Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author: shailender

Israel attacks on Syria: What happened, who did Israel claim it was after?

Israel attacks on Syria: What happened, who did Israel claim it was after?

On Friday, Israel killed at least 13 people, including two children, in the Damascus countryside town of Beit Jinn. The latest air raids came after locals tried to repel an Israeli military incursion into Beit Jinn, leading to clashes. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Israel claimed it was going after members of the Jamaa al-Islamiya, Lebanon’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, rubbishing the Israeli claim, the group said it was not active outside Lebanon. Here’s everything you need to know about the attack in Beit Jinn and the context behind it. What happened? The Israeli army’s 55th Reserve Brigade raided Beit Jinn in the early hours of Friday morning, ostensibly to take three Syrians who live there, claiming they were members of Jamaa al-Islamiya and that they posed a “danger to Israel”. However, the incursion did not go to plan. Locals resisted, and six Israeli soldiers were wounded in the resulting clashes, three of them seriously, according to the Israeli army. Israel then sent in its warplanes. “We were asleep when we were woken up at three in the morning by gunfire,” Iyad Daher, a wounded resident, told the AFP news agency from al-Mouwasat Hospital in Damascus. “We went outside to see what was happening and saw the Israeli army in the village, soldiers and tanks,” Daher said. “Then they withdrew, the air force came – and the shells started falling.” This was the deadliest of Israel’s more than 1,000 strikes on Syria since the fall of the Assad regime Why were Israeli forces in Syria? This was not the first time Israel raided Syrian territory. Advertisement Israeli officials and government-aligned media say Israel can no longer respect its enemies’ borders or allow “hostile” groups along its borders after the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and Israel has sought to use force in other countries to create buffer zones around itself, in the Gaza Strip, Syria and Lebanon. Since the fall of the Assad regime last December, Israel has launched frequent air raids across Syria and ground incursions in its south. It set up numerous checkpoints in Syria and detained and disappeared Syrian citizens from Syrian territory, holding them illegally in Israel. It invaded the buffer zone that separated the two countries since they signed the 1974 disengagement agreement, setting up outposts around Jabal al-Sheikh (Mount Hermon in English). The new Syrian government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, said it would abide by the 1974 agreement. Israel occupied the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967. A demilitarised zone was later established, but when President Bashar al-Assad was ousted, and his army was in shambles, Israel invaded to take outposts on Syrian-controlled land. What did the Syrian government say? That the attack is a war crime. The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement, condemning “the criminal attack carried out by an Israeli occupation army patrol in Beit Jinn. The occupation forces’ targeting of the town of Beit Jinn with brutal and deliberate shelling, following their failed incursion, constitutes a full-fledged war crime.” What is Israel claiming? Israel’s public broadcaster said the operation was an “arrest raid” targeting Jamaa al-Islamiya members. An Israeli army spokesperson said three people linked to the group were “arrested”. Israel claims the group is operating in southern Syria to “recruit terrorists” and plays a role in what it calls the “northern front” – Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid reported from Syria that Israel has yet to offer any proof of the claim that the people it was after were involved with the group. What is Jamaa al-Islamiya? The group is the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It was founded in 1956 and has a stable presence in Lebanon, though it has never been as popular as some of its regional counterparts. It has one member of parliament and was historically aligned with the Future Movement, founded by former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. However, the group moved closer to Iran and Hezbollah politically in recent years. Its armed wing, the Fajr Forces, took part in some operations against Israel in 2023-24. Advertisement After Israel’s claims that it was involved in southern Syria, the group released a statement on Friday stating that it was “surprised” Israeli media had involved it in what happened in Beit Jinn. Denouncing the attack, it said it conducts “no activities outside Lebanon”. The group added that it has abided by and committed to the ceasefire agreement from November 2024 between Lebanon and Israel. Has Israel claimed it was attacking this group before? Yes. In March 2024, Israel attacked al-Habbariyeh in southern Lebanon, killing seven emergency relief volunteers. It claimed the attack targeted a member of the group, calling him a “significant terrorist”. However, the alleged target was never named, the director of the Lebanese Emergency and Relief Corps’ Ambulance Association told Al Jazeera. Adblock test (Why?)

Is US President Donald Trump preparing to strike Venezuela?

Is US President Donald Trump preparing to strike Venezuela?

United States President Donald Trump declared on Saturday that Venezuelan airspace had been “closed”, without offering any further details, spiking tensions between Washington and Caracas amid months of military build-up in the Caribbean. Venezuela has accused the US of a “colonialist threat” in Latin America, as millions of people in the country remain on edge. President Nicolas Maduro had earlier warned that Washington was fabricating claims as a pretext to justify military intervention in Venezuela. Venezuela has been conducting regular drills over the past few weeks and has announced a large-scale mobilisation in preparation for any possible attack. The Trump administration has deployed massive naval assets in the Southern Caribbean since launching a series of strikes on alleged drug boats in early September. Washington has not provided any proof that the targeted boats were involved in drug trafficking. At least 83 people have been killed in those attacks. Ramping up pressure on Maduro last week, Washington designated what is known among Venezuelans as the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns in English, as a “foreign terrorist organization”. The Trump administration says it is targeting Venezuela as part of a push to combat drug trafficking. However, political analysts and human rights observers warn Washington against laying the groundwork to unlawfully remove Maduro from power. So, will Trump strike Venezuela after announcing the closure of Venezuelan airspace? Can the US military action be legally justified? And what is driving Trump’s hostile policy against Maduro? Will the US go to war against Venezuela? Since returning to power in January, Trump has ramped up rhetoric against Maduro, blaming Caracas for drug trafficking and the flow of immigrants from Venezuela. Advertisement Within a few weeks into his second term, Trump nixed Venezuelan oil concessions granted by his predecessor, Joe Biden, imposed 25 percent tariffs on countries buying oil from Venezuela, and doubled the reward for the arrest of Maduro to $50m, designating him a “global terrorist leader”. In recent weeks, Trump confirmed that he has authorised the CIA to carry out secret operations in Venezuela, as his administration deployed the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, other warships, thousands of troops, and F-35 stealth jets to the Caribbean. Last Thursday, Trump said land strikes inside the country could come imminently. Amid heightened military tensions, Trump reportedly spoke with Maduro last week, as per reporting by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, before sanctions against Cartel de los Soles came into effect. On November 25, Trump, on board Air Force One, was asked by reporters if he planned on speaking with Maduro. “I might talk to him. We’ll see. But we’re discussing that with the different staffs. We might talk,” Trump told reporters. When asked why Trump wants to talk to a leader of the designated “foreign terrorist organization”, he took the moral high ground. “If we can save lives, we can do things the easy way, that’s fine. And if we have to do it the hard way, that’s fine, too,” he replied. Can the US military action be legally justified? Critics of the Trump administration have argued that the administration’s military actions violate the US Constitution in addition to international laws. Rights observers and legal scholars have said the deadly boat strikes amount to “extrajudicial killing” and violation of human rights. A report in The Washington Post says that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the military to kill all the passengers on board a boat suspected of carrying drugs. Hegseth has rejected allegations, calling the report “fake news”. The “fabricated and inflammatory” report, he said, was aimed at “discrediting our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland”. The defence secretary has said the strikes in the Caribbean are “lawful”. Meanwhile, the US Congress on Saturday ordered an inquiry into the incident. “At this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings,” Republican Senator Rand Paul told Fox News Sunday in October. Bruce Fein, a US constitutional expert, concurred with Paul. “Trump is acting extra-constitutionally and committing murder,” said Fein, who served as associate deputy attorney general under Republican President Ronald Reagan. Advertisement “Only Congress can authorise the offensive use of the military,” said Fein, adding that Trump’s executive orders in this matter do not have a legal standing. “The victims are engaged in warfare against the United States, except in Trump’s fantasyland – a page from George Orwell’s 1984.” By designating the Cartel de los Soles, which now Washington equates with the Venezuelan state, as a “foreign terrorist organization”, the Trump administration is posing that this is no longer a war between two nations that requires congressional declaration, but a counterterrorism operation against a non-state actor. Cartel de los Soles emerged in the 1990s when Venezuelan generals and senior officers were investigated for drug trafficking and related crimes. In Venezuela, it is not a cartel, but rather a common reference to military officers and officials involved in corruption and other illegal activities. Maduro delivers a speech while holding the Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar’s ‘Sword of Peru’ during a military ceremony in Caracas on November 25, 2025 [Federico Parra/AFP] How has the Venezuelan president responded? Caracas has denounced Trump’s announcement that effectively closed the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Trump’s statement sought “to affect the sovereignty of [Venezuelan] airspace, constituting yet another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people”. Meanwhile, Maduro, whose win in July’s election was not recognised by Washington, has called for peace, rejecting war, and advocated for harmony as he continues to appear frequently on state television broadcasts. In a mix of Spanish and English, Maduro declared, “No war … Yes peace, forever.” On November 15, Maduro invoked singer John Lennon’s peace anthem “Imagine” during a rally of supporters. “Do everything for peace, as John Lennon used to say. Imagine all the people,” he said. Two days later, condemning the use of force or military threats, Maduro said, “Dialogue, call, yes.

Pope Leo insists on two-state solution to resolve Israel-Palestine conflict

Pope Leo insists on two-state solution to resolve Israel-Palestine conflict

The pontiff is set to meet Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and deliver a speech to authorities and diplomats later today. Pope Leo XIV has reiterated the Vatican’s insistence on a two-state resolution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying it’s the “only solution” that can guarantee justice for both sides. Leo made the comments as he flew from Turkiye to Lebanon on Sunday for the second and final leg of his maiden international voyage as pope. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list On the flight, the pontiff was asked by reporters about his private talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upon his arrival in Ankara, and whether they discussed the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Leo confirmed they had and said Turkiye has an “important role to play” to end both conflicts. On Gaza, he repeated the Holy See’s longstanding position supporting a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. The creation of a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza has long been seen internationally as the only way to resolve the decades-long conflict. “We know that in this moment, Israel doesn’t accept this solution, but we see it as the only one that can offer a solution to the conflict that they are living in,” said Leo. “We are also friends with Israel, and we try with both sides to be a mediating voice that can help bring them closer to a solution with justice for all.” The pope has avoided any direct mention of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza while in Turkiye. There was no immediate response from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has long asserted that creating a Palestinian state would reward the Palestinian group Hamas and eventually lead to an even larger Hamas-run state on Israel’s borders. Advertisement Earlier this month, Netanyahu said Israel’s opposition to a Palestinian state has “not changed one bit” and isn’t threatened by external or internal pressure. “I do not need affirmations, tweets or lectures from anyone,” he said. ‘Glimmer of hope’ The American pontiff landed in Beirut and is now set to meet Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, the Arab world’s only Christian head of state, and deliver a speech to authorities and diplomats at the presidential palace later in the afternoon. “Many people are meeting him on the side of the road towards the presidential palace and he’s expected to meet Lebanese officials. He’ll also hold a huge mass in the centre of Beirut, and then visit several cities across the country,” reported Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem from the scene. About 30 percent of the population of Lebanon is Christian, while the vast majority are Muslim, roughly half of whom belong to the Shia and Sunni branches of Islam. Travelling abroad has become a major part of the modern papacy, with popes seeking to meet local Catholics, spread the faith, and conduct international diplomacy. People gather to welcome Pope Leo XIV as he arrives in Lebanon [Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters] ‘For the sake of peace’ Lebanon’s diverse communities have also welcomed the papal trip with leading Druze cleric Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna saying Lebanon “needs the glimmer of hope represented by this visit”. Reinforcements from the Lebanese army and internal security forces were deployed to the airport before Leo’s arrival. His convoy will pass through Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area where Hezbollah holds sway and where the terrain was battered in last year’s Israeli air strikes. Hezbollah’s Imam al-Mahdi Scouts are to hold a welcoming ceremony by the roadside as the convoy passes. Leo’s schedule includes a prayer at the site of a 2020 explosion at the Beirut port that killed 200 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage. He will also lead an outdoor mass on the Beirut waterfront and visit a psychiatric hospital, one of the few mental health facilities in Lebanon, where healthcare workers and residents are eagerly anticipating his arrival. Leo will not travel to the south, the target of Israeli attacks. Despite a United States-brokered ceasefire in November 2024, Israel continues to launch near-daily air strikes on southern Lebanon. The pope “is coming to bless us and for the sake of peace”, said Farah Saadeh, a Beirut resident. “We have to wait and see what will happen after he leaves, and we hope nothing is going to happen after his departure,” Saadeh said. Advertisement Before Leo’s arrival, Hezbollah urged the pope to express his “rejection of injustice and aggression” that the country is being subjected to, a reference to the Israeli attacks. Adblock test (Why?)