#Sudan 🇸🇩: Several children supporting Sudanese Forces against "Rapid Support Forces" (#RSF) with Sudanese soldiers' weapons.
Children are seemingly armed with a couple of uncommon #Turkey-made 🇹🇷 Sarsılmaz SAR-308 assault rifles and AKM(S)-pattern rifles. pic.twitter.com/wwF0EC4VdJ
#Ethiopia 🇪🇹: "Oromo Liberation Army" (#OLA / #WBO) ambushed Ethiopian Forces (#ENDF); destroyed and looted vehicles in #Oromia Region.
OLA fighters were seemingly armed with a couple of captured KL-103 / AZ-7,62 assault rifles and numerous common AKM / Type 56-2 rifles. pic.twitter.com/0MqP0mai35
Several terrorists killed as Rivalry clash intensifies between Boko Haram, ISWAP Sambisa
By: Zagazola Makama
Fresh fighting has erupted between rival insurgent factions in the Sambisa Forest axis of Borno, as renewed hostilities spread across parts of Bama and Konduga Local… pic.twitter.com/NQizogxOst
By Zagazola Makama
Fresh fighting has erupted between rival insurgent factions in the Sambisa Forest axis of Borno, as renewed hostilities spread across parts of Bama and Konduga Local Government Areas.
Reliable sources told Zagazola Makama that the latest round of clashes was initiated by a factional force under a notorious commander known as Abba Tukurre, who, alongside his lieutenants Bunjumma and Ali Kalumbo, launched coordinated attacks on several enclaves held by a rival group.
The offensive reportedly began at Gazuwa Camp a strategic stronghold in the Sambisa area of Bama Local government area where the attacking faction succeeded in dislodging its rivals after hours of intense gunfire.
Follow-up operations were said to have been carried out in nearby locations including Kashimeri, Katchi, and Bula Musaye, where several hideouts were overrun.
Sources further indicated that another factional commander, Abu-Rijal, also known as Ba-Sulhu, led reinforcements from the Mandara Mountain axis and engaged the rival group at Bula Marwaye before converging with other fighters at Goneri to plan subsequent strikes.
By late Wednesday, reports suggested that the attacking faction had taken control of Gargash, Minna, and Garin Massa Kaje, and established new checkpoints in the Yamut and Jungule areas.
Night operations were also conducted to pursue fleeing elements of the rival group, though no fresh contact was confirmed as of Thursday morning.
Zagazola Makama believe the resurgence of inter-factional violence could temporarily reduce the threat of coordinated attacks on civilian and military targets, as both sides turn their attention to internal supremacy battles.
However, there are indications that other cells operating in the southern Lake Chad, Tumbun Fulani, and Bulumkutu–Geidam corridors may exploit the chaos to stage retaliatory or diversionary strikes.
Meanwhile, troops of Operation HADIN KAI in the theatre are maintaining heightened vigilance to counter possible surprise offensives as the situation continues to unfold across the region.
Posted by: badanov ||
11/01/2025 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Donovan Hall, from Arizona, sent hundreds of threats to family and its business after their son, an IDF soldier, posted videos from Gaza online
A federal court in New York City on Thursday sentenced an Arizona man, Donovan Hall, to 49 months in prison for threatening Jewish hotel owners over videos their son in the Israeli army posted from Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... After his release from prison, Hall will be subject to three years of probation.
The sentencing guidelines for the case stipulated a sentence of 41-51 months in prison, meaning the sentence was close to the maximum under the guidelines.
"I think that justice was served," Randy Settenbrino, whose hotel was targeted, told The Times of Israel on Friday.
Settenbrino said on Friday that the campaign had been initiated by the activist group Students for Justice in Palestine.
"He really was a predator. He also abused my staff," including with rape threats directed at a minor, Settenbrino said.
Hall has been incarcerated in New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center since his arrest last year.
Hall apologized to the court, saying he did not "mean to be that person anymore."
"There are people who absolutely did not deserve to be treated the way I was treating them. I wanted to champion for a cause and hunt down the bullies, not realizing that it was me the whole time," Hall said in a sentencing submission to the court. "It is time for me to accept this reality and offer my apologies to the victims and their families."
US federal prosecutors indicted Hall last year for sending death threats to the Jewish Settenbrino family in New York after their son, an IDF soldier, posted videos from Gaza that sparked anti-Israel protests against the family’s hotel.
Settenbrino, the owner of the Historic Blue Moon Hotel, told The Times of Israel last year that the family had received hundreds of threats and been targeted by street protests and online harassment.
"They’ve done untold damage with bad reviews and with tying up our front desk, frightening our staff," Settenbrino said.
Hall, 34 at the time of his arrest, sent hundreds of threats to the family and hotel, including antisemitic statements and threats of violence, according to an indictment filed in the federal Southern District of New York.
Hall began making dozens of threatening, antisemitic phone calls to the family last year, when videos posted by Settenbrino’s son, Bram, drew attention from anti-Israel activists online and in international media. One of the clips showed a first-person view of a soldier firing a light machine gun at a group of distant buildings, and the second showed a building exploding.
An account called Stop Arab Hate posted the videos, accusing the soldier of "indiscriminately shooting a gun," and shared contact information for the hotel in a post that was viewed millions of times.
Settenbrino said his son served as a lone soldier in the IDF’s Combat Engineering Corps and had been in a firefight in the footage.
On August 8-9, 2024, Hall made 54 calls to the victims, the complaint said. In one of the calls, he told a hotel employee that he was going to travel to the hotel on his cycle of violence and shoot the victim in the head. In another, he stated the victim’s home address and said he was going to shoot him and his family, calling the victim a "fucking Jew bag," a "child-murdering Jew" and making other explicit and violent mostly peaceful threats.
Between early August and late November, Hall called the victims at least 971 times, the complaint said.
In October 2024, Hall allegedly started sending photographs of deadly weapons and threats to the victims. In one message, he sent a photo of a gun with the text, "I’ve got something for you and your inbred children." In another, he sent an image of a knife and wrote, "This knife is for child molesters such as your son." Another showed a hand on a pistol overlaid with the text, "For the Zionist cowards."
Law enforcement recovered the two firearms from the photos during a search of Hall’s residence at the time of his arrest. Neither weapon was registered in his name; one was loaded.
Settenbrino said on Friday that the campaign had been initiated by the activist group Students for Justice in Paleostine.
"They’re the ones who started this insane boycott of a family business," he said.
The threats were part of a larger campaign of death threats Hall sent to people around the US, often targeting Jews, prosecutors said. Hall also allegedly sent two voicemails to an organization that supports IDF troops, threatening the group and telling them to leave the US.
In a separate case, the Southern District of New York on Tuesday sentenced an anti-Israel activist who attacked three Jewish people to 17 months in prison. That sentence was also near the maximum stipulated by sentencing guidelines.
[IsraelTimes] 14-year-old allegedly tried to manufacture explosives, sent sensitive videos to terror contacts; boy’s mother insists he is innocent, urges his release and psychiatric evaluation
Police plan to indict a 14-year-old suspected of trying to aid ISIS and Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... , law enforcement announced Friday, after submitting a prosecutor’s declaration against the youth.
The teenager, who is diagnosed with autism, allegedly contacted both terror groups with footage and photos of buildings belonging to Israeli security forces. Police said he also tried to manufacture explosives to aid terrorist elements, but did not make clear whether he managed to create a functioning bomb.
Speaking to The Times of Israel earlier this week about the case, the youth’s defense attorney Igal Dotan said he was detained on October 17 while visiting his mother’s family in Ramallah.
Charges are set to be filed in the next few days against the 14-year-old, whose name is barred from publication due to his status as a minor.
Detectives in the Tel Aviv District police’s investigations and intelligence unit have been conducting a covert investigation into the youth over the past few weeks, which was subject to a gag order.
Dotan, who works in the Public Defender’s Office, slammed the police’s announcement of the investigation. He called it "very egregious" for law enforcement to publish details from the probe, "seemingly in direct violation of a 30-day gag order issued by the court 14 days ago at the police’s request."
He added that police have "no reason to boast" about "an investigation of an autistic child who is being held in detention under inhumane conditions."
The youth is currently being held in the Russian Compound, a detention facility in Jerusalem, where Dotan claimed he had been subjected to beatings by guards and other inmates.
The boy’s mother told Haaretz that her son has "known and officially recognized mental and physical issues."
"He is not a terrorist, nor does he pose a danger to anyone — he is a sick, innocent child completely dependent on his mother for care and support," she said. She urged that her son be released from prison and undergo a psychiatric examination by a neutral party.
Dotan said that his client, in addition to having endured beatings in prison, is suffering from other inhumane conditions while in detention.
"He is receiving extremely harsh treatment — beatings, abuse, humiliation, starvation. He’s freezing and doesn’t even have the most basic things, like a mattress," the lawyer told The Times of Israel.
The Israel Prison Service rejected claims of mistreatment. In a statement, the agency said "the detainee has been examined several times by medical personnel during his detention and was found to be in good condition, with no signs of injury or harm."
[IsraelTimes] Yellow Line not fully enforced to date, and Israel believes some fighters holed up in territory it holds; at same time, Hamas said allowed to resume search for hostages’ bodies in IDF-held areas
Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... medical officials said Friday that four Paleostinians were killed by Israeli forces, including one on the terror group’s side of the Gazoo ceasefire line, after an Israeli deadline passed for Hamas fighters to withdraw from the IDF-controlled side of the so-called Yellow Line.
According to the Hamas-affiliated Safa news agency, a man was killed when the IDF targeted the northern Gaza refugee camp of Jabalia. Two others were killed by Israeli gunfire in Gaza City’s Jala’ Road and eastern Shejaiya neighborhood, and a fourth was killed by an IDF strike in Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis in the Strip’s south.
Another man was killed from injuries sustained in a Wednesday IDF strike, Safa said. Except for Jala’ Road, the locations are all east of the Yellow Line, within the roughly 53% of the Strip controlled by the IDF after its initial October 10 withdrawal as part of the ceasefire.
In Jabalia, the army said troops attempted to "distance" a suspect who approached them, but after he ignored the warnings and continued to approach, "posing an imminent threat," the forces opened fire. There was no immediate IDF comment on the other incidents. It says it remains deployed in Gaza "in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat."
Egyptian and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i mediators had notified Hamas on Wednesday night that the group had 24 hours to evacuate its fighters from the Israeli-controlled eastern half of Gaza or risk being exposed to IDF fire, a US official told The Times of Israel. That deadline expired at 8 p.m. local time Thursday evening, at which point Israel had the approval of the US, Egypt and Qatar to engage Hamas targets on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line, the US official said.
A source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that the demarcation had not been fully enforced to date and that it was not always clear to troops on the ground where the line ran in various parts of Gaza, given that it was only drawn up several weeks ago for the ceasefire deal.
Israel had already publicly warned Hamas operatives holed up on the eastern side of the Yellow Line to withdraw last week. The military has assessed that there are Hamas operatives still in the terror group’s tunnels in areas under IDF control, and that they have been there since before the ceasefire.
Two deadly attacks on Israeli troops in Rafah during the ceasefire were carried out by terror operatives. Hamas denied responsibility, saying "communication has been cut off" with its operatives in zones under Israeli control. Israel accused Hamas in both cases of violating the ceasefire.
After the latest attack on Tuesday, the IDF launched a series of strikes that killed over 100 people, according to Hamas, before saying on Wednesday that it was resuming the ceasefire.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Alamo, Davy was counting their remaining cannon balls and not liking the results... Kan news reported that Hamas teams had resumed searching for bodies of deceased hostages in territory controlled by the IDF — operations previously halted after Tuesday’s deadly Rafah attack. Channel 12 news reported that in past searches, Hamas operatives had recovered weaponry inside IDF-held areas instead of actually searching for bodies.
According to Kan, Hamas operatives were being accompanied by Red Thingy personnel and were searching in Khan Younis.
Gaza’s health ministry said the Red Thingy had delivered to it 30 bodies of Paleostinians killed by Israel during the war, a day after Hamas handed over two bodies of hostages.
Under the ceasefire accord, Hamas released all living hostages held in Gaza in return for nearly 2,000 Paleostinian prisoners and wartime detainees, while Israel agreed to pull back its troops, halt its offensive and increase aid.
Hamas told Israel it found human remains not linked to Israeli hostages, but they will still be sent to Israel for testing. Eleven Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, and Israel expects most could be returned soon.
The Red Thingy on Friday night said it transferred the partial remains of three bodies, possibly of hostages, from Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... to Israel.
"The International Committee of the Red Thingy (ICRC), in its role as a neutral intermediary, assisted this evening at the request and with the approval of the parties in returning the remains of three bodies to the Israeli authorities," the ICRC said in a statement.
The remains were taken out of the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip and to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.
There was no comment from Israeli authorities or Hamas on the transfer.
It was unclear if the remains belonged to any of the 11 deceased hostages still held in the Strip.
Earlier this week, Hamas returned the partial remains of Ofir Tzarfati, whose body was recovered by the IDF nearly two years prior. Military drone footage showed the terror group staging the discovery of the remains before handing them over to the Red Thingy, which Tzarfati’s family decried as Hamas "manipulation."
On Thursday, Hamas returned to Israel the remains of slain hostages Amiram Cooper, 84, and Sahar Baruch, 25, marking the first time in over a week it handed over bodies of deceased captives.
It is unclear when Hamas will return the bodies of the 11 remaining deceased captives, or how many it has access to. Israel has accused Hamas of multiple violations of the ceasefire deal that took effect on October 10, and has charged that the terror group knows the location of the vast majority of the remaining bodies of hostages, and is purposely stalling.
The ceasefire agreement required Hamas to return all remaining 48 living and deceased hostages within 72 hours. While the group followed through in handing over all 20 living hostages, it returned only four of the 28 bodies still held in Gaza hours after the deadline. It has since returned another 13 bodies.
The assessment on Saturday was made following the completion of identification efforts at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv.
The terror group’s military wing confirmed it handed over the remains of three bodies to Israel.
According to the Al-Qassam Brigades, it had offered samples of the unidentified bodies it found, but “the enemy refused to receive the samples and requested to receive the bodies for examination.”
Hamas said it handed over the remains “to counter the enemy’s claims.”
There was no comment from Israel on the transfer.
Handing over random bodies now to delay the reckoning? Evil, straight up.
[IsraelTimes] PA names victim as 15-year-old Yamen Hamed of Silwad; settlers attack several towns, torch vehicles, while video shows settlers killing sheep in farm by Hebron earlier in the week
A 15-year-old Paleostinian was rubbed out in festivities with troops during a military raid near Ramallah in the West Bank on Friday, according to the Paleostinian Authority health ministry.
The shooting took place in the village of Silwad, according to the PA, which later identified the victim as Yamen Samid Yusuf Hamed, a resident of Silwad.
According to the PA’s official Wafa news site, Israeli troops used live ammunition, tear gas and sound grenades during the festivities.
Wafa cited unnamed local sources who said that the Israel Defense Forces held up an ambulance trying to reach Hamed for critical minutes as the teen bled out. The boy was declared dead at a nearby hospital.
In response to a query, the IDF said that during an operation in Silwad, "a terrorist was identified with a suspicious flaming object that was suspected to be an bomb."
"After identification, the soldiers responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist," the army added.
Hours later, hundreds of mourners gathered in Silwad for Hamed’s funeral, carrying his body, wrapped in a Paleostinian flag, through the crowded streets.
Some waved Paleostinian flags, while others clutched those representing Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... and Fatah. Inside, women sobbed over the teenager’s body, stroking and kissing his face.
Yusef Hamed, the boy’s father, said his son had been joyful in his final moments.
"Right before, he was at home with us, happy and playing," he told AFP. "He said goodbye to everyone, then he left, but did not come back."
[IsraelTimes] Court says Muhammad Awadeh of the West Bank town of Dura confessed to the attack without a trial
Court says Muhammad Awadeh of the West Bank town of Dura confessed to the attack without a trial.
The Lod District Court on Thursday sentenced Muhammad Awadeh, a Paleostinian man from the West Bank town of Dura near Hebron, to 36 years in prison, for stabbing and attempting to kill two soldiers in April 2023.
Awadeh confessed to the crime, the court said, without going through a trial. He did not have a previous criminal record.
He entered Israel on March 31, 2023, without an entry permit, armed with a 30-centimeter (12-inch) knife. After staying at his father’s house in Jaffa for a few days, Awadeh, then 22, boarded a bus on April 4 and got off at the Nir Tzvi junction after spotting soldiers.
"He removed the knife from his jacket and stabbed one of the soldiers in the neck. Immediately thereafter, he stabbed the other soldier in the back. After that, he returned to the first soldier and, as [the soldier] was lying on the ground, he stabbed him many times, in all parts of his body, including his head and chest, until the knife broke," according to the court.
It adds that Awadeh tried, but failed, to take a soldier’s weapon, and that civilians then subdued the assailant.
Awadeh was charged with a terror act of attempted murder, a terror act of grievous bodily harm under aggravated circumstances, illegal possession of a knife, and illegal entry into Israel.
"The soldier who testified at the sentencing hearing was an outstanding athlete prior to the attack, and today he has trouble moving, and is dealing with emotional difficulties and suffers from a disability," the court noted.
"The other soldier, too, testified that he suffers today from pains and physical limitations, in addition to coping with post-traumatic stress disorder, and despite this he continues to serve in reserve duty," it said.
While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack from a terror group, the stabbing was welcomed by Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... , which tied it to expected attempts by Jewish bully boyz to sacrifice an animal at the flashpoint Temple Mount holy site in Jerusalem ahead of the Passover holiday that year.
"Israel and the settlers will remain in a state of fear and lack of security," the terror group said.
[IsraelTimes] A Hezbollah operative was killed in an Israeli drone strike in the town of Kounine in southern Lebanon earlier today, the military says.
According to the IDF, Ibrahim Muhammad Raslan was a Hezbollah maintenance officer and was involved in restoring the terror group’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
“The terrorist’s activities constituted a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians, and a violation of the violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military adds.
[Rudaw] Syria's Defense Ministry accused Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of allegedly "targeting" one of the army's positions in the vicinity of Tishreen Dam, east of Aleppo province, with "a guided missile", killing two soldiers and wounding another, despite a ceasefire agreement between the two rival sides to end festivities in the volatile region. The SDF denied involvement.
"SDF forces targeted one of the Syrian Arab Army's positions near the Tishreen Dam east of Aleppo with a guided missile, resulting in the martyrdom of two soldiers and seriously wounding a third," the defense ministry said.
The SDF denied involvement in the deadly incident.
"We in the Syrian Democratic Forces categorically affirm that this information is incorrect, and that our forces did not carry out any attack in the mentioned area," it said in a statement.
"According to the field data available to us, the incident resulted from landmine explosions in the vicinity of the Syrian government military position, and our forces had no involvement in it," the SDF added.
Damascus said the SDF are "renewing their rejection of all previous understandings and agreements, disregarding them completely by targeting army positions and killing its personnel."
The SDF and Damascus have repeatedly in the past accused one another of escalations in the volatile region.
The latest development comes despite the interim government of Damascus and ruling Kurdish authorities of north and east Syria are inching closer to reaching an agreement for integration.
Hours before the fresh skirmish, the SDF said in a statement that it had submitted a list of about 70 commanders to the US-led global coalition "as part of preparations to restructure their units into three divisions and special brigades within the Syrian Army."
On March 10, SDF chief Mazloum Abdi signed a landmark agreement with Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The deal aims to bring all civil and military institutions in Rojava - including the SDF - under centralized state control and to establish a nationwide ceasefire.
Talks to implement the agreement have continued since March, though disputes have emerged over how integration should be carried out. The SDF had advocated for integrating its forces as a unified bloc, while Damascus has favored absorbing fighters individually and distributing them across regular army units.
[Rudaw] The ruling body in northeast Syria (Rojava) on Wednesday condemned as a "horrific attack" the deadly assault that targeted a passenger coach on the road connecting Syria’s Druze-majority southern Suwayda province with the capital, Damascus, the previous day. The attack reportedly killed two people and injured several others, including women and kiddies.
In a statement, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) said it "strongly condemns the horrific attack on a bus carrying civilians on the Damascus-Suwayda highway," warning that the "heinous act reflects a grave disregard for the sanctity of human life and aims to destabilize the country at a time when Syria is in urgent need of security and civil peace."
The SDC - the political wing of Rojava’s de-facto military force, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - urged the interim government in Damascus to "assume its legal, security, and moral responsibilities" by "launching an immediate and transparent investigation to identify the perpetrators, bring them to justice and ensure the protection of all citizens across Syria without discrimination."
"Safeguarding the lives and dignity of Syrians is a national duty that must not be delayed or neglected," the council stressed.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) relayed on Tuesday that a passenger coach on the Damascus-Suwayda road "was fired upon by unidentified button men, killing two people and wounding others."
Suwayda24, a local outlet focused on southern Syria’s Druze-majority Suwayda province, on Tuesday reported the death of two individuals in the incident - identified as "young woman, Aya Salam, and young man Kamal Abd al-Baqi" - and the injury of six others, including two children.
The outlet further cited "local sources" as stating "the attack occurred near the Marjana gas station in the Damascus countryside, an area known for its heavy presence of General Security checkpoints" affiliated with the new Syrian leadership.
The SDC on Wednesday warned that such incidents "affect all Syrians" and "threaten what remains of the foundations of civil peace," stressing that "the continuation of violence serves only the forces of extremism and division."
The council renewed its call for "an inclusive national dialogue bringing together all political, social, and national forces - free from exclusion or domination," describing it as "the only realistic path to end the cycle of bloodshed and rebuild trust among Syrians on the basis of justice and equal citizenship."
DEEPENING CHASM
Clashes between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes erupted in Suwayda in mid-July, escalating with the involvement of Syrian government forces and Israel before a ceasefire was announced on July 19.
Since then, Syrian security forces have been deployed across the province, while Druze factions remain in control of Suwayda city.
However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... more than two months after the conflict, the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... reports that over 60 percent of households in the province lack sufficient food, and only a fraction of the 187,000 people displaced have returned home.
Moreover, despite the July ceasefire, numerous violations have been recorded, prompting UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen to warn on July 28 that the situation remains "tense and volatile."
In August, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that a woman was killed after an "gang" opened fire on two civilian cars at a checkpoint between Damascus and Suwayda. Later that month, SOHR said the province was suffering from a severe food shortage due to a month-long blockade, noting that "18 wells that used to supply Suwayda with water have been destroyed" during the mid-July fighting.
Notably, Tuesday’s bus attack came a day after Hikmat al-Hajari, the spiritual leader of Syria’s Druze community, reiterated that "self-determination for the people of Suwayda" is "an absolute right that cannot be abandoned."
In an interview with pan Arab news channel Sky News Arabia, the Druze leader noted that the number of kidnapped and missing persons from Suwayda "exceeds 600 people, including women," accusing the Damascus government of "obstructing any negotiations regarding their [release]."
Hajri further urged the international community to empower "the people of Suwayda to exercise their right to self-determination under UN supervision" - a demand seen by Damascus as a direct challenge to Syria’s illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Following Hajari’s remarks, the bus attack occurred, followed later that day by an assault by Druze fighters on a checkpoint manned by Bedouin button men and Damascus defense ministry forces in southern Suwayda, according to SOHR.
"A group of young men infiltrated from Umm al-Zaytoun, north of Suwayda city, and attacked a checkpoint manned by Bedouin button men and defense ministry forces, disregarding the ceasefire," the war monitor reported.
SOHR further warned that the latest violence underscores the deepening "lack of security" in Suwayda and "along the Damascus-Suwayda highway due to recurring armed festivities."
[IsraelTimes] Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal reports that as Hezbollah rearms, Israel is losing patience with Beirut’s inaction
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday accused Israel of responding to its offer to negotiate by intensifying its Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s, the latest of which killed a man riding a cycle of violence in southern Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... — according to Israel, a Hezbollah operative involved in restoring the terror group’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire with the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, Israel maintains troops in five positions in southern Lebanon that it says are necessary for securing northern communities, and has kept up regular airstrikes on targets it says were violating the ceasefire.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Hezbollah is restocking rockets, anti-tank missiles and artillery, increasing the chances of renewed conflict with Israel.
Aoun called for negotiations with Israel in mid-October, after US President Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... brokered a ceasefire in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... "Lebanon is ready for negotiations to end the Israeli occupation, but any negotiation... requires mutual willingness, which is not the case," Aoun said on Friday. Israel "is responding to this option by carrying out more attacks against Lebanon... and intensifying tensions," he added during a meeting with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Hezbollah is restocking rockets, anti-tank missiles and artillery, increasing the chances of renewed conflict with Israel.
How nice — more spectacular secondaries to look forward to. It’s been a while.
The report, which cited people familiar with Israeli and Arab intelligence, said Hezbollah is rearming by smuggling weapons through seaports, as well as smuggling routes through Syria, leading Israel to lose patience with Lebanon over its commitment to disarm the terror group. Israel was angered by recent intelligence findings on the issue, the sources added.
No doubt.
Lebanon’s leaders have passed a message to Israel through mediators asking for Jerusalem to have patience with their efforts to disarm Hezbollah, and said they are open to expanding cooperation on the matter, The Journal reported.
Oh? Plan to take two steps back and let Israel take over the job?
Hezbollah began attacking Israel in October 2023, a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... invaded southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza. After nearly a year of cross-border fire, Israel launched an intensive campaign against the terror group in September 2024, massively degrading its forces and eliminating most of its top leadership. A ceasefire was declared in November.
The ceasefire required both Israel and Hezbollah to vacate southern Lebanon, to be replaced by the Lebanese armed forces. Israel has withdrawn from all but five strategic posts along the border. Since the ceasefire, the IDF says it has killed over 330 Hezbollah operatives in strikes, hit hundreds of Hezbollah sites, and conducted over 1,000 raids and other small operations in southern Lebanon in response to violations by the terror group.
That’s because Hezbollah is actively working on the things they swore off in signing the ceasefire. Had Israel not done so, Hezbollah would even now have recommenced the rocket/missile barrage.
Weakened by the war and still facing regular Israeli strikes, Hezbollah is under internal and international pressure to hand over its weapons, and the Lebanese army has drawn up a plan to disarm it.
There should be no need for pressure, given that Hezbollah got a ceasefire by promising to do so.
On Friday, Germany’s Wadephul offered his support to Aoun, stating that he would urge his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar to withdraw Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
No.
"Israel must withdraw. I understand that Israel has security needs... But in fact, we now need a process of mutual trust-building," the German minister said.
No. What is needed is for Hezbollah to comply with their commitment to disarm — they have thus far been entirely untrustworthy. As is Germany for attempting to put pressure on the innocent party in this situation instead of the guilty party.
pWadephul also encouraged the Lebanese government to ensure there is "a credible, transparent and rapid process of disarming Hezbollah." He acknowledged that it was "a mammoth task" but contended it was "a basic prerequisite for this country to experience stability and for there to be no further conflict with Israel."
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said an Israeli drone targeted a man on a motorbike in the village of Kounine on Friday.
The health ministry reported one death and one person maimed.
The Israeli military said it had killed Ibrahim Muhammad Raslan, a "Hezbollah maintenance officer," who was working to reestablish the Iran-backed group’s infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon.
"The terrorist’s activities constituted a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians, and a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," the military added.
The strike came a day after the Israeli military killed a municipal worker in a raid in the Lebanese border village of Blida. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the incident, saying it had opened fire on a suspect during an operation to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure in the town of Blida.
Aoun ordered the army on Thursday to confront such incursions.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi asked his visiting German counterpart on Friday to "help put pressure on Israel to stop its attacks."
Don’t do it, Germany.
"Only a diplomatic solution, not a military one, can ensure stability and guarantee calm in the south," Raggi was quoted by the NNA as saying.
From a psychological perspective, that is precisely backward. For such people, violent consequences must come first, otherwise nothing diplomatic will go forward. To be fair, as we see now, after the violence still nothing significant is going forward on on the diplomatic front, but at least the remainder of Hezbollah is considerably less able to act on their desires at the moment.
He added that "the Lebanese government is continuing to gradually implement its decision to place all weapons under its control."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
