Latest news with #YediothAhronoth
Al-Ahram Weekly
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Syria back at the table with Israel - World - Al-Ahram Weekly
Do the first talks between Syria and Israel in a quarter century hold any real prospects for peace Meetings between Syria and Israel under US auspices have resumed after a 25-year hiatus. In the past quarter-century, Washington has served as the main sponsor of the 'political solution' to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The most recent meeting, chaired by Tom Barrack, the US special envoy for Syria, was held in Paris and marked the second such encounter following an earlier meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, during Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa's visit on 12 July. According to many reports, the Paris meeting — described as 'honest and responsible' — did not produce tangible results but paved the way to a new round of talks between Syria and Israel. Damascus had earlier confirmed indirect contact with Israel aimed at returning to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, which established a buffer zone that Israel has occupied for the past several months. The Syrian delegation included Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Sheibani and representatives of the General Intelligence Service, according to the official Syrian News Agency. On the Israeli side, Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi were present, according to the Israeli English-language news site Yedioth Ahronoth. The discussions centred on the possibility of reactivating the disengagement agreement with international guarantees, alongside Syria's demand for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the positions they have recently occupied. Following the ouster of Bashar Al-Assad in December, Israel occupied a UN-monitored buffer zone that had separated the two countries' forces in the strategic Golan Heights. Since then, Israeli forces have advanced deeper into southern Syria, calling for the complete demilitarisation of the area. Syria and Israel have been officially at war since 1948. Israel has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967. Following Al-Assad's removal, Israel launched hundreds of air strikes across Syria, violating Syrian sovereignty in what it claimed were efforts to prevent weapons from reaching the newly established Islamist authorities. This month, Israel launched air strikes on Damascus and the Druze-majority province of Sweida, portraying itself as a protector of the Druze minority. Many observers view this as a pretext to push Syrian government forces further away from the occupied Golan Heights. In Sweida, southern Syria, armed Bedouin tribes clashed with Druze forces. The new Islamist regime in Damascus joined the conflict. The fighting resulted in over 1,000 deaths, more than two-thirds of them Druze, and displaced more than 128,000 people who fled their homes in fear of continued violence. The crisis was resolved when government forces and Sunni Bedouin tribes withdrew from the area and Sweida came under a form of local administration, though the extent of its autonomy vis-à-vis Damascus remains unclear. During the recent meeting, the Syrian delegation said 'national unity and territorial integrity are non-negotiable,' stressing that 'Sweida and its people are an integral part of the Syrian state.' A report by Yedioth Ahronoth, citing the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, indicated that the talks also addressed a potential US-backed arrangement for Sweida. Under the emerging proposal, pro-regime forces would withdraw beyond Druze-inhabited areas, with local Druze groups conducting verification sweeps to ensure compliance. The draft agreement also calls for the establishment of local councils in Sweida to provide civil services, the formation of a joint committee to monitor violations and report directly to the US, and the demilitarisation of the Quneitra and Daraa governorates, both bordering Israel. In these areas, local security committees with no access to heavy weaponry would replace current armed forces. UN agencies would be granted access to Sweida, while groups affiliated with the Syrian regime would be prohibited from operating there. No international media outlets have reported any concrete discussions of peace between Syria and Israel, despite earlier reports of US-mediated contacts aimed at reaching an agreement between the two countries. Absent from these reports is any mention of what Damascus might receive in return for normalisation. Would it be the full restoration of the Golan Heights? A partial Israeli withdrawal from the buffer zone occupied after the fall of Al-Assad? Or simply a tacit Israeli guarantee not to target the new Islamist regime, allowing it to entrench itself and expand its authority countrywide? Al-Sharaa's government remains in a precarious position. It engaged in heavy fighting with Alawite militias in their coastal strongholds, clashed with Druze forces, experienced tensions with Christian communities — in the events known as the Maaloula incident — and continues to grapple with mutual distrust in its relationship with the Kurds. Not all Syrian Sunnis — the majority demographic in the country — support Islamist movements. Significant segments of Syria's business elite, often referred to as the Merchants of Damascus and Aleppo, along with the middle class, had benefited from the stability of the Assad regime for five decades. Many observers believe the complete return of the Golan Heights is highly unlikely, given that the idea had provoked the anger of Israeli extremists and led to the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin who was close to concluding a deal with Hafez Al-Assad that would have returned the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for full normalisation. Rabin's assassination has since become a psychological and political constraint on Israeli leaders in any negotiations with Syria. The idea of dividing the Golan Heights also appears unworkable. Some Israeli and Western reports have floated the notion of splitting the territory into three zones: one under Syrian control, one under Israeli sovereignty, and a third whose status would be resolved at a later stage. However, such a division is widely seen as impractical. Since its occupation in 1967, the Golan Heights have become a hub of Israeli vineyard and wine production, as well as a popular domestic tourism destination despite the persistent opposition of the region's Druze population — numbering more than 30,000 — who continue to reject Israeli nationality, identify as Syrian Arabs, and maintain close ties with their Druze counterparts in Syria. On the other hand, Al-Sharaa's regime would face internal backlash if it agreed to any deal that did not involve the return of the Golan Heights, or at least part of it. Such a concession would position it below Al-Assad's regime, which consistently refused any peace deal that excluded the Golan Heights. * A version of this article appears in print in the 6 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Time of India
3 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Putin STUNS Trump: After Wagner Move, Russia Cements Nuclear Ambition In Last Sahel Region
10000 IDF Soldiers Pay Heavy Price For Netanyahu's War; Sleep Loss, Mood Swings & PTSD... Israeli soldiers have reportedly faced mental illness due to the ongoing war in Gaza. According to Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth citing Israeli Defence Ministry, more than 10,000 Israeli soldiers have been experiencing psychological reactions and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023. Watch this video to know more. 1.3K views | 1 day ago
Mint
3 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Israelis Begin to Question the Morality of Their War in Gaza
The news on Israel's main TV channel had just finished a segment on how hunger in Gaza is portrayed around the world when the anchor looked up and said: 'Maybe it's finally time to acknowledge that this isn't a public relations failure, but a moral one.' Whether or not it was a Walter Cronkite moment, when the US broadcaster declared on live TV in 1968 that the Vietnam War was unwinnable — a turning point in public opinion — it seemed significant in a country that's been steadfast in its defense of the war against Hamas in Gaza for 22 months. There are other indications — from WhatsApp group chats to new reports by Israeli human rights organizations — that the mood is shifting away from a robust embrace of the conflict. Some commentators are announcing a change of heart about the war, triggered when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250. The subsequent Israeli offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and left much of the Palestinian territory in ruins. The United Nations World Food Program has warned for weeks that Gaza's population of more than 2 million people faces crisis levels of food insecurity, with scores of aid groups reporting widespread starvation. 'After the massacre, it was imperative to strike at Hamas with all our might, even at the cost of civilian casualties,' wrote Nahum Barnea, a columnist for centrist newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. But 'the damage — in military casualties, Israel's international standing and civilian casualties — is growing worse. Hamas is to blame, but Israel is responsible.' Sherwin Pomerantz, who runs an economic consulting group, wrote in the conservative Jerusalem Post: 'What was a just war two years ago is now an unjust war and must be ended.' The shift in Israeli sentiment is reflected in a pile-up of bad news: Hamas still holds hostages in Gaza and remains a military force, soldiers continue to die, Israelis abroad are shunned, even attacked, and now scenes of starving children are shown across global media. US President Donald Trump, a fervent defender of Israel, even weighed in, saying this week he didn't agree with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assertion there is no starvation in Gaza. 'That's real starvation stuff, I see it, and you can't fake that,' Trump said in Scotland on Monday. There haven't been any recent polls published in Israel related to the war. One in May showed 65% of Israelis unconcerned about humanitarian conditions in Gaza. But until this past week, little of the destruction and death there appeared in Israeli media. Now the issue of hunger dominates news coverage. Other shifts in public discourse are noticeable. Human rights lawyers abroad have been accusing Israel of war crimes and genocidal intent in Gaza since just after the war started — charges the vast majority of Israelis have rejected. For the first time, two Israeli human rights groups are now using the term genocide for what's happening — B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel. Also on Monday, the presidents of five Israeli universities wrote an open letter to Netanyahu urging him to 'intensify efforts to address the severe hunger crisis currently afflicting the Gaza Strip.' 'Like many Israelis, we are horrified by the scenes from Gaza, including infants dying every day from hunger and disease,' they wrote. 'As a people who endured the horrors of the Holocaust, we also bear a responsibility to use every means at our disposal to prevent cruel and indiscriminate harm to innocent men, women and children.' Yair Lapid, head of Israel's main opposition party, gave a fiery speech this week describing the war as a disaster and a failure and calling on Netanyahu to end it and eliminate Hamas through cooperation with regional powers. After ceasefire talks stalled again last week, a new effort is under way to revive negotiations with Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and others. There's growing commentary in mainstream media declaring Hamas defeated, making an end to the war easier to accept. There's also pushback to the starvation narrative. Israeli military authorities said, without additional evidence, that one photo of a skeletal boy published on front pages around the world was a child with a genetic disease that makes his bones protrude, and that he'd been evacuated from Gaza more than a month ago. In addition, the military has distributed photos purported to be of Hamas operatives surrounded by food and looking healthy. And, so far, Netanyahu has shown no sign of shifting policy. 'We are fighting a just war, a moral war, a war for our survival,' he said in a statement on Monday. 'No country in the world would allow the continued rule in a neighboring territory of a terror group bent on its destruction that already stormed across its borders in a genocidal attack.' 'We'll continue to act responsibly, as we always have, and we'll continue to seek the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas,' he said. 'That is the only way to secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.' With assistance from Gina Turner. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Saudi Gazette
5 days ago
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Israel enforces limited military pause in parts of Gaza amid deepening hunger crisis
GAZA CITY — A limited and localized suspension of military operations announced by Israel took effect on Sunday morning in select areas of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military confirmed. The so-called 'tactical and localized suspension' began at 10 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) in three areas: Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, and parts of Gaza City—spanning portions of southern, central, and northern Gaza, according to an army spokesman cited by Yedioth Ahronoth. Al-Mawasi, a narrow coastal zone in southern Gaza, has become a refuge for thousands of displaced Palestinians, extending from southwest Deir al-Balah through Khan Younis to Rafah. The pause follows a late-night decision by top Israeli officials—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar—to approve a limited humanitarian suspension. No timeline has been given for when the suspension will end. Since May 27, Israel has launched a separate aid distribution initiative through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), bypassing the United Nations and international humanitarian agencies. The U.S.-backed initiative has been widely rejected by global relief organizations. Despite the announcement of safe zones and pauses, Israeli forces have reportedly continued firing on Palestinians attempting to collect aid near distribution points, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The hunger crisis in Gaza has escalated into a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe. Shocking footage from the enclave shows skeletal residents collapsing from dehydration and prolonged starvation, as food and medical supplies remain severely restricted. Israel's military campaign —launched on Oct. 7, 2023— has killed more than 59,700 Palestinians, the vast majority of them women and children, according to local health authorities. Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, with ongoing bombardment and a blockade exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel is also being tried at the International Court of Justice for genocide in its war on Gaza. — Agencies
Egypt Independent
5 days ago
- Health
- Egypt Independent
Israel announces humanitarian truce in Gaza to facilitate aid distribution
Following international condemnation of Israel's brutal war on Gaza, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced that a humanitarian truce would be implemented this morning on Sunday, in civilian centers and humanitarian corridors to facilitate aid distribution in Gaza, according to international and Israeli media. The Israeli Foreign Ministry added that it expects the United Nations to collect and distribute large quantities of aid 'without any delay or excuses.' According to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the planned humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin on Sunday and will be implemented in several locations, including northern Gaza. The newspaper added: 'The ceasefire will be implemented in at least one location at 10:00 am.' Numerous international organizations and countries allied with Israel have intensified their criticisms regarding Tel Aviv's implementation of a 'siege and starvation of citizens in Gaza, cutting off food and medical supplies. This comes days after Western countries criticized Israel for the 'brutal killing of Palestinians,' particularly at humanitarian aid distribution sites. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported that the number of elderly people killed by the famine reached approximately 1,200, in addition to cases of fainting and temporary memory loss among doctors.
