Latest news with #militarystrikes
The Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Israel attacks Syrian targets after projectiles launched toward its territory
Israel hit southern Syria with a series of strikes overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday, saying it had targeted weapons belonging to Syrian authorities after the launch of projectiles towards its territory Israel launched the two attacks after reporting projectiles had been fired from Syria on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the two projectiles. A Syrian state news agency and security sources reported a series of Israeli strikes, targeting several sites in the Damascus countryside and Quneitra and Daraa. They came days after an Israeli strike killed a civilian near a village in western Syria in the first such attack in nearly a month. Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, had said earlier that he held Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible for the two projectile launches. 'We consider the president of Syria directly responsible for any threat and fire toward the State of Israel, and a full response will come soon,' Katz said. The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that reports of the launches towards Israel had not been verified yet and reiterated that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region, the state news agency Sana reported. 'We believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilise the region to achieve their own interests,' the Syrian foreign ministry said. Syria and Israel have recently engaged in direct talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between the two countries that have been on opposite sides of conflict in the Middle East for decades. Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets circulated a claim of responsibility for the projectiles fired on Tuesday to a little-known group, Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades, an apparent reference to Hamas' military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024. Reuters could not independently verify the statement. Syrian state media earlier reported an Israeli strike in the southern Daraa province, an attack the Syrian foreign ministry later said resulted in 'significant human and material losses.' Local residents said Israeli mortars were striking the Wadi Yarmouk area, west of Daraa province, near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The area has witnessed increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli military incursions into nearby villages, where residents have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops. Israel has waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that destroyed much of Syria's military infrastructure. It has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967 and has taken more territory in the aftermath of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December, citing lingering concerns over the extremist past of the country's new rulers.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
Trump Says US Won't Agree to Any Uranium Enrichment by Iran
The US will not allow any uranium enrichment as part of any deal with Iran under any deal the countries reach, President Donald Trump said. Trump made the comment in a social media post Monday evening, without elaborating. The US president has regularly signaled that he thinks a deal may be near, and said Iran could face military strikes otherwise.
New York Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Signalgate? Here's an Even Bigger Trump Scandal in Yemen.
The Signal scandal drew howls of outrage for the way Trump administration officials insecurely exchanged texts about military strikes on Yemen. But dig a little deeper, and there's an even larger scandal. This is a scandal about a failed policy that empowers an enemy of the United States, weakens our security and will cost thousands of lives. It's one that also tarnishes President Joe Biden but reaches its apotheosis under President Trump. It all goes back to the brutal Hamas terrorist attack on Israel in October 2023, and Israel's savage response leveling entire neighborhoods of Gaza. The repressive Houthi regime of Yemen sought to win regional support by attacking supposedly pro-Israeli ships passing nearby in the Red Sea. (In fact, it struck all kinds of ships.) There are more problems than solutions in international relations, and this was a classic example: An extremist regime in Yemen was impeding international trade, and there wasn't an easy fix. Biden responded with a year of airstrikes on Yemen against the Houthis that consumed billions of dollars but didn't accomplish anything obvious. After taking office, Trump ramped up pressure on Yemen. He slashed humanitarian aid worldwide, with Yemen particularly hard hit. I last visited Yemen in 2018, when some children were already starving to death, and now it's worse: Half of Yemen's children under 5 are malnourished — 'a statistic that is almost unparalleled across the world,' UNICEF says — yet aid cuts recently forced more than 2,000 nutrition programs to close down, according to Tom Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief. The United States canceled an order for lifesaving peanut paste that was meant to keep 500,000 Yemeni children alive. Girls will be particularly likely to die, because Yemeni culture favors boys. I once interviewed a girl, Nujood Ali, who was married against her will at age 10. Aid programs to empower Yemeni girls and reduce child marriage are now being cut off as well. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Arab News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Trump's mediation offer renews global focus on Kashmir after India-Pakistan escalation
SRINAGAR, INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR: A series of military strikes last week by India and Pakistan brought the nuclear-armed rivals closer to a broader war. The possibility of a nuclear conflagration seemed real and the fighting only stopped when global powers intervened. Experts say the crisis deepened the neighbors' rivalry as both crossed a threshold with each striking the other with high-speed missiles and drones. The tit-for-tat strikes also brought Kashmir again into global focus, as the US President Donald Trump offered mediation over the simmering dispute that has long been described as the regional nuclear flashpoint. Paul Staniland, South Asia expert and a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, said the four days of fighting shows that 'India now feels substantial space to directly target Pakistan, as well as that Pakistan is willing to escalate in response.' Unlike in past years, when fighting was largely limited to Kashmir, the two armies last week fired missiles and drones at each other's military installations deep inside their cities and exchanged gunfire and heavy artillery along their frontier in Kashmir. Dozens of people were killed on both sides. Each claimed it inflicted heavy damage on the other and said its strikes met the country's objectives. Trump touts a possible 'solution' for Kashmir The fighting began Wednesday after India retaliated for last month's attack that killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, in Kashmir, a Himalayan territory claimed in entirety by both nations. India blamed Pakistan for supporting the attackers, an accusation Islamabad denied, saying no evidence was shared. The Indian military said it could again strike Pakistan if it felt threatened. Pakistan's military also warned against any violation of the country's sovereignty and vowed to respond. Pakistan and India have fought two wars over Kashmir and the specter of two nuclear-armed foes once again trading blows over the region alarmed the international community. Trump on Saturday broke news that the two countries had agreed to stop fighting after US-led talks. On Sunday, Trump once again offered to help and said he will work to provide a 'solution' regarding the dispute over Kashmir. Pakistan thanked the US and Trump for facilitating the ceasefire. India, however, has not said anything about Trump's mediation offer and only acknowledged the ceasefire was reached after military contacts with Pakistan. Trump's Kashmir offer also provoked criticism against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, which has insisted Kashmir is India's internal issue and had opposed any third-party intervention, arguing it was fighting 'Pakistan's proxy war.' Pakistan is trying to raise Kashmir as global issue Pakistan's position is that divided Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute and must be solved according to the UN resolutions and wishes of Kashmiri people. South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman called Trump's offer 'a diplomatic coup for Pakistan.' 'A core and consistent Pakistani foreign policy goal is to internationalize the Kashmir issue. And that's exactly what has happened here, much to the chagrin of an Indian government that takes a rigid position that the issue is settled and there's nothing to discuss,' he said. Meanwhile, people on both sides of the border have heaved a sigh of relief after the ceasefire but some insisted a lasting peace will only be possible if Kashmir dispute is solved. Praveen Donthi, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said 'the two countries have to give Kashmiris a chair at the table of negotiations for a more durable peace process and faster resolution of the problem.' He said Kashmiris have lost more lives due to the conflict than government forces on both sides. 'They always have more to lose … in the absence of mechanisms that resolve the Kashmir dispute,' Donthi said. For residents in Kashmir, the dispute is not just about India and Pakistan, or mere geopolitics and diplomacy, but about survival and peace. 'Let's be honest, India and Pakistan are fighting over Kashmir. So let it be resolved once and forever,' said student Shazia Tabbasum.
Japan Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Modi calls India's reaction ‘new normal' in Pakistan relations
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that his government won't hesitate to use force to neutralize terrorist camps in Pakistan, calling it a "new normal' in relations with its neighbor. The operation "has struck a new line in the fight against terror, a new yardstick, a new normal,' Modi said in a TV address, marking his first public remarks since the Indian strikes on May 7. The two countries have been involved in tit-for-tat military strikes after India carried out the operation against what it described as terrorist camps inside Pakistan. The action was in response to gunmen killing 26 civilians — mainly tourists — in India's Jammu and Kashmir region in April. India has accused Pakistan of involvement, which Islamabad denies. "If we talk to Pakistan, it'll only be on terrorism. If we have a dialogue with Pakistan, it will only be on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,' Modi said. After four days of airstrikes that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-blown war, U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday declared he'd mediated a truce between the two South Asian rivals. That announcement left many senior officials in New Delhi seething, as it was seen upstaging Modi and undermining its longstanding policy of handling the dispute bilaterally. On Monday, Modi didn't mention the U.S. or credit Trump for the ceasefire. Instead, he said, Pakistan urged the world to ease tensions after Indian forces struck at its "heart.' "Therefore, when Pakistan appealed and said that it will not indulge in any sort of terror activities or military audacity further, India considered it,' Modi said. India will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail, Modi also said, adding New Delhi will respond to any further terrorist attack on the country. Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought four wars over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both rule in part but claim in full. While armed forces from both the countries have agreed to reduce troop presence along the border in a bid to restore normalcy, Pakistan's military said it's ready to respond to any further incursions. "No one should doubt that whenever Pakistan's sovereignty is threatened and territorial integrity violated, the retributive response will be comprehensive and decisive,' Pakistan's military said in a statement just ahead of the Indian premier's speech. Meanwhile, in Washington, Trump again said his administration helped secure the ceasefire, adding that he dangled the carrot of trade with both nations. "I said, come on, we're going to do a lot of trade with you guys,' he said at the White House, giving a brief recap of the situation. "Let's stop it. If you stop it, we're doing trade. If you don't stop it, we're not going to do any trade.' "We're negotiating with India right now. We're going to be soon negotiating with Pakistan,' he said. "And we stopped a nuclear conflict.'
