There is no defensibility in Russian intervention in Syria with the objective of propping up a tyrant, just so that Russia can keep its naval base there, and expand its hegemony over every part of Syria.
Right, like the U.S. did to Western European nations and Japan after World War II. Not. Instead, the U.S. rebuilt them into thriving and free countries.
But Russia invaded Ukraine to annex it into its tyranny. If that is not hegemonic intervention, then nothing is.
Only because it knows that it can't win there.
Russia only influences others to expand its tyranny. It has nothing else to offer.
The U.S. has freedom to offer.
Keyword collateral, while Russia/Syria intentionally bombs civilians, as was proven in eastern Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta, and will be proven even more horribly in the future annihilation of Idlib.
No, only Russia's economy is like a flea to the elephant of the American economy.
Because the Russian economy has been so poorly managed by Putin and his oligarch thugs.
All they do is plunder the natural-resource riches of the poor and lovely Russian people.
The Russian people need freedom.
It's the same in Iran. The poor and lovely Iranian people are ruled by a cabal of evil thugs.
The Iranian people need freedom.
It's no coincidence that Russia and Iran are allies. Tyrannies like to stick together.
No, for that would turn a simple, conventional loss into utter annihilation.
Sorry, my second installment was in progress. Will comply.Guys, if you want to debate, please start a new topic. Keep in mind the rules Handmaid for Jesus set for this topic.
Wayholka said in post #1440:
Guys, if you want to debate, please start a new topic.
jgr said in post #1443:
Sorry, my second installment was in progress. Will comply.
While the Israeli army was busy saving the lives of 800 members of the Syrian rescue organization "White Helmets" this weekend, the Russian-Iranian-backed Assad regime forces mercilessly pounded the last pockets of resistance in the Yarmouk Basin.
The Yarmouk Basin straddles the border with Israel and Jordan on the southern Golan Heights.
The heavy Russian bombardments on the local ISIS branch Jaish Khalid Ibn al-Walid were audible throughout north-eastern Israel and started on Saturday evening.
The London-based Syrian watchdog organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed the Russian air force carried out between 120 and130 airstrikes against the Islamic State affiliate which refused to be part of a new surrender agreement between the Assad regime and other Islamist rebel groups on the Golan Heights.
On Thursday, those rebels, members of the former Al-Qaeda branch Jabhat al-Nusra (today named Jabhat Fatah al-Sham), agreed to surrender terms dictated by the regime in Damascus and received a safe passage to the predominantly Sunni Arab province Idlib in northern Syria in return.
Others who wanted to stay in Kuneitra could do so by “settling their legal status” and by accepting terms dictated by Assad regime but almost all Jabhat Fatah al-Sham fighters preferred to leave.
Fifty five buses reportedly transported the roughly 4,000 rebels to Idlib, according to Assad’s mouthpiece SANA.
The surrender deal was brokered by the Russian military in Syria and preceded another agreement between Israel and Russia about a return to the situation which existed before the uprising against Assad started in 2011.
That deal was reportedly based on the Separation of Forces Agreement from May 1974 and includes a return of the 90th and the 61st brigade of the Syrian army to positions they held prior to 2011.
The governments of Israel and Russia formed working groups which studied issues like the deployment of Syrian and Israeli forces along the border on the Golan Heights and the re-instalment of demilitarized zones and no-man’s land.
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu initially pushed for a 40 kilometer-wide no-go zone for Iranian militias and the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights but failed to enlist Russian president Vladimir Putin for his political offensive against the Iranian presence in Syria.
Russia has its own agenda in Syria and Putin doesn’t see Iran as an adversary or a danger to other Middle Eastern countries if we are to believe Levan Dzhagaryan his ambassador to Iran.
Dzhagaryan, last week told the Russian paper Kommersant Iran’s presence in Syria is “legitimate” since it is there at Assad’s request.
“Iran is not a (small) country you can force it out. Iran is a big country that pursues an independent foreign policy. Working with Iranians can only be done through convincing. Pressuring Iran will have adverse effect,” Russia’s top diplomat in Iran said.
He added that Russia will do its best to avoid a war between Israel and Iran over the Iranian military build-up in Syria.
Netanyahu is apparently not convinced Russia will do enough to stop the Iranian encroachment on the Israeli Syrian border and again called Putin last Friday.
“Israel will continue to act against Iran's military entrenchment in Syria," Netanyahu reportedly told Putin but a commander of Assad’s army claimed “the Israelis had been forced into submission.”
The pro-Assad coalition, which includes the Lebanese Shiite terror organization Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed Shiite militias, is now pushing nearer to the Israeli border on the Golan Heights a move which endangers the lives of thousands of displaced Syrian citizens.
Those civilians, most of them opponents of the Assad regime, remain trapped in the area adjacent to the Israeli border in the assumption Israel will evacuate them as well.
“Refugees have set up tents just metres away from the Israeli-controlled Golan frontier, and early last week dozens risked walking over minefields to approach the border fence, some carrying white flags in an apparent attempt to cross to safety,” the Guardian in England reported Saturday.
Many of these displaced persons are opponents of the Assad-regime and they are “extremely nervous” according to a Syrian humanitarian aid worker in Quneitra.
“The numbers in Quneitra were very large, and the humanitarian situation was very difficult. There are no homes, people were staying in tents, and they were lucky if they found tents,” another Humanitarian aid worker interviewed by the Guardian said.
The English paper omitted that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have delivered large amounts of humanitarian aid to the refugees and are transferring wounded Syrians to Israeli hospitals.
Last week alone the IDF carried out six special operations to provide the trapped Syrian civilians approx 72 tons of food, 70 tents, 2,378 gallons of fuel, medicine & medical equipment, clothing & toys, according to the IDF’s spokesmen office.
The reality on the Golan Heights is “extremely complex” according to Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman who also spoke on the telephone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu.
The two ministers agreed that there’s a crucial need to continue the “military operation” and to be in contact on a senior level in the days ahead.
The latest news is that PM Netanyahu will unexpectedly meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin’s Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov in Jerusalem to discuss the situation on the Golan Heights where on Monday the IDF used its David Sling anti-rocket shield against two incoming rockets.
Israel rebuffed on Monday a new Russian offer to keep Iranian forces in Syria away from the Golan Heights ceasefire line, an Israeli official said, complicating Moscow's bid to stabilize the country amid a waning civil war.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the issue came up during a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a visiting Russian delegation led by Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
Netanyahu said a Russian offer to keep Iranian forces 100 km (62 miles) from the border was not enough, telling Lavrov "we will not allow the Iranians to establish themselves even 100 kilometers from the border."
Netanyahu meets with Lavrov (Photo: Haim Zach/GPO)
"The Russians are speaking about (the 100-km buffer zone) and are committed to it, but we said there are also long-range weapons beyond this zone, and all those forces must leave Syria," the official said.
Israel had previously turned down a proposal by Russia, the big-power backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, that Iranian forces be kept 80 km from the frontier, according to Israeli officials.
The Russian embassy in Israel tweeted that Lavrov and armed forces chief General Valery Gerasimov discussed with Netanyahu Assad's advance in southwest Syria and "issues related to Israel border security."
Another Israeli official described the meeting, which lasted for over two hours, as "an important meeting at a significant time in which we discussed the details of Iranian presence and activity in Syria, while presenting maps and intelligence materials, as we explained our policy to push Iran out of Syria."
The official said Israel will maintain full freedom of operations for the IDF, and detailed what the removal of Iran from Syria should entail: "First of all, all the long-range weapons must be removed from Syria; precise weapons production must be stopped; other strategic weapons, such as air defense, must be removed as well; the border crossings that allow the smuggling of these weapons must be closed, including on the Syrian-Lebanese border where weapons are smuggled into Lebanon, and the Iraqi-Syrian border through which weapons are smuggled from Iran into Syria itself."
PM Netanyahu, Defense Minister Lieberman, IDF Chief Eisenkot and other officials meet with the Russian delegation (Photo: Haim Zach/GPO)
Netanyahu announced earlier at a Cabinet meeting that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a few days ago requested the meeting with the high level delegation that also includes Russia's chief of the military's General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov.
Netanyahu said they will discuss regional developments with "the situation in Syria being first and foremost."
He said he will reiterate Israel's position that it expects Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Iranian-backed allies to honor the 1974 agreement which sets out a demilitarized zone along their shared frontier, and that Israel will continue to act to stop its archenemy Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria.
Israel's main concern is to keep Iran, which is fighting alongside Assad's forces, as far away from its border as possible—along with its proxy, the Lebanese Hezbollah and other militia.
Russia has warned it would be unrealistic to expect Iran to fully withdraw from the country. However, Moscow has said it wants to see the separation of forces on the frontier preserved. Lavrov's deputy, Grigory Karasin, told Russian media the foreign minister's trip was "urgent and important."
Monday's meeting comes about two weeks after Netanyahu and Putin discussed Syria and Iran in Moscow.
Hours before the meeting, Israel activated a missile defense system against rockets from the fighting in Syria it believed were heading its way.
The incident came after Israel earlier this month, twice in the same week, fired a Patriot missile at an unmanned aircraft that approached the country's border from Syria.
In June, Israel fired a missile at a drone that approached its airspace near the Syrian frontier.
WASHINGTON - A long-awaited Middle East peace plan from the Trump administration will include what the White House is calling a robust economic plan to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an official has said.
US President Donald Trump's envoys are also working on the most detailed set of proposals to date for the overall plan, the White House official said in a briefing with reporters on Monday.
The plan thus far has no release date. Trump had hoped to reveal it early this year but his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the embassy there, reversing decades of US policy, inflamed tensions in the region.
The Palestinians have said that they have lost faith in the Trump administration to act as a fair mediator and have boycotted the process since last December’s Jerusalem announcement.
The White House has offered few details on a peace plan that has drawn widespread skepticism even before its unveiling.
Trump's proposals are the product of shuttle diplomacy to regional capitals by senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, and Jason Greenblatt, a lawyer who is playing a role in the negotiations.
The two envoys have asked leaders in the region to outline for each issue an outcome that they could live with and that the other side could accept, the official said.
Past attempts by American presidents at negotiating peace between Israel and Palestine have fizzled based on differences over the status of Jerusalem and borders.
The Trump team has studied past efforts as a guidepost to the future, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official said the Trump plan would be the most detailed package of solutions ever offered and that some finishing touches were being put on the main proposals and economic plans.
A rollout strategy was being developed, the official said.
Trump had asked his team how the embassy announcement would affect peace negotiations. He was told it would cause some short-term disruption, but that long-term the prospects for peace would be improved, the official said.
Despite Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' refusal to engage on the subject, Trump's advisers expect the Palestinian leadership to read it and provide some realistic feedback and offer some proposals on how to improve it, the official said.
The stone that fell from the Western Wall earlier this week proves that Israel has devised a plan to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a spokesperson for the ruling Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claimed on Thursday.
An Israel Antiquities Authority crane on Wednesday removed the 200-kg. ashlar, which fell into the nearly-empty egalitarian plaza, also known as the “Ezrat Yisrael.” No one was hurt.
IAA archaeologists have yet to determine what caused the ancient stone to fall.
The Palestinians have since used the incident to revive their long-standing charge that Israel is planning to destroy al-Aqsa Mosque in order to rebuild the Third Temple.
Osama Qawassmeh, a spokesperson for Fatah, said on Thursday that the dislodging of the stone was a “dangerous sign of what was happening in the al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings” – a reference to the archaeological work that has been going on near the Temple Mount for decades in the site called the Davidson Center, the Jerusalem Archaeological Park.
“We affirm that al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings, including what is beneath it, are purely Islamic,” Qawassmeh said. “The Jews have no right to it.”
He said that visits by Jews to the Temple Mount, as well as Israeli archaeological excavations “beneath” the compound, which Palestinians call al-Haram ash-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), are a “crime against all religions and a blatant violation of the sanctity of the religion of Islam.”
In the past few years, Palestinians have been strongly condemning visits by Jewish groups to the Temple Mount and say that “extremist Jewish settlers and radicals are storming al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Accusing Israel of working towards turning the Israeli conflict into a religious conflict, Qawassmeh said that Israel’s actions “emboldened and encouraged blind religious extremism.”
He also accused the Israeli government of plotting to “bury any prospect of coexistence in the region.”
Jerusalem, he added, is “purely Arab and Palestinian, and there can be no peace and stability without ending Israel’s occupation of the city.”
Omar Kiswani, director of al-Aqsa Mosque, also weighed in on the fall of the boulder, claiming it was the direct result of Israeli archaeological excavations. The Israeli authorities banned officials of the Waqf Department in Jerusalem from examining the area where the stone fell, he said.
The incident, Kiswani said, confirms the Waqf Department’s assertions that Israel is carrying out dangerous archaeological excavation work in the area of the Temple Mount. He called for dispatching an international committee to the area to probe Israel’s actions.
Yusef Natsheh, director of Islamic Archeology and Tourism at the Haram al-Sharif, claimed that the dislodging of the boulder was “not casual.”
“This is a dangerous incident,” Natsheh said. “It was most likely pre-planned. This could have been a balloon test or experiment to determine the direction of the excavation working the thickness of the walls of al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Natsheh said that the Waqf Department in particular and Muslims in general were very concerned about this incident.
The Waqf Department said on Wednesday that it has formed a “crisis team” to follow up on the incident.
The Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, and heads of the Waqf Department recently claimed that ongoing Israeli archaeological excavations “endangered” al-Aqsa Mosque.
Waqf Department director Azzam Al-Khatib voiced “deep concern” over the excavation works. He claimed that Israel was seeking to connect a series of tunnels under the Temple Mount, especially in the area of the Jerusalem Archaeological Park’s Umayyad palaces.
Khatib called on UNESCO to send a team to investigate Israel’s actions near the holy site.
On Tuesday, Jordan’s government spokeswoman, Jumana Ghneimat, expressed her country’s “absolute rejection of the Israeli authorities’ moving of the stone.” She said that the move “constitutes an interference in the jurisdiction of the (Jordanian-controlled) Waqf Department, which is the national body that has authority over all the affairs of al-Aqsa Mosque/the Haram al-Sharif under international law.”
Ghneimat too called on the international community to pressure Israel to “stop its violations against the holy sites in Jerusalem.” The Israeli government, she added, bears full responsibility for the safety of al-Aqsa Mosque with its facilities.”
A day after Israel faced fire on both the Syrian and Gazan fronts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told recruits on Thursday that Israel “will do what is necessary to maintain our security, not just for the communities in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip but for the State of Israel.”
“We are conducting difficult fronts – both in the South and the North,” Netanyahu told the recruits to the Paratroop Brigade and the Border Police at the induction base at Tel Hashomer.
Asked particularly about the situation on the Gaza border after the five-day cease-fire was violated by Hamas sniper fire that wounded a soldier on Wednesday triggering a sharp Israeli response that killed three militants in Gaza, Netanyahu replied that Israel is in a campaign that “entails an exchange of blows, but in the end it is a test of willpower. We are exhausting every possibility, but we are very, very determined to defend our borders.”
Following IAF air strikes in Gaza, rocket sirens were heard multiple times in areas bordering the Gaza Strip overnight and early Thursday, as the IDF confirmed nine projectiles were fired at Israel from the coastal enclave. The IDF reported at least two were intercepted by Iron Dome batteries. The remainder fell in open areas, causing neither damages nor injuries.
The escalation of violence began late Wednesday when a Hamas sniper shot and injured an IDF officer who was evacuated to a nearby hospital. The IDF responded with a number of air strikes in Gaza.
During the course of the night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone consultation with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat to discuss developments in both Gaza and the North.
Egyptian officials and UN special envoy Nickolay Mladenov were busy again on Thursday trying to stave off an escalation in Gaza. Last weekend, both Egypt and the UN envoy reportedly prevented a wider Israeli-Hamas confrontation after a sniper attack from Gaza killed IDF soldier Aviv Levi, leading to the harshest Israeli attacks on Gaza since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Meanwhile, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj.-Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon, said in a message to the residents of the Gaza Strip that “Iran, by means of their terror organization in the Strip, is attempting to drag Gaza into a war at your expense.”
Writing on COGAT’s Arabic-language Facebook page “al-Muna Seq,” Rokon said the pro-Shi’ite organization “al-Tzabarin,” supported by Iran, was responsible for yesterday’s rocket fire, and that Iran is using that group to drag Gaza towards escalation. Iran has transferred funds via al-Tzabarin to finance the violent disturbances on the fence, in what has been termed “the Great March of Return.”
Public Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan told Kan radio: “It appears that we are getting close to a wider operation with Hamas – a situation where the IDF will need to embark on a wide-scale operation.”
“It is clear that after four years of quiet since Operation Protective Edge, residents are back in an unacceptable situation. There are rocket sirens at night and children in shelters,” he said. Erdan added that if Hamas does not get the message Israel is trying to send through its current level of response, then “we will have to return to a broad military operation that will exact a price, at least as much as Operation Protective Edge, if not more than that.”
Erdan also discussed the rockets from Syria that fell in the Sea of Galilee on Wednesday as part of the spillover from the Syrian Civil War, now taking place precariously near the Syrian-Israeli border on the Golan Heights.
Erdan stressed that Israel would not tolerate spillovers from the fighting in Syria and – as Netanyahu has stressed on numerous occasions – would not accept any Iranian presence in the Syria.
Erdan stressed Israel would respond to every incident on its borders, saying, “We must deal with chaos on our northern border.”
“When the Syrians are fighting against each other, there can be spillover. We must always respond. Our policy does not change whether it is a fighter jet or a rocket,” he said.
Israel hit the rocket launcher and shelled the area from where the rockets that fell into the Sea of Galilee were fired.
Tovah Lazaroff and Avraham Gold contributed to this report.
As residents of Gaza border communities were subjected to nine air sirens and the Israeli Air Force carried out strikes against the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night, both Israel and Hamas are eager to learn what the future holds.
Past agreements fell apart time after time, yet various international bodies are attempting to deescalate the situation.
Kite and balloon terror activities continue as Gaza attempts to continue their strategy that each action by the IDF will be met with a Hamas-led counter-action.
Twenty fires broke out in southern Israel on Wednesday and one fire erupted in Nir Am on Thursday morning. It was quickly extinguished by fire fighters.
Hamas political official Fathi Hamad stated that "the military wing members [of Hamas] are waiting for an order to attack the enemy." UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov held a meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday to discuss options to deescalate the situation.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said during a radio interview on Thursday to Kan radio that Israel is making "great strides" decision to launch a wide scale military operation in the Gaza Strip against Hamas.
Israel is making "great strides" toward a broad military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip , Minister of Public Security and Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan asserted Thursday, following an escalation of violence with Gaza overnight.
Erdan, speaking to Kan radio (Israel's public broadcaster), added that a possible military operation would extract a price from Hamas at least as great as 2014's Operation Protective Edge, "if not more than that."
"We are being dragged into a wider operation with Hamas. We are approaching with great strides— because of Hamas— a situation in which the IDF will have to embark on a wide-scale operation," said Erdan."
Rocket sirens were heard multiple times in areas bordering the Gaza Strip overnight and early Thursday, as the IDF confirmed nine projectiles were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. The IDF said at least two were intercepted by Iron Dome batteries and the remainder fell in open areas, causing neither damages nor injuries.
The escalation of violence began late Wednesday when a Hamas sniper shot and injured IDF officer, who was evacuated to a nearby hospital. The IDF responded with a number of airstrikes in Gaza, killing three militants there. During the course of the night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone consultation with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot and the head of the national security council to discuss developments in Gaza and the north.
"It is clear that after four years of quiet since Operation Protective Edge residents are back in an unacceptable situation; there are rocket sirens at night and children in shelters," Erdan said. " If Hamas does not understand [this] from [Israel's] waves of attack, we will have to return to a broad military operation that will exact a price, at least as much as Operation Protective Edge if not more than that."
Erdan also touched on the rocket fire near the Sea of Galilee and said that Israel would not tolerate spillovers from the Syrian Civil War and would not accept any Iranian presence in the Syria.
Erdan stressed Israel would respond to every incident on its borders, saying, "We must deal with chaos on our northern border."
"When the Syrians are fighting against each other, there can be spillover. We must always respond, our policy does not change whether it is a fighter jet or a rocket.
The army underlined a point that it will not accept any breaches of Israeli security on Wednesday after it struck Syria in response.
“The IDF will act against any attempt to harm the sovereignty of the State of Israel and the security of its residents,” the IDF said in a statement released Wednesday night.
The minister also rejected a recent proposal that Iranian forces in Syria be removed 100 kilometers from the border, noting the ministers agreed that no presence in Syria would be accepted. "No illegitimate Iranian force [is allowed] on Syrian soil," he said, "certainly from the moment it is clear the regime is regaining control there is no reason for Iran to be there."If it is to promote its radical Islamic revolution, there is consensus in the government not to allow an Iranian presence in Syria, period."
US President Donald Trump may have plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities as early as next month, senior Australian government sources said, according to a Thursday report, though Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he had “no reason” to believe a strike was imminent.
Sources said that Australian and British intelligence services would be involved in identifying targets for a strike, Australia’s ABC news reported.
However, the sources told the paper that Australia would not actively participate in an attack on Iran.
“Developing a picture is very different to actually participating in a strike,” a source told ABC.
“Providing intelligence and understanding as to what is happening on the ground so that the Government and allied governments are fully informed to make decisions is different to active targeting,” he said.
Turnbull appeared to reject the report, saying it was “speculation” and he had “no reason” to believe a strike was imminent.
“I saw a story today claiming that on the ABC, and citing senior Australian government sources,” he said. “It’s speculation, it is citing anonymous sources.”
He said that the ABC report information did not come from any of the relevant senior government officials.
“President Trump has made his views very clear to the whole world, but this story … has not benefited from any consultation with me, the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister or the Chief of the Defense Force,” he said.
Australia and the UK partner with the US in the “Five Eyes” intelligence program, along with Canada and New Zealand, though the latter are unlikely to play any role in an attack on Iran, the sources told ABC.
On Sunday Trump issued an intense warning against Tehran, threatening that it would “suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever seen before.”
The response came after Rouhani earlier Sunday issued his own warning to the US leader not to “play with the lion’s tail,” saying that conflict with Iran would be the “mother of all wars.”
However, Trump tempered the threat Tuesday, saying “we’re ready to make a real deal” with Iran.
The back-and-forth came after the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal forged under former President Barack Obama.
The move sets in motion a renewal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic that were removed once the landmark accord was implemented in January 2016.
Those sanctions are now set to be reimposed in November, causing more than 50 international firms to exit the Iranian market, according to State Department policy and planning director Brian Hook.
Violent riots along the Gaza border continued in several locations on Friday afternoon, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
According to the statement, some 7,000 Palestinian Arabs took part in the riot, throwing rocks and burning tires at IDF forces and at the fence. During the day, tear gas canisters and a grenade were thrown towards the forces, exploding inside Gaza.
IDF troops identified a number of suspects who approached the security fence, sabotaged it and returned to Gaza. The forces responded with riot dispersal methods and also opened fire demonstrations in accordance with the rules of engagement.
“IDF forces are deployed along the border fence and are prepared for a variety of scenarios,” the IDF statement said.
Meanwhile, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claimed that Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian Arab teenager during clashes along the Gaza border.
The 14-year-old, who was not named, died during border confrontations east of Rafah in southern Gaza, the second Palestinian to be killed on Friday, the ministry said, according to AFP.
Since March 30, Arabs have been holding weekly violent riots along the Gaza border and have been using kites and balloons with explosives attached in order to set fire to Israeli property.
The thousands of balloons and kites carrying incendiary and makeshift explosive devices have sparked hundreds of fires and caused millions of dollars in property damage inside Israel.
The so-called “March of the Return” protests have been openly encouraged by Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers.
(AFP Photo/Youssef Karwashan)
The Syrian government regained control of the frontier with the Israel’s Golan Heights for the first time in seven years on Monday, after Islamic State-linked militants gave up their last pocket of territory in the area.
The breakthrough against the militants, reported by state media and an opposition-linked war monitoring group, capped a six-week-long bloody campaign to retake the southwest corner of the country.
The Syrian government regained control of the frontier with the Israel’s Golan Heights for the first time in seven years on Monday, after Islamic State-linked militants gave up their last pocket of territory in the area.
The breakthrough against the militants, reported by state media and an opposition-linked war monitoring group, capped a six-week-long bloody campaign to retake the southwest corner of the country.
Rebels captured the area along the Golan Heights after a popular uprising broke out against Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2011. An IS-linked outfit known as the Khaled bin Al-Waleed Army later seized the area from the opposition fighters.
The Syrian government regained control of the frontier with the Israel’s Golan Heights for the first time in seven years on Monday, after Islamic State-linked militants gave up their last pocket of territory in the area.
The breakthrough against the militants, reported by state media and an opposition-linked war monitoring group, capped a six-week-long bloody campaign to retake the southwest corner of the country.
Rebels captured the area along the Golan Heights after a popular uprising broke out against Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2011. An IS-linked outfit known as the Khaled bin Al-Waleed Army later seized the area from the opposition fighters.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants surrendered control of the Yarmouk Basin in southwestern Syria on Monday.
Syrian fighters dance and wave the national flag as they celebrate the return of government authority to the southern town of Quneitra, adjacent to the Golan Heights, July 27, 2018. (AP Photo)
Israel took control of 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of the Golan from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized internationally.
The region is strategically important for Syria because it also controls a key highway from the Jordanian border to the capital Damascus.
UN peacekeeping forces first deployed along the frontier in 1974 to separate Syrian and Israeli forces.
Israel has largely kept to the sidelines of the Syrian civil war, but has said it will not allow Iran or the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah to establish a permanent military presence near the frontier. Both are allied with Assad and have provided crucial military support to his forces.
Israel has also called for the 1974 disengagement agreement between it and Syria to be upheld and warned Syrian forces against entering the demilitarized buffer zone along the Golan Heights border.
Government forces pressed ahead with their offensive despite threats by the Islamic State group to kill civilians it recently captured in a nearby province.
The extremists abducted around 18 people, mostly women, in a wave of attacks in the nearby province of Sweida last Wednesday that killed more than 200 people.
On Saturday, the group released a hostage video of a woman saying she was being held along with other women from Sweida. The woman said she would be freed if the government halted its offensive against the militants and released IS detainees. She said she was being threatened with death if the government pressed its offensive.
The Sweida 24, an activist collective in Sweida, said IS sent the photos of 14 women they are holding to their relatives, saying they want to negotiate over them.
Sweida 24 said IS is believed to be holding 30 people, including 20 women whose ages range between 18 to 60. It said IS is also believed to be holding 16 young boys and girls.
The activist group said the bodies of two women were found near the village of Shabki, a focus of Wednesday’s attack. One had been shot in the head and the other, an elderly woman, apparently died of exhaustion. Four other women were found alive hiding in a cave, it said.
Those abducted are members of the minority Druze sect. The Druze, followers of an esoteric offshoot of Islam, have kept their own local militias in the area. The Sunni Muslim extremists of IS view them as apostates, and have a history of abducting members of other religious minorities and keeping women as sex slaves.
Until Wednesday, Sweida, home to a predominantly Druze community, had largely been spared from Syria’s seven-year-long civil war.
IS has been driven from virtually all the territory it once controlled in Syria and Iraq, but holds scattered pockets in southern Syria and along the border.
The Observatory said an estimated 1,200 IS-linked fighters agreed to give up their pockets near the Golan Heights on Monday. Their fate was unclear.
More than 350,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted seven years ago, but repeated global efforts at bringing about a negotiated solution have failed to stem the bloodshed.
The Trump Administration imposed sanctions on Turkish officials Wednesday over the imprisonment of a US pastor Wednesday.
“Pastor [Andrew] Brunson’s unjust detention and continued prosecution by Turkish officials is simply unacceptable,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “President Trump has made it abundantly clear that the United States expects Turkey to release him immediately.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters: “We’ve seen no evidence that Pastor Brunson has done anything wrong and we believe he is a victim of unfair and unjust attention by the government of Turkey”
According to Bloomberg News, the Trump Administration compiled a list of individuals and institutions in Turkey to sanction if Pastor Andrew Brunson and other Americans are not freed.
The sanctions are based on the US sanctions in effect against Russia as well as associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Turkish lira dropped sharply in value in response to reports of the impending sanctions.
Last Thursday, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose economic sanctions on Turkey if Pastor Brunson was not released.
“The United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson, a great Christian, family man and wonderful human being. He is suffering greatly. This innocent man of faith should be released immediately!” he tweeted.
Trump reportedly asked the Israeli government to release a Turkish citizen accused of aiding the Hamas terrorist organization as part of a deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyp Erdogan to secure Brunson's release.
The president was reportedly furious when Erdogan refused to hold up his end of the deal.
The Turkish government has threatened to retaliate if the US imposes sanctions.
A spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Tuesday his country will retaliate against any U.S. sanctions over the trial of a Christian pastor on terrorism charges, according to Reuters.
At the same time the spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, also said he expects the two countries to resolve their differences through diplomacy.
Kalin added the foreign ministers of the two countries, who are attending a meeting in Singapore, will hold talks this week.
Relations between Turkey and the United States have spiralled into a full-blown crisis over the trial of American pastor Andrew Brunson, who was in custody for 21 months in a Turkish prison until he was transferred to house arrest last week.
In a tweet on Thursday, Trump threatened to impose economic sanctions on Turkey over its refusal to release American pastor Andrew Brunson who has been detained in the country for more than year.
“The United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson, a great Christian, family man and wonderful human being. He is suffering greatly. This innocent man of faith should be released immediately!” he tweeted.
Hours after Trump’s tweet, Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu fired back at Trump in a tweet of his own.
“No one dictates [to] Turkey. We will never tolerate threats from anybody. Rule of law is for everyone; no exception,” he stated.
On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded to Trump and clarified that Turkey will stand its ground.
The United States would be losing a strong and sincere partner if it does not change this attitude, Erdogan added.
On Monday, Turkey’s National Security Council responded to Trump’s threats, saying the United States’ use of threatening language against Turkey “is unacceptable and disrespectful” given the ties between the two allies.
LONDON - Iranian lawmakers have given President Hassan Rouhani one month to appear before parliament to answer questions on his government's handling of Iran's economic struggles, state media reported on Wednesday.
It is the first time parliament has summoned Rouhani, who is under pressure from hardline rivals to change his cabinet following a deterioration in relations with the United States and Iran's growing economic difficulties.
Lawmakers want to question Rouhani on topics including the rial's decline, which has lost more than half its value since April, weak economic growth and rising unemployment, according to semi-official ISNA news agency.
Rouhani, a pragmatist who reduced tensions with the West by striking a nuclear deal in 2015, is facing a growing backlash since US President Donald Trump pulled out from the pact in May and said he will reimpose sanctions that seek to throttle Iran’s economy, including its lifeblood oil exports.
ISNA said lawmakers also want Rouhani to explain why, more than two years after the landmark deal, Iranian banks still have only limited access to global financial services.
The nuclear accord curbed Iran's nuclear program in return for lifting most international sanctions.
Rouhani's summons coincides with further shows of public discontent. A number of protests have broken out in Iran since the beginning of the year over high prices, water shortage, power cuts, and alleged corruption in the Islamic Republic.
On Tuesday, hundreds of people rallied in cities across the country, including Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz and Ahvaz, in protest against high inflation caused in part by the weak rial.
Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani was quoted by state television as saying that Rouhani will have one month to attend a parliamentary session and address the issues.
Trump says he would meet with Iran's leaders without preconditions, July 31, 2018 (Reuters)
Rouhani canceled an interview on state television last week, a move that seems to have encouraged many lawmakers to question him about his economic records in the parliament.
The government had managed in previous years to cancel calls for questioning Rouhani in parliament by convincing lawmakers to withdraw their questions. It seems such lobbying efforts by the government have failed this time.
Although 80 lawmakers submitted their questions for Rouhani, a Rouhani ally, vice president for parliamentary affairs Hosseinali Amiri, called the process "unconstitutional."
"Some lawmakers, who were convinced to take back their questions, were encouraged by other members of parliament to submit the questions again," Amiri was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
"MAXIMUM SHAKE-UP"
Trump said on Monday that he would be willing to meet Rouhani without preconditions to discuss how to improve relations, but senior Iranian officials and military commanders rejected the offer as worthless and "a dream."
Addressing Washington, Hesamoddin Ashna, a Rouhani advisor, said in a tweet on Wednesday that "You launched an economic war against us by imposing sanctions. First stop this war and then ask for talks. Without preconditions means without sanctions."
Rouhani appointed a new central bank governor last week and accepted the government spokesman's resignation on Tuesday, suggesting he accepts a need to reshuffle his economic team.
In a separate letter to Rouhani on Wednesday, 193 lawmakers welcomed these changes "as a good starting point" and asked for the "maximum shake-up" in the government.
Minister of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei has also been summoned by lawmakers, state media said, and he has 10 days to defend his efforts to tackle unemployment.
In a letter to the head of judiciary, about 200 lawmakers called for "firm punishment of the economic disruptors" who they said had caused market volatility in order to generate income.
Tehran police chief General Hossein Rahimi said on Tuesday that 35 people had been arrested in recent days for disrupting the foreign exchange and gold coin market.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic U.S. senators introduced legislation on Thursday to impose stiff new sanctions on Russia and combat cyber crime, the latest effort by lawmakers to punish Moscow over interference in U.S. elections and its activities in Syria and Ukraine.
The bill includes restrictions on new Russian sovereign debt transactions, energy and oil projects and Russian uranium imports, and new sanctions on Russian political figures and oligarchs.
It also expresses strong support for NATO and would require that two-thirds of the Senate to vote in favor of any effort to leave the alliance.
Russian markets reacted quickly to the measure, with the rouble slumping toward two-week lows.
“The current sanctions regime has failed to deter Russia from meddling in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the measure’s lead sponsors. Earlier this week, Graham had told reporters he planned a “sanctions bill from hell” to punish Russia.
Congress passed a Russia sanctions bill last summer but some lawmakers chafed at what they saw as President Donald Trump’s reluctance to implement it; he signed it only after Congress passed it with huge majorities.
Several provisions of the measure introduced on Thursday sought to toughen that law.
Democratic Senator Bob Menendez said the administration had not fully complied with those sanctions.
“This bill is the next step in tightening the screws on the Kremlin and will bring to bear the full condemnation of the United States Congress so that Putin finally understands that the U.S. will not tolerate his behavior any longer,” Menendez said.
Republicans and Democrats united last month in repudiating Trump’s failure to publicly condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for interfering in the 2016 U.S. elections. Still, Congress failed to pass anything before lawmakers left Washington for their weeks-long summer recess.
The latest measure’s prospects were not immediately clear.
It would have to pass both the Senate and House of Representatives and be signed by Trump to become law.
Aides to the Senate’s Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, referred questions about the bill to the Senate Banking Committee. A committee spokeswoman said she had no details on what measures the panel might consider.
McConnell said last month Senate committees should hold hearings on legislation to stop Russia from future election meddling.
Both the Banking and Foreign Relations Committees have since scheduled hearings relating to Russia.
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