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Israel launches new airstrikes on Lebanon as leaders draw closer to a ceasefire with Hezbollah

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  • Opinion - Putin’s overseas empire is collapsing all at once — don’t let up on him now

    Russian President Vladimir Putin faces a difficult week as Syria's government collapses, Russian military bases are overrun by rebels, and protests in Abkhazia and Kazakhstan signal a decline in Russian influence in the region.

  • Fighter jets, tanks and more: Syrian army’s retreat from Aleppo is a windfall for rebels

    It took just 72 hours for the Syrian army and its Russian- and Iran-backed allies to lose all the territory they had “liberated” from Islamist rebel groups in Aleppo province in five years of bloody fighting between 2014 and 2019. The regime forces left behind an unprecedented stockpile of weapons and ammunition, including jets, missiles, and tanks. In Iran – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s most important ally – criticism has mounted, with some observers deriding the Syrian army as being “not

  • Iraq will not be just a 'spectator' in Syria, prime minister says

    Iraq will not act as a mere spectator in Syria where it believes groups and sects are victims of ethnic cleansing, Iraq's prime minister said on Tuesday, according to a readout from his office of a phone call to Turkey's president. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who discussed the situation in Syria with Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan, said Iraq would exert all efforts to preserve the security of Iraq and Syria, according to the official readout of the call.

  • Syrian insurgents arrive 'at the gates' of Hama city

    Insurgents led by the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, along with Turkey-backed opposition fighters, on Tuesday arrived "at the gates" of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city, according to an observation group, after seizing Aleppo over the weekend. Syrian rebel forces arrived at the gates of the key city of Hama on Tuesday, as their fighting with the military sparked "a large wave of displacement", a war monitor said.The Islamist-led rebels were advancing on Syria's fourth-largest city,

  • Syria's insurgency leader tours seized city of Aleppo, as fierce battles intensify near Hama

    BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Syria's most powerful insurgent group toured the seized city of Aleppo on Wednesday in a surprise visit — the first since the group captured large parts of the city over the weekend as fierce fighting intensifies in the government-led counter-offensive in northern Hama.

  • Hamas and Fatah are near an agreement on who will oversee postwar Gaza

    CAIRO (AP) — Palestinian officials say Fatah and Hamas are closing in on an agreement to appoint a committee of politically independent technocrats to administer the Gaza Strip after the war. It would effectively end Hamas' rule and could help advance ceasefire talks with Israel.

  • Who is Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of Syria's shock insurgency?

    BEIRUT (AP) — Over the past dozen years, Syrian militant leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has worked to remake his public image and the insurgency he commands, renouncing longtime ties to al-Qaida and consolidating power before emerging from the shadows.

  • Russia strongly backs Syrian leadership, says rebels are getting outside help

    MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Wednesday that it strongly backs the actions of the Syrian leadership to counter an offensive by what it said were terrorist groups receiving support, including drones and training, from outside the country. The rebels have staged their biggest advance in years over the past week, first seizing Aleppo and now battling government forces and allied militia near Hama, another major city. "We strongly condemn this attack ... There is no doubt that they would not have dared to commit such an audacious act without the instigation and comprehensive support of external forces that seek to provoke a new round of armed confrontation in Syria, unfurl a the spiral of violence," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

  • Israel military spokesperson announces recovery of body of hostage Itay Svirsky from Gaza

    Israel military spokesperson announces recovery of body of hostage Itay Svirsky from Gaza

  • Chechen leader Kadyrov says Ukrainian drone causes civilian casualties

    Kadyrov said the drone had struck the roof of a building housing a special police regiment. There were no details on the number of casualties and whether he was referring to deaths or injuries. Kadyrov has been a vocal supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine, to which he has contributed Chechen forces.

  • Amnesty International says genocide is occurring in Gaza, an accusation Israel rejects

    CAIRO (AP) — Amnesty International accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip during its war with Hamas, saying it has sought to deliberately destroy Palestinians by mounting deadly attacks, demolishing vital infrastructure and preventing the delivery of food, medicine and other aid.

  • American-Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza was ‘killed on October 7,’ Israel says

    The Israeli military on Monday confirmed the death of American Israeli soldier Omer Maxim Neutra.

  • Israeli strikes on a Gaza tent camp kill at least 21 people, hospital says

    KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes tore through a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza on Wednesday, sparking fires and killing at least 21 people, according to the head of a nearby hospital, in the latest assault on a sprawling tent city that Israel designated a humanitarian safe zone but has repeatedly targeted.

  • Israeli settlers attack two Palestinian towns and their own military in West Bank

    Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian towns early on Wednesday, setting fire to property and hurling stones, after police looked to dismantle an illegal settler outpost in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said. Police and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service said they had arrested eight people for assaulting security forces and damaging property. Palestinian officials said settlers set one house and two cars ablaze in Huwara, a town near the city of Nablus that has been targeted in the past by radical settlers who want Israel to claim sovereignty over all West Bank territory.

  • Gaza Protests Are One Thing Governments Agree on Suppressing

    A report says countries known for civic freedoms joined authoritarians in thwarting pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

  • Israeli strikes kill 11 in Lebanon after fire exchanges with Hezbollah that test ceasefire’s limits

    JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel unleashed its largest wave of airstrikes across Lebanon since agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last week, killing at least 11 people on Monday after the Lebanese militant group fired a volley of projectiles as a warning over what it said were Israeli truce violations.

  • Bangladesh court defers Hindu leader's bail hearing as tensions with India spike

    DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A court in southeastern Bangladesh on Tuesday rescheduled a bail hearing for a jailed prominent Hindu leader who led large rallies in the Muslim-majority country demanding better security for minority groups.

  • Dozens killed and thousands displaced as hostilities escalate in Syria

    United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday that at least 44 people have been killed and over 48,500 people displaced since 26 November.View on euronews

  • Syrian insurgents capture four central towns as government forces reclaim some territory

    BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian insurgents captured four new towns early Tuesday, bringing them closer to the central city of Hama, opposition activists said, while government forces retook some territory they lost last week.

  • Israel kills 23 people in north Gaza, orders evacuations in south

    Israeli military strikes killed at least 23 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, most of them in the town of Beit Lahiya on the northern edge, medics said, as the army issued new evacuation orders in the south of the small enclave. Medics said eight people had been killed in a series of airstrikes in Beit Lahiya while four others were killed elsewhere in Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike later killed two people and wounded others in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, in the coastal enclave's north, medics said.