Israel says strikes Syria to shield Druze as clashes spread

Update Israel says strikes Syria to shield Druze as clashes spread
Syria’s new Islamist government security forces stand guard on the road leading to the airport, in the Damascus’ suburb of Jaramana on Apr. 29, 2025, following overnight sectarian clashes between Druze and Syria’s new government fighters. (AFP)
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Updated 30 April 2025
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Israel says strikes Syria to shield Druze as clashes spread

Israel says strikes Syria to shield Druze as clashes spread
  • Netanyahu said Israel “carried out a warning action and struck the organization of an extremist group preparing to attack the Druze population” in Sahnaya
  • State news agency SANA, citing the health ministry, said 11 people were killed and an unspecified number wounded “after outlaw groups targeted civilians and security forces“

DAMASCUS: Israel struck the Syrian Arab Republic on Wednesday in what it called a “warning” against attacks on the Druze minority, in a military intervention that came as sectarian clashes spread near Damascus.
The sectarian violence, and Israel’s intervention, present huge challenges to the Islamist authorities who overthrew longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December, and follow massacres last month in Syria’s Alawite coastal heartland.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “carried out a warning action and struck the organization of an extremist group preparing to attack the Druze population” in Sahnaya.
Deadly sectarian clashes erupted overnight in Sahnaya, a town home to people from Syria’s Druze and Christian minorities southwest of the capital.
Israel had previously warned Syria’s Islamist rulers against harming the Druze, who follow an offshoot of Islam and make up about three percent of Syria’s population.
“A stern message was conveyed to the Syrian regime — Israel expects them to act to prevent harm to the Druze community,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
State news agency SANA, citing the health ministry, said 16 people were killed and an unspecified number wounded “after outlaw groups targeted civilians and security forces” in the Sahnaya area overnight.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said two local fighters were killed in Sahnaya during “clashes between gunmen linked to the authorities and local Druze fighters.”
The night before, 13 people including eight Druze fighters and nine gunmen linked to the authorities were killed in Jaramana, a mainly Druze and Christian suburb southeast of the capital, the Observatory said.
Jaramana and Sahnaya are surrounded by Sunni-majority areas.
The violence was sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze citizen and deemed blasphemous.
AFP was unable to confirm the recording’s authenticity.
In Sahnaya, activist Samer Rafaa said that “we didn’t sleep... right now mortar shells are falling on our homes.”
“The authorities are absent... we beg them to do their part,” Rafaa told AFP, adding that “people are dying.”
The interior ministry said authorities would “strike with an iron first all those who seek to destabilize Syria’s security,” SANA reported.
It said security forces launched an operation to arrest “outlaw gangs” in the area.
Syria’s new Islamist authorities, who have roots in the Al-Qaeda jihadist network, have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country but must also contend with pressures from radical Islamists within their ranks.
Israel, which sees Syria’s new forces as jihadists, has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria since Assad’s downfall and ground incursions to keep forces away from its border.
It has also sent troops into the demilitarised buffer zone of the Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights and voiced support for Syria’s Druze.
The Druze are mainly divided between Lebanon, Israel and Syria.
Key Syria backer Turkiye has accused Israel of stirring up divisions and turning minorities against Damascus.
Citing a security source, SANA said that “outlaw groups” in Sahnaya attacked a checkpoint overnight while other groups fired at vehicles elsewhere.
The Observatory also said Druze gunmen targeted checkpoints, adding a curfew was imposed and local officials discussed ways to restore calm.
Druze fighter Karam, declining to provide his full name due to the security situation, told AFP that clashes began outside Sahnaya “and spread to its outskirts.”
“The sound of fighting has not stopped since last night,” said Karam, 27, as gunfire rang out in the background, adding that “there is a body on the road ahead of me... restoring calm will require great effort.”
Information ministry official Ali Al-Rifai told journalists the dead included five security personnel targeted by “sniper” fire.
The six others, from the southern province of Daraa, were inside a vehicle that was targeted, Rifai added.
Armed factions were dissolved and have been integrating into the defense ministry after Assad’s ouster.
General Security, formerly the chief security agency in rebel-held northwest Syria, is now the most influential such body.
In Jaramana, calm returned on as Syria’s government promised Druze leaders to try those responsible for the violence, which it blamed on “gunmen.”
An AFP photographer said mourners raised Druze flags at the funeral Wednesday for seven fighters from Jaramana.
Druze representatives have declared their loyalty to a united Syria amid Israeli warnings.
Last month’s massacres on the coast, where the Observatory said security forces and allied groups killed more than 1,700 civilians, mostly Alawites, were the worst bloodshed since the December ouster of Assad, who is from the minority community.
The government accused Assad loyalists of sparking the violence by attacking security forces, and has launched an inquiry


Lufthansa group suspends Tel Aviv flights following Houthi attacks on Israel

Lufthansa group suspends Tel Aviv flights following Houthi attacks on Israel
Updated 15 May 2025
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Lufthansa group suspends Tel Aviv flights following Houthi attacks on Israel

Lufthansa group suspends Tel Aviv flights following Houthi attacks on Israel
  • Airline group Lufthansa will suspend its flights to Tel Aviv through May 25

BERLIN: Airline group Lufthansa will suspend its flights to Tel Aviv through May 25, it said on Thursday, citing the “current situation.”
This affects flights operated by Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings, ITA Airways, Brussels Airlines and Lufthansa Cargo, it added.
Global airlines have again halted their flights to and from Tel Aviv after a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis toward Israel on May 4 landed near the country’s main international airport in Tel Aviv.


Jordan evacuates second group of cancer patients from Gaza

Jordan evacuates second group of cancer patients from Gaza
Updated 15 May 2025
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Jordan evacuates second group of cancer patients from Gaza

Jordan evacuates second group of cancer patients from Gaza

AMMAN: Jordan’s government on Wednesday began evacuating four child cancer patients and 12 family members from Gaza.

They are the second group of patients evacuated for treatment under the Jordan Medical Corridor initiative, started in March this year, that aims to treat 2,000 Gazan children.

The children and their families were evacuated by the Royal Jordanian Air Force in cooperation with the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health.

They will be treated at the King Hussein Cancer Center.

The first evacuees were 29 children and 44 family members. Seventeen of these children have since returned to Gaza with their families after completing their treatment.


Trump says US close to a nuclear deal with Iran

Trump says US close to a nuclear deal with Iran
Updated 15 May 2025
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Trump says US close to a nuclear deal with Iran

Trump says US close to a nuclear deal with Iran
  • Trump says the US is in serious negotiations with Iran to reach a long-term peace

DUBAI: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms.

“We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by AFP.

“We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this... there (are) two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don’t want to do it the second way,” he said.

An Iranian source familiar with the negotiations said there were still gaps to bridge in the talks with the United States.

Fresh talks between Iranian and US negotiators to resolve disputes over Tehran’s nuclear program ended in Oman on Sunday with further negotiations planned, officials said, as Tehran publicly insisted on continuing its uranium enrichment.

Though Tehran and Washington have both said they prefer diplomacy to resolve the decades-long nuclear dispute, they remain divided on several red lines that negotiators will have to circumvent to reach a new deal and avert future military action.

Iran’s president reacted to Trump’s comments on Tuesday calling Tehran the “most destructive force” in the Middle East.

“Trump thinks he can sanction and threaten us and then talk of human rights. All the crimes and regional instability is caused by them (the United States),” Masoud Pezeshkian said.

“He wants to create instability inside Iran.”

US officials have publicly stated that Iran should halt uranium enrichment, a stance Iranian officials have called a “red line” asserting they will not give up what they view as their right to enrich uranium on Iranian soil.

However, they have indicated a willingness to reduce the level of enrichment.

Iranian officials have also expressed readiness to reduce the amount of highly enriched uranium in storage— uranium enriched beyond the levels typically needed for civilian purposes, such as nuclear power generation.

However, they have said it would not accept lower stockpiles than the amount agreed in a deal with world powers in 2015 — the deal Trump quit.

The Iranian source said that while Iran is prepared to offer what it considers concessions, “the issue is that America is not willing to lift major sanctions in exchange.”

Western sanctions have severely impacted the Iranian economy.

Regarding the reduction of enriched uranium in storage, the source noted: “Tehran also wants it removed in several stages, which America doesn’t agree with either.”

There is also disagreement over the destination to which the highly enriched uranium would be sent, the source added. 


54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says

54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says
Updated 15 May 2025
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54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says

54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says
  • Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people
  • There had been hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza

KHAN YOUNIS: A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.
An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people. The hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed.
It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children.
The strikes come as US President Donald Trump visits the Middle East, visiting Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.


Trump heads to UAE as it hopes to advance AI ambitions

Trump heads to UAE as it hopes to advance AI ambitions
Updated 15 May 2025
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Trump heads to UAE as it hopes to advance AI ambitions

Trump heads to UAE as it hopes to advance AI ambitions
  • A string of business agreements has been inked during Trump’s four-day swing through the Gulf region

DOHA: US President Donald Trump was due to end a brief trip to Qatar with a speech to US troops on Thursday then fly to the United Arab Emirates, where leaders hope for US help to make the wealthy Gulf nation a global leader in artificial intelligence.

The US has a preliminary agreement with the UAE to allow it to import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips a year, starting this year, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The deal would boost the country’s construction of data centers vital to developing artificial intelligence models.

A string of business agreements has been inked during Trump’s four-day swing through the Gulf region, including a deal for Qatar Airways to purchase up to 210 Boeing widebody jets, a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and $142 billion in US arms sales to the Kingdom.

The trip has also brought a flurry of diplomacy. Trump made a surprise announcement on Tuesday that the US will remove longstanding sanctions on Syria and subsequently met with Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.

On Thursday, Trump will address US troops at the Al Udeid Air Base, which is in the desert southwest of Doha and hosts the largest US military facility in the Middle East. He then flies to Abu Dhabi to meet with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other leaders.

AI is likely to be a focus for the final leg of Trump’s trip.

Former President Joe Biden’s administration had imposed strict oversight of exports of US AI chips to the Middle East and other regions. Among the Biden administration’s fears were that the prized semiconductors would be diverted to China and buttress Beijing’s military strength.

Trump has made improving ties with some Gulf countries a key goal of his administration. If all the proposed chip deals in Gulf states, and the UAE in particular, come together, the region would become a third power center in global AI competition after the United States and China.

Trump had dangled the possibility of making a side trip to Turkiye to join Russia-Ukraine talks before returning to Washington, but a US official said on Wednesday that the president would not make that stop.