Christian, stressed that "desecrating a church, mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity and God."
He said that Taybeh was home to many American citizens.
"I work for ALL American citizens who live in Israel-Jewish, Muslim or Christian," Huckabee said on X. "When they are terrorized or victims of crime I will demand those responsible be held accountable [with] real consequences."
Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has urged Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes to "fully commit" to a ceasefire aimed at ending deadly clashes with Druze-aligned militias that have killed hundreds and threatened the country's fragile post-war transition.
His call came Saturday as government forces, initially sent to restore order but seen siding with Bedouin fighters, were redeployed to contain renewed fighting that flared late Thursday. The violence also triggered Israeli airstrikes on Syrian government positions before a truce was reached.
In his second televised address since the unrest began, al-Sharaa accused "armed groups from Sweida" of reigniting the conflict by "launching retaliatory attacks against the Bedouins and their families."
He also warned that Israeli intervention had "pushed the country into a dangerous phase that threatened its stability."
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Sharaa of siding with the perpetrators.
"In al-Sharaa's Syria, it is very dangerous to be a member of a minority — Kurd, Druze, Alawite, or Christian," Katz posted on X. "This has been proven time and again over the past six months."
The Vatican has voiced skepticism over Israeli claims that a deadly strike on a Catholic church in Gaza was accidental.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state and second only to the pope, made the remarks in a televised interview on Italy's Rai network.
Parolin demanded full clarification from Israel following Thursday's shelling of the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City, which killed three people and injured nine others — including the local Italian priest. The church had been sheltering around 600 displaced people, according to Palestinian sources.
Parolin said it was reasonable to doubt that the attack was merely a military mistake.
His remarks came after a phone call between Pope Leo XIV and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had earlier expressed "deep regret."
Parolin stressed that the Vatican is not satisfied with Israel's explanation so far.
"We should give them the time necessary to tell us what actually happened: Whether it was really a mistake, which can be rightfully doubted, or whether it was the intention to target a Christian church, knowing how much Christians are an element of moderation in the Middle East," he said.
Roughly 1,000 Christians live in the Gaza Strip, which is home to more than 2 million people. The Church of the Holy Family is Gaza's only Catholic church.
Syria's Islamist-led government has deployed security forces to the southern city of Sweida and called for an end to days of deadly factional fighting.
The presidency announced a nationwide ceasefire on Saturday, urging all sides to halt hostilities. The move comes after nearly a week of violence in Sweida province, where clashes between Druze factions and Bedouin fighters have left hundreds dead, according to local sources.
The Interior Ministry confirmed that internal security forces had begun operations in the area.
In a separate address, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said mediation by "Arab and American" actors had helped calm tensions. He also condemned Israel for recent airstrikes targeting Syrian government positions in the south and in Damascus.
Israel has said its strikes aimed to protect the Druze minority, which has a large presence in Israel and in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Sharaa warned that Syria would not become a "testing ground for partition, secession, or sectarian incitement."
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Israeli troops have opened fire on Palestinians gathering near food distribution sites in southern Gaza, killing at least 32 people, according to witnesses and hospital officials.
The deadly shootings occurred Saturday near facilities run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial aid group backed by the US and Israel.
The DPA news agency reported that at least 37 people were killed. The deaths were reported to have been near two aid hubs.
At one site in the Khan Younis area, about 100 were wounded by gunfire and shelling and brought to Nasser Hospital from the nearby al-Tina district.
Hospital staff warned that the death toll could rise due to the severity of many injuries.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident in response to media inquiries.
The GHF began operations in late May after a prolonged Israeli blockade of aid. Supported by both Israel and the US, the foundation has drawn criticism from the United Nations for running too few centers and putting civilians at risk.
According to the UN, hundreds of people have died near aid convoys and distribution hubs in Gaza since the end of May.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Unrest in Syria continued on Saturday following increased tensions based around the region of Sweida in the south where Druze and Bedouin factions have been fighting.
The deployment of Syrian forces during the week resulted in Israel launching strikes on Syria, including in the capital Damascus.
US, Arab and Turkish support brought about a ceasefire between Syria and Damascus.
At the same time, the situation in Gaza remains dire with many desparate for aid, but with Israel only allowing aid centers to be operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an aid group backed by Israel and the United States.
There have been numerous reports of Palestinians being killed as they gather to receive aid since the GHF started operating in the enclave.
Follow along as DW brings you the latest reports, explainers and analysis on developments across the Middle East.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Int'l Business Times
5 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
UN Gathering Eyes Solution To Deadlocked Palestinian Question
Fired by France's imminent recognition of Palestinian statehood, UN members meet next week to breathe life into the push for a two-state solution as Israel, expected to be absent, presses its war in Gaza. Days before the July 28-30 conference on fostering Israeli and Palestinian states living peacefully side-by-side to be co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would formally recognize the State of Palestine in September. His declaration "will breathe new life into a conference that seemed destined to irrelevance," said Richard Gowan, an analyst at International Crisis Group. "Macron's announcement changes the game. Other participants will be scrabbling to decide if they should also declare an intent to recognize Palestine." According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states -- including France -- now recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988. In 1947, a resolution of the UN General Assembly decided on the partition of Palestine, then under a British mandate, into two independent states -- one Jewish and the other Arab. The following year, the State of Israel was proclaimed, and for several decades, the vast majority of UN member states have supported the idea of a two-state solution: Israeli and Palestinian, living side-by-side peacefully and securely. But after more than 21 months of war in Gaza, the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and senior Israeli officials declaring designs to annex occupied territory, it is feared a Palestinian state could be geographically impossible. The war in Gaza started following a deadly attack by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a large-scale military response that has claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian lives. The New York conference is a response to the crisis, with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and several dozen ministers from around the world expected to attend. The meeting comes as a two-state solution is "more threatened than it has ever been (but) even more necessary than before, because we see very clearly that there is no alternative," said a French diplomatic source. Beyond facilitating conditions for recognition of a Palestinian state, the meeting will have three other focuses -- reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalization of relations with Israel by Arab states that have not yet done so. The diplomatic source warned that no announcement of new normalization deals was expected next week. Ahead of the conference, which was delayed from June, Britain said it would not recognize a Palestinian state unilaterally and would wait for "a wider plan" for peace in the region. Macron has also not yet persuaded Germany to follow suit and recognize a Palestinian state in the short term. The conference "offers a unique opportunity to transform international law and the international consensus into an achievable plan and to demonstrate resolve to end the occupation and conflict once and for all, for the benefit of all peoples," said the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, calling for "courage" from participants. Israel and the United States will not take part in the meeting. Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon "has announced that Israel will not be taking part in this conference, which doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages," according to embassy spokesman Jonathan Harounoff. As international pressure continues to mount on Israel to end nearly two years of war in Gaza, the humanitarian catastrophe in the ravaged coastal territory is expected to dominate speeches by representatives of more than 100 countries as they take to the podium from Monday to Wednesday. Gowan said he expected "very fierce criticism of Israel." French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would formally recognize the State of Palestine in September AFP
DW
11 hours ago
- DW
Russia to crack down on what it deems 'extremist' content – DW – 07/25/2025
In a fresh move to restrict free speech, Russia's parliament has approved legislation punishing those who browse what the state deems as "extremist" online content. How will this affect users? On July 25, Russia's upper house approved a new censorship law that introduces fines for anyone caught searching for or accessing content officially labeled as "extremist." The law will take effect once signed by Russia's president Vladimir Putin. The sweeping legislation doesn't stop there — it also imposes penalties for promoting VPN services, the very tools many Russians rely on to bypass government censorship and access blocked information. After Russia's lower house, the State Duma, endorsed the law on July 22, a small group of people protested outside Russia's parliament, for the first time in a long while. One of the signs read "For a Russia without censorship. Orwell wrote a dystopia, not a manual." Police quickly detained the man holding it. The classic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, published in 1949, is widely interpreted as a warning against totalitarian rule, inspired by the government oppression the author observed in Nazism and Stalinism. Another protester was Boris Nadezhdin, who had been expected to be the only liberal candidate in the 2024 presidential election. At the time, the electoral commission refused to register his candidacy. "The first stage was banning websites. Now they're banning people from searching the internet. This is already close to thoughtcrime," Nadezhdin told DW, alluding to Orwell's same novel, and its central theme of citizens being punished for thinking differently than the state. The new legislation stands out even among the dozens of censorship laws the State Duma has passed before and after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. According to the bill, simply searching for so-called "extremist materials" online will now be considered an administrative offense, punishable with a fine of up to the equivalent of €55 ($64). Previously, punishment required some form of engagement with banned material, such as posting a critical comment on social media. What counts as extremist materials is defined by a list maintained by Russia's Justice Ministry. It currently contains over 5,000 entries. Officials and lawmakers claim the law targets those who systematically seek banned content, not average citizens casually browsing, but have not offered clarification over what constitutes systematic searches. The registry features flyers, pamphlets, books, newspapers, films, video clips, works of visual art, and songs. In theory, it is meant to include content that incites interethnic hatred, as well as writings by leaders of Germany's National Socialist Workers' Party and Italy's fascist party. In reality, the list also includes works criticizing the government, or speaking out against authorities. One of them is the 2002 book by Russian defector and former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Alexander Litvinenko. Titled Lubyanka Criminal Group, this nonfiction work details how Russian security services allegedly staged the bombing of residential buildings in Moscow in 1999 and other terror acts in an effort to help Putin rise to power. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The blacklist also includes materials from the religious movement Jehovah's Witnesses, which Russia designated as extremist in 2017. In 2023, journalists from the independent Russia news outlet 7x7 reported that the list of "extremist" materials has been growing by hundreds of new entries every year. Between 2011 and 2022, nearly 15,500 administrative cases were opened for the distribution of "extremist" content. That's an average of 1,300 cases per year, most of which resulted in fines of up to about €50. The law has sparked widespread public outcry, with even ordinarily pro-Kremlin figures posting critical messages on social media. Margarita Simonyan, for example, editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT, complained that the new law would prevent her from investigating and "shaming" extremist organizations. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, authorities have added dozens of prominent Russians and organizations critical of the war to its list of banned extremists and terrorists. Among them are writers, musicians, journalists, and popular bloggers, including, for example, the writer Boris Akunin, or TV host Alexander Nevzorov. Meta, behind Facebook and Instagram, was declared extremist in March 2022, following an announcement that the company would permit posts endorsing the killing of Russian soldiers on its platforms, which Russia said constituted "Russophobia." State Duma deputy head Sergei Boyarsky, from the conservative ruling United Russia party, sought to reassure citizens, claiming that using Meta's social networks, or searching for materials created by people declared extremists would not be punished. According to him, fines would only apply to searches for content officially classified as extremist. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In reality, it's hard to predict how Russian police will enforce the new law. "Everything will depend on the particular person in uniform who's been given the power to interpret your guilt," Dmitry Zair-Bek, head of the human rights legal project Pervy Otdel, told DW. According to him, it's likely that, as is already happening, Russians' phones will increasingly be checked during border inspections. Another possible scenario would be if Russia adopted the kind of policing practices used in neighboring Belarus. There, platforms like Instagram, X, and YouTube, which are blocked in Russia, remain accessible. However, subscribing to banned channels on these platforms is prohibited."Censorship in Belarus exists in physical space. Police are asking to check citizens' phones on trains and in student dormitories. Refusing is nearly impossible," Dmitriy Navosha, a co-founder of the international online sports publisher told DW. Access to his website is not restricted in Belarus, but the site was labeled as extremist after Navosha repeatedly spoke out against Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko and the security forces' violent crackdown on protesters in 2020. As a result of the extremism label, visitors to the online sports site risk punishment simply for viewing its content. Since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has severely tightened restrictions on free speech, such as banning the spreading of what it deemed "false information" about the war, and tightening "foreign agent" designations for outlets and organizations considered to be politically active with the help of foreign funding. In the spring, the governmental anti-corruption agency, the Russian Investigative Committee, reported that 605 cases had been opened under two new articles of the Criminal Code since 2022 — one for spreading "fake news" about the Russian army, and another for "discrediting" the armed forces. Under these laws, Russian citizens have been fined or imprisoned for calling Russia's actions in Ukraine a war, rather than a "special military operation," as well as for posting on social media about events such as the killing of civilians by Russian soldiers in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. At the end of 2024, the human rights organization Memorial reported that at least 10,000 political prisoners were being held in detention across Russia. When Russian President Vladimir Putin signs this new law, the number of people being punished for exercising free speech could rise significantly.
Int'l Business Times
11 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
UN Chief Blasts 'Lack Of Compassion' For Palestinians In Gaza
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience." "I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we see by too many in the international community -- the lack of compassion, the lack of truth, the lack of humanity," Guterres told Amnesty International's global assembly via video link. "This is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is a moral crisis that challenges the global conscience. We will continue to speak out at every opportunity." Aid groups have warned of surging cases of starvation, particularly among children, in war-ravaged Gaza, which Israel placed under an aid blockade in March amid its ongoing war with Hamas. That blockade was partially eased two months later. The trickle of aid since then has been controlled by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, replacing the longstanding UN-led distribution system. International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric said Friday "there is no excuse for what is happening in Gaza." "The scale of human suffering and the stripping of human dignity have long exceeded every acceptable standard -- both legal and moral." Spoljaric said the ICRC has more than 350 staff in Gaza, "many of whom are also struggling to find enough food and clean water." Aid groups and the United Nations have refused to work with the GHF, accusing it of aiding Israeli military goals. Guterres said while he had repeatedly condemned the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on southern Israel, which triggered the war in the Palestinian territory, "nothing can justify the explosion of death and destruction since." "The scale and scope is beyond anything we have seen in recent times," he said. "Children speak of wanting to go to heaven, because at least, they say, there is food there. We hold video calls with our own humanitarians who are starving before our eyes... But words don't feed hungry children." Guterres also condemned the killing of more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to access food aid supplies since May 27, when the GHF began operations. "We need action: an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access," Guterres said. He added that the United Nations was ready to "dramatically scale up humanitarian operations" in Gaza should Israel and Hamas reach a ceasefire deal.
