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Fighting in southern Syria following bombing kills 17: War monitor

Fighting in southern Syria following bombing kills 17: War monitor

A blast that killed eight children on Saturday in al-Sanamayn led to clashes between rival groups in Deraa, says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). A war monitor has said at least 17 people were killed in southern Syria’s Deraa province in violence triggered by an explosion a day earlier that killed a group of children. Deraa was the cradle of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s, rule but it returned to government control in 2018 under a ceasefire deal backed by Russia. The province has since been plagued by violence, with frequent clashes and precarious living conditions. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Sunday that an armed group led by a figure who previously worked for a Syrian state security agency had been accused by a rival group of planting an explosive device that went off on Saturday in the city of al-Sanamayn, killing eight children. On Sunday, a rival armed group led by a former member of ISIL (ISIS) who now works for military intelligence stormed part of al-Sanamayn and the two groups began clashing, the monitor said. The battle left 17 dead, among them a former ISIL member, 12 fighters, and a civilian killed by a stray bullet, SOHR said. The monitor, which added that clashes were ongoing on Sunday afternoon, had reported 12 dead in a previous toll. Syrian state media did not immediately report the clashes. Blast blamed on ‘terrorists’ Official news agency SANA, quoting a police source, gave a different toll for Saturday’s explosion, saying seven children were killed in the blast, which it blamed on “terrorists”. Attacks, some claimed by ISIL, regularly occur in Deraa province, as well as armed clashes and assassinations of government supporters, former opposition figures and civilians working for the government. Former rebels in the province who accepted the 2018 ceasefire deal sponsored by Russia – a key ally of Damascus – were able to keep their light weapons. In late January, SOHR said a local leader and seven other members of an ISIL affiliate were killed in clashes with local factions in the province. The war in Syria, which erupted in 2011 after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests, has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions, and ravaged the country’s economy and infrastructure. Adblock test (Why?)

Desperate Zelenskyy warns ‘Ukraine will lose the war’ if Congress does not send more aid

Desperate Zelenskyy warns ‘Ukraine will lose the war’ if Congress does not send more aid

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy implored the U.S. to approve more military funding for his country on Sunday, warning that Ukraine would “lose the war” without it. Zelenskyy predicted that if Ukraine falls, Russia will move to invade “other states” next. Republicans in Congress have held up further military payments to Ukraine for months, pointing to the well over $100 billion the U.S. has already sent. “It is necessary to specifically tell Congress that if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war,” Zelenskyy said in a video statement on Sunday. “If Ukraine loses the war, other states will be attacked,” he added. MCCONNELL PUTTING ‘MAIN PART OF MY FOCUS’ ON OPPOSING RUSSIA IN UKRAINE: ‘A WORLDWIDE PROBLEM FOR DEMOCRACIES’ Zelenskyy’s plea comes as Russia continues to launch waves of missile and drone attacks into Ukraine, killing civilians and soldiers alike. PUTIN ISSUES CHILLING WARNING AGAINST SENDING WESTERN TROOPS TO DEFEND UKRAINE Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies are drawing lines in the sand ahead of what is expected to be an intense inter-GOP battle over additional aid for Ukraine. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., put forward a funding plan late last month, but Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., is calling for any funding to Ukraine to be balanced with spending cuts elsewhere and for it to be paired with U.S. border policy changes. CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES MARK 20 YEARS IN NATO WITH FOCUS ON WAR IN UKRAINE “We cannot continue to borrow and spend money we don’t have for wars overseas while failing to protect Americans from the Biden border invasion here at home,” Good told Fox News Digital last week. “At a bare minimum, any package for military aid to Ukraine should be fully offset and must include H.R. 2 with performance metrics to secure our own border.” If the Ukraine funding legislation passes the House, it faces a clearer path through the Senate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has already established his support for additional help for Ukraine. Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Abbott vs Adams migrant feud rages on after invite to sleep at NY migrant shelter: ‘Gimmicks’

Abbott vs Adams migrant feud rages on after invite to sleep at NY migrant shelter: ‘Gimmicks’

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott responded to New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ previous comments that the Republican is “morally bankrupt” and using illegal immigrants as “political pawns” for bussing migrants from the border state to the Big Apple.  “He needs to step up and do his job as mayor and protect the people in his community as opposed to gimmicks about what’s going on on the border,” Abbott said on “Fox News Sunday.” The Texas governor is fresh off of a visit to New York City last week, where he headlined the New York Republican Party’s annual gala. Ahead of the visit, Adams invited Abbott to stay at a migrant shelter and learn how the city is handling the immigration crisis.  “I’m going to offer him a stay in one of the HERRCs so he can see what he has created and understand how we are treating people with the dignity and respect that he should have shown as well,” Adams said at a press conference when asked about Abbott’s trip to the city. HERRCs are relief centers in the city where migrants are housed.  ADAMS TOUTS NYC’S ABILITY TO ‘MANAGE’ MIGRANT CRISIS, OFFERS ABBOTT FREE STAY AT SHELTER DURING TRIP “I’m not quite sure why he’s here and what he’s doing while here, but he’s going to see how you can manage the crisis with the coordination of not one child of families sleeping on the streets of the city of New York,” Adams continued. “When we coordinate together, we should not displace problems to local municipalities. That is not what executives do. It is unfortunate that he made the decision to do that.” Roughly 180,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since 2022, after Abbott began bussing migrants in his state to liberal-leaning cities with sanctuary city laws on the books. The move has spurred Adams to previously claim Abbott is “morally bankrupt,” including in May of last year, and he has also said the Republican governor is using “migrants as political pawns.” Abbott reiterated his long-standing argument during his remarks at the Republican gala on Thursday that President Biden is the one to blame for the influx of illegal immigrants coming into the nation, and that Adams should direct his ire at the president.  CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA: MIGRANTS OVERWHELMING STATE WITH ‘NO END IN SIGHT,’ LOCAL OFFICIALS WARN “We made clear by contacting [Adams’] office, and said, ‘We’re not sending them to New York. That’s Joe Biden sending them to New York,’” Abbott said at the gala. “But the criticism kept coming, kept coming, kept coming, despite our denial. So after a while I figured, ‘Gosh, If I’m going to get the criticism, I want to get the credit.’ And thus began the bussing of illegal immigrants to the sanctuary city of New York City.” Fox News’ Martha Maccallum weighed in Sunday that “because of comments like that,” Adams has called Abbott “morally bankrupt and that you’re using these individuals as political pawns,” and asked the Republican governor to respond.  NEW YORK CITY BEGINS GIVING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS PREPAID DEBIT CARDS AS PART OF $53 MILLION PILOT PROGRAM “The person who is actually using illegal immigrants as political pawns is Joe Biden. Joe Biden has created this open border policy that has allowed illegal immigrants into our country to appeal to and to appease the far-leftist in the Democrat party… while at the same time destroying the country that he’s in charge of. He is the commander in chief in charge of national security for our country. Our country is being invaded in ways that put our country at risk because of the political games that Joe Biden has played,” he said.  Abbott said Adams is “aiding and abetting” Biden’s border policies with the city’s sanctuary status, while highlighting a handful of crime incidents in the city in recent weeks.  NYC MIGRANT SQUATTERS FOUND WITH DRUGS AND GUNS WERE PREVIOUSLY CAUGHT AT SOUTHERN BORDER AND RELEASED: ICE “He needs to stop talking boldly about illegal immigration and the migrants that Texas is sending there. And he needs to step up and do his own job, because look at the dangers in New York City under his watch. You have a police officer who was killed. You have the train system in New York, which is treacherous for travelers. You got police officers attacked in Times Square by illegal immigrants,” he said, before calling on the mayor to stop promoting political “gimmicks.” TEXAS GOV ABBOTT TRAVELS TO SANCTUARY CITY TO SAY HE WON’T STOP BUSSING IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS Abbott championed that illegal immigration “has gone down 72%” in Texas due to the state’s “resistance” to the Biden administration’s border policies, while other states sitting across from Mexico have seen illegal immigration continue to tick up. The state is in the middle of a legal battle to allow state police to arrest migrants suspected of entering the U.S. illegally. A federal appeals court heard opening arguments last week regarding whether a lower court correctly blocked the law, known as SB4, from staying in effect.  “We feel pretty good about this SB4, which is a law that authorizes Texas to make arrests. I feel good about us winning for this very simple reason: What Texas is doing is not in conflict with the laws of the United States of America. They are consistent and uphold the laws of the United States of America. There are laws on the books, passed by Congress, that require the president and the country to deny illegal entry, to detain anybody who comes into the country illegally and to build border barriers. While Joe Biden has abandoned that responsibility, Texas has embraced that duty,” he said. 

Bronx judge who let migrant squatters go free with no bail released suspects who beat up cop

Bronx judge who let migrant squatters go free with no bail released suspects who beat up cop

The Bronx judge who set loose six suspected migrant squatters arrested on drugs and weapons charges last week previously released two men who beat up a police officer.  Bronx Criminal Court Judge Eugene Bowen, a Democrat elected in 2023, released the six men against the wishes of prosecutors. One of the migrants, Hector Desousa-Villalta, 24, of Venezuela, had been arrested in August on attempted murder charges before the case fell apart.  Prosecutors had asked to hold Desousa-Villalta on $150,000 cash bail. But Bowen instead released him and five others without bail — and it’s not the first time he’s provoked controversy by doing so. In November, Bowen was the subject of a scathing New York Post editorial that blasted his decision to set free two men who were caught on video beating up a cop. The officer had asked the men to put out their cigarettes at the Freeman Street subway station, according to the NYPD. DHS ARRESTS 3 AT SUSPECTED NYC MIGRANT SQUATTER HOUSE LIVE ON CAMERA Kaream McClary, 23, and Izayiah Jessamy, 20, were arrested on assault charges for allegedly beating up Officer John Hernandez, the Post reported. Prosecutors requested bail set at $10,000 or $30,000 bond, but Judge Bowen released them without bail, court records showed.  At the time, the decision provoked outrage from Patrick Hendry, the president of the Police Benevolent Association union.  “This shows the absolutely upside down world we’re living in,” Hendry said in a statement to the Post.  “We need New Yorkers to start speaking up and demanding real consequences for those who assault cops,” he said. “Our streets and subways won’t be safe if the cops protecting them aren’t safe.” READ MORE OF FOX NEWS’ COVERAGE OF THE BORDER CRISIS Bowen was elected to the Civil Court of New York in 2022 and has served on the bench for a little more than a year. He was designated a judge on the Criminal Court of the City of New York, Bronx County, by Acting Chief Administrative Judge Tamiko Amaker in 2023. Prior to winning the election, Bowen was a criminal defense attorney for the Legal Aid Society. He graduated from the University of Miami School of Law in 2010.  “As a public defender with The Legal Aid Society of NYC, I fought tirelessly for my clients in trial courtrooms in every borough of NYC, and in the New York State appellate courts,” Bowen wrote in a survey for Ballotpedia.org. “I won dismissals of hundreds of cases, reversals of convictions obtained unlawfully, and I negotiated countless favorable dispositions that spared my clients jail, onerous probation or parole requirements, and the potential loss of employment, immigration status, parental rights or housing.”  “Most importantly, I made certain that my clients’ voices and concerns were heard, and their rights respected and protected,” he wrote. The eight migrants who appeared before Bowen last week were all charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance, and acting in a manner injurious to a child, police said. A 7-year-old child was found living in the home with the group. ICE AGENTS RECAPTURE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH RAPE WHO WAS RELEASED ONTO STREETS IN VIRGINIA The New York Police Department released photos of four guns, ammunition and bags of cocaine and ketamine that they found after officers were called last Wednesday to a multi-dwelling house for reports of a person with a gun. Police said that when they arrived on the scene, they saw Desousa-Villalta pointing a gun outside the premises. The officers chased and tackled Desousa-Villalta as another man, Javier Alborno, 22, also of Venezuela, tried to flee the scene with a handgun tucked under his arm, but officers cuffed him. Police confiscated the weapons.  Desousa-Villalta was let go on supervised release even though the Bronx District Attorney’s Office told Fox News it requested his bail be set at $150,000 cash or $450,000 bond. He was previously arrested in an attempted murder incident in August 2023, when he is alleged to have shot a fellow migrant in the leg during an argument over a woman in Yonkers. SUSPECTED MIGRANT SQUATTERS FOUND IN NYC APARTMENT WITH CHILD FACE GUN, DRUG CHARGES Alborno is being held after his bail was set at $100,000 cash — prosecutors had called for it to be set at $150,000. Also being held is 31-year-old Miquel Vaamondes-Barrios after his bail was set at $25,000. He is wanted for retail theft and shoplifting in both New York and Pennsylvania, according to police.  It is unclear why Barrios and Alborno were being held while the remaining migrants were let go on no-cash bail.  The remaining migrants released included one woman, 20-year-old Yoessy Pino Castillo, as well as Yerbin Lozado-Munoz, 25, Yojairo Martinez, 42, Jefferson Orlando Abreau, 39, and Johan Cardenas Silva, 35. All eight are reportedly accused of possessing the drugs with the intent to sell them. Former Assistant U.S. attorney Andrew McCarthy, a Fox News contributor, said the judge’s soft-on-crime approach is not surprising given how New York elects lower court judges. “In New York City, these elections tend to be low-turnout and dominated by progressive Democrats,” McCarthy told Fox News Digital. He observed that the same constituency elected District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a progressive reformer who has been repeatedly criticized for downgrading felony cases to misdemeanors.  “Progressive Democrats in New York City are the principal drivers of sanctuary city and criminal justice ‘reform’ policies,” McCarthy said. “Under the former, the city prohibits NYPD from cooperating with the feds in immigration case. Under the latter, serious criminals are routinely released instantly after arrest — New York is the only state in the country that does not permit judges to detain people pretrial on evidence that they pose a danger to the community.”  “This is why crime is up and quality of life is down in the city,” he added.