Division between minority populations drag Syria further into cycle of violence and attracts Israeli opportunism
Seven months on from Bashar al-Assad’s fall, Syria is descending into yet another wave of bloody sectarian violence.
A local dispute between a Bedouin tribesman and a member of the Druze minority sparked clashes that drew in Syrian government forces and triggered Israeli airstrikes – leaving a trail of bodies in their wake.
Continue reading...UN calls for end to ‘bloodshed’ that has claimed at least 638 lives, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
Armed tribes supported by Syria’s Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters in the community’s Sweida heartland on Friday, a day after the army withdrew under Israeli bombardment and diplomatic pressure.
The UN called for an end to the “bloodshed” and demanded an “independent” investigation of the violence, which has claimed at least 638 lives since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Continue reading...Israel grants access after ‘stray’ tank round kills three people and wounds Catholic priest
Israel has granted two senior Christian leaders rare access to Gaza after an Israeli strike on the Palestinian territory’s only Roman Catholic church killed three people.
Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and his Greek Orthodox counterpart, Theophilos III, led a delegation on Friday to the Holy Family Church, whose shelling the day before triggered international condemnation.
Continue reading...Charity Commission criticised for endorsing transfer of about £5.7m to high school in illegal village of Susya
Two UK charities have transferred millions of pounds to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank with the endorsement of the charities regulator, the Guardian can reveal.
Documents show that the Kasner Charitable Trust (KCT), via a conduit charity, UK Toremet, has donated approximately £5.7m to the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva high school in Susya, in the Israeli-occupied territory.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: In failing to leverage its economic influence, the bloc is showing its threats are empty – and is breaking its own rules
Good morning. Before we get into the news of the day, a bit of housekeeping.
I’ve been away from the newsletter for a few months, but this isn’t the grand return I’m sure you’ve all been eagerly awaiting. Instead, this will be my last First Edition (cue sad music). After three and a half years, I’m moving teams to join the Guardian’s international desk. So, farewell readers! It’s been real and a proper privilege to be the first port of call for many of you each morning. Apologies for the countless times I’m sure you’ve opened your inbox, bleary eyed, to be greeted by some alarming event. You’ll be in excellent hands with my brilliant colleagues Aamna Mohdin and Phoebe Weston over the summer.
UK news | The voting age will be lowered to 16 across the UK by the next general election in a major change of the democratic system. The government said the reform would bring in more fairness as 16- and 17-year-olds already work and are able to serve in the military.
US news | Donald Trump said on Thursday he had directed his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to seek the release of grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking case as he sought to tamp down controversy over a story published by the Wall Street Journal alleging he contributed a sketch of a naked woman to Epstein’s 50th birthday album.
Israel-Gaza | An Israeli strike has hit the only Catholic church in Gaza, killing two people and injuring several others, including the parish priest, who used to receive daily calls from the late Pope Francis.
Labour | Diane Abbott has been suspended from the Labour party for a second time after saying she did not regret her past remarks on racism. In a statement to Newsnight on Thursday evening, Abbott said: “It is obvious this Labour leadership wants me out. My comments in the interview … were factually correct, as any fair-minded person would accept.”
Sudan | Children in Sudan, caught up in what aid organisations have called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and threatened by rising levels of violence, are increasingly vulnerable to deadly infectious diseases as vaccinations in the country plummet.
Continue reading...Sectarian divisions prompted the worst unrest in Syria since March as the Druze population of Sweida province suffered massacres and executions
Bahaa* had no choice but to keep on working as patient after patient came through the doors of the Sweida National hospital in southern Syria. Almost all bore similar injuries: gunshot wounds and bodies shredded by shrapnel from nearby exploding artillery.
“There were hundreds of wounded, no less than 200 bodies in the hospital. Many of them shot in the head, as if executed,” said Bahaa, a surgeon speaking of the events of this week in Sweida under a pseudonym for fear of retribution.
Continue reading...Conflict restarts in southern province as Druze groups reportedly target Bedouin villages in ‘revenge’ attacks
The Israeli military has carried out an airstrike on the outskirts of Sweida city as clashes between Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters intensified on Thursday night.
The clashes started a wave of tit-for-tat retaliatory violence earlier on in the day after Syrian government forces withdrew from Sweida.
Continue reading...The country, beset by war, has the world’s lowest rates of vaccination, says the World Health Organization, as global immunisation drive also stalls
Children in Sudan, caught up in what aid organisations have called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and threatened by rising levels of violence, are increasingly vulnerable to deadly infectious diseases as vaccinations in the country plummet.
In 2022, more than 90% of young children in Sudan received their routine vaccinations. But that figure has nearly halved to 48%, the lowest in the world, according to the World Health Organization.
Continue reading...One person killed and 18 injured, say Syrian officials, as Israel intervenes in clashes between government forces and Druze fighters
The Israeli military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus twice on Wednesday as it intervened in the clashes between the Syrian army and Druze fighters in southern Syria in the country’s deadliest violence in months.
The strikes collapsed four floors of the ministry and ruined its facade. The strikes killed one person and injured 18, Syrian officials said.
Continue reading...Stinging rebuke from Amnesty International follows EU ministers declining to endorse any sanctions over Gaza war
The EU has been accused of a “cruel and unlawful betrayal” of Palestinians and European values after failing to take action to impose sanctions on Israel over the war in Gaza.
The stinging rebuke from Amnesty International, echoed by other human rights organisations, came after EU ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday declined to endorse any measures to sanction Israel over the brutal war in Gaza and endemic violence in the West Bank.
Continue reading...Traders affiliated to Iran-backed rebel group found to have been running weapon stores on social media for years
Arms dealers affiliated with Houthi militants in Yemen are using X and Meta platforms to traffic weapons – some US-made – in apparent violation of the social media firms’ policies, a report has revealed.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed group of rebels who have controlled swathes of Yemen since 2014, are designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, Canada and other countries.
Continue reading...Sayfollah Musallet’s relatives criticize US government over West Bank killing: ‘Somebody needs to be held accountable’
Relatives of Sayfollah Musallet, a US citizen from Florida beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, are calling for the Trump administration to arrest and prosecute those responsible for his killing.
The 20-year-old from Tampa was visiting his family in an area near Ramallah, and died last week trying to protect their farm from invaders, they said at an emotional press conference in Florida on Monday afternoon.
Continue reading...UK, France and Germany say without firm commitment from Iran by 29 August they will reapply embargos that were lifted 10 years ago
The EU will start the process of reinstating UN sanctions on Iran from 29 August if Tehran has made no progress by then on containing its nuclear programme, the bloc has announced.
Speaking at a meeting of his EU counterparts, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said: “France and its partners are … justified in reapplying global embargos on arms, banks and nuclear equipment that were lifted 10 years ago. Without a firm, tangible and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so by the end of August at the latest.”
Continue reading...Israel targets state forces entering south of Syria after sectarian clashes, while other strikes in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley leave 12 dead
Israel has launched bombing raids against two of its neighbours, hitting government forces in southern Syria and what it said were Hezbollah targets in eastern Lebanon.
In Syria, the strikes hit forces loyal to the transitional government that had been sent south to the province of Sweida, which is near Israel. Syrian state media also reported Israeli strikes on Tuesday in the nearby province of Deraa.
Continue reading...Tory peer Tariq Ahmad denies contact while in office with King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence
A former UK Middle East minister has been accused of breaching transparency rules over a paid advisory role with an influential Bahraini centre that has links to the Gulf state’s government.
The Conservative peer Tariq Ahmad, who denies wrongdoing, was cleared by a watchdog to take up his role as a paid adviser to the King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence (KHC).
Continue reading...The Hague Group aims to agree political, economic and legal actions in ‘existential hour’ for Israel and Palestine
The UN rapporteur hit with sanctions by the US last week has vowed not to be silenced as she hailed a 30-nation conference aimed at ending Israel’s occupation of Palestine as “the most significant political development in the past 20 months”.
Francesca Albanese will say the two-day gathering in Bogotá, Colombia, starting on Tuesday and including China, Spain and Qatar, comes at “an existential hour” for Israel and the Palestinian people.
Continue reading...Military opposed to Gaza ‘humanitarian city’ plan, which a former Israeli PM has likened to a concentration camp
A feud has broken between the Israeli government and the military over the cost and impact of a planned camp for Palestinians in southern Gaza, as politicians criticised the former prime minister Ehud Olmert for warning that the project would create a “concentration camp” if it goes ahead.
The “humanitarian city” project has become a sticking point in ceasefire talks with Hamas. Israel wants to keep troops stationed across significant parts of Gaza, including the ruins of Rafah city in the south, where the defence minister, Israel Katz, says the camp will be built.
Continue reading...Ehud Olmert says forcing people into camp would be ethnic cleansing, and anger at Israel over Gaza war is not all down to antisemitism
The “humanitarian city” Israel’s defence minister has proposed building on the ruins of Rafah would be a concentration camp, and forcing Palestinians inside would be ethnic cleansing, Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert has told the Guardian.
Israel was already committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, Olmert said, and construction of the camp would mark an escalation.
Continue reading...Absence of French president makes it less likely there will be announcement of recognition of a Palestinian state
A UN summit on a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel – postponed by the Israel-Iran war – has been rescheduled for 28 and 29 July, but it is not expected that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, will attend, making it less likely that it will trigger a series of high-profile announcements on recognition of a Palestinian state.
Macron, who last week told UK parliamentarians a two-state solution was “the only way to build peace and stability for all in the whole region”, has been trying to build momentum for recognition of a state of Palestine by a wide group of countries, but the lack of movement in ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is making such decisions more complex.
Continue reading...Militant group has become adept at exploiting successful attacks – and now needs all the leverage it can get for talks
As Hamas intensifies its insurgent campaign against Israeli forces in Gaza, it is focusing on a new aim: capturing an Israeli soldier.
Last week, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sergeant was killed in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in an attempted abduction. Hamas militants also tried to take away the remains of 25-year-old Abraham Azulay but abandoned the effort when attacked by other Israeli forces.
Continue reading...