Tanzania opposition party leader Tundu Lissu charged with treason
Lissu’s lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala said the charges against his client were politically driven. A court in Tanzania has charged opposition party leader Tundu Lissu with treason after his arrest at a public rally in which he called for electoral reforms. The charges against the chairman of the Chadema party will bring new scrutiny to President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s bid for re-election in October as critics accuse the government of cracking down on the opposition. The opposition leader was forced into a police vehicle late on Wednesday after he had finished addressing a public rally in Mbinga in southern Tanzania. “I came here, we held a peaceful meeting and now I understand the tactics of the police. We are now clear on the situation. I will not enter the vehicle. There is no need for that. We will sleep here. What is the problem?” Lissu asked the police, moments before his supporters were tear-gassed. Lissu on Thursday afternoon arrived at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in the commercial capital Dar-es-Salaam, appearing in high spirits and in the company of his lawyers and opposition party politicians. Advertisement He was, however, not allowed to enter a plea on the treason charge. He did plead not guilty to a separate charge of publishing false information and is due back in court on April 24. Lissu’s lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala said the charges against his client were politically driven. “You cannot separate these charges from politics,” Nshala told the Reuters news agency. “He was doing campaigns to educate Chadema supporters, but they have turned it into charges.” According to the charge sheet, Lissu, who survived being shot 16 times in an assassination attempt in 2017, made the comments in question in Dar-es-Salaam on April 3. The charge sheet quoted him as saying: “It is true we say we will prevent the election. We will inspire rebellion. That is the way to get change.” “So we are going to spoil this election. We are going to really disrupt. … We are going to spoil it very badly,” the charge sheet accused him of saying. Hassan won plaudits after coming to power in 2021 for easing repression of political opponents and censorship of the media that proliferated under her predecessor John Magufuli, who died in office. But she has faced mounting criticism from human rights activists over a series of arrests and unexplained abductions and killings of political opponents. Hassan has said the government is committed to respecting human rights, and she ordered an investigation into reported abductions last year. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump-China tariff war: What could the US gain and lose?
US President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to implement a 90-day pause on the tariffs he imposed on dozens of countries has sent battered stock markets surging, even as he ratcheted up his trade war with China. Trump’s turnaround on Wednesday, which came just 13 hours after the duties had gone into effect, followed the most intense episode of financial market volatility since the COVID-19 pandemic. Stocks soared following Trump’s announcement of a pause on some tariffs. The S&P 500 jumped 9.5 percent on Wednesday, the index’s biggest single-day leap since 2008. Oil prices, which slid in recent days on fears of a global recession, also rallied on the news. Still, not all of Trump’s tariffs have been lifted. A 10 percent levy on most countries remains in place. Meanwhile, the United States escalated its trade war with China, raising tariffs to a whopping 125 percent – deepening an economic crisis between the world’s two largest economies. What are Trump’s latest moves? On Wednesday, Trump announced a 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs for almost 60 countries and the European Union. The tariffs were customised for each country and corresponded to the size of their trade surplus with the US. Advertisement Imports from those countries will now be subject to a flat tax of 10 percent, which Trump introduced on April 5. China was not included in the pause. Instead, Trump announced that he would raise levies on Chinese goods to 125 percent, from 104 percent. Trump’s decision came after Beijing announced plans to retaliate with an 84 percent duty on American goods on Wednesday. World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said the tensions “pose a significant risk of a sharp contraction in bilateral trade” between the US and China. “Our preliminary projections suggest that merchandise trade between these two economies could decrease by as much as 80 percent,” she said in a statement on April 9. What did Trump actually say? At a White House event celebrating Joey Logano, the NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Trump claimed his method for assigning and adjusting tariffs was based on “more of an instinct than anything else”. “You have to be flexible,” he said. Trump acknowledged that some investors had been “queasy” about the economic turbulence prompted by his tariffs. “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know.” But he emphasised a positive outlook towards the financial markets. “They [stock prices] change.” He said that markets had rallied to “the biggest day in financial history” after his latest tariff adjustment. “That’s a pretty big change.” He added that countries were now lining up to do business with his administration. “We have many other countries, as you know – many more than 75 – and they all want to come.” He also predicted the US would reap dividends before the end of the year. Advertisement “I did a 90-day pause for the people who didn’t retaliate because I told them, ‘If you retaliate, we’re going to double it.’ And that’s what I did with China, because they did retaliate.” He re-emphasised that his punitive tariff campaign against China would push Beijing to the bargaining table. “A deal could be made with every one of them. A deal’s going to be made with China. A deal’s going to be made with every one of them. And they’ll be fair deals. I just want fair,” Trump said. “They weren’t fair to the United States. They were sucking us dry. And you can’t do that.” What is the state of US-China trade relations? Despite growing tensions between the US and China, Washington and Beijing remain major trade partners. According to data from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the total goods trade between the US and China stood at an estimated $582.4bn in 2024. US goods exports to China totalled $143.5bn. On the other hand, US goods imports from China totalled $438.9bn. The upshot is that America’s trade deficit with China was $295.4bn last year, marking a 5.8 percent rise ($16.3bn) over 2023. China is the US’s third-largest trade partner, after Mexico and Canada. But the US has been slowly weaning itself off Chinese imports. Chinese goods accounted for 13.3 percent of US imports in 2024, down from a peak of 21.6 percent in 2017. Still, from washing machines and TV sets to clothing, China is one of the top suppliers of goods to the US. The US Department of Commerce calculated that mechanical appliances (mainly low to mid-range technology products) made up 46.4 percent of all US imports from China in 2022. (Al Jazeera) On the flipside, $24.7bn of agricultural products were exported from the US to China in 2024 – mainly in the form of soya beans. Advertisement China is also a large importer of US farming equipment, computer chips and fossil fuels. In what ways could the US benefit? Trump has long maintained that tariffs can reduce America’s trade deficits and bring foreign manufacturing back to the US. He has also said they will pave the way for future tax cuts. In 1979, nearly 20 million Americans made their living from manufacturing. Today, it’s closer to 12.5 million. In the years following World War II, the US was a leading producer of motor vehicles, aircraft and steel. “Since then,” says Vincent Vicard, head of international trade at the economic think tank CEPII, “foreign competition and productivity gains have shrunk the US relative share of manufacturing jobs”. “And while it’s hard to say exactly what Trump wants,” Vicard told Al Jazeera, “part of the tariff plan is about raising revenue for income tax cuts and boosting industry.” He pointed out that “some industries, like cars and steel, could benefit from lower foreign competition. However, they will also face higher prices for intermediate goods [used in their own manufacturing processes].” Vicard said there may be “investment in several industries over the longer term… beyond five years. But the impact of tariffs on consumers in the near term will be
Unpacking Israel’s war on international humanitarian law
On March 24, Israel struck a car in northern Gaza and killed Al Jazeera correspondent Hossam Shabat. The 23-year-old is one of countless civilians – men, women and children – Israel has killed since launching what legal scholars describe as a “genocidal” war on Gaza. Israel often justifies its killings by claiming that the targets are people sympathetic or affiliated with Hamas or other armed factions. This was the justification given for killing Shabat. Israel also regularly destroys entire neighbourhoods and buildings, killing dozens – often hundreds – at a time, ostensibly to target a single Hamas operative. For years, Israel has tried to justify these practices by employing lawyers to create shadowy quasi-legal concepts in the hope of establishing new, dangerous precedents, according to legal scholars and experts. However, legal scholars told Al Jazeera that neither so-called “targeted killings” nor disproportionate attacks against civilians have any grounding in international law. Advertisement “Is there any semblance of law or legal justification for the war tactics Israel is using in Gaza? The simple answer is no. There isn’t,” said Heidi Matthews, assistant professor of law at York University in Toronto, Canada. Setting precedents On September 28, 2000, Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and Gaza began demonstrating against Israel’s ever-entrenching occupation in what became known as the second Intifada. Israel’s repression of the Intifada quickly prompted Palestinians to mobilise and fight back. Over the next five years, Israel launched what it named “targeted killings”, assassinating unarmed Palestinians. Israel claimed that these targets could pose a threat to Israelis in the future because of their alleged membership in an armed faction. “Israel … strips protection from civilians based on their views or perspectives,” said Noor Kilzi, a researcher with Legal Agenda, a nonprofit in Lebanon that advocates for legal reform and human rights in the Middle East. Relatives of the Palestinians who died as a result of an Israeli attack on a house belonging to the Mikdad family in Khan Younis refugee camp mourn as the dead bodies are taken from Nasser Hospital for burial on the second day of Eid al-Fitr in Khan Younis, Gaza, on March 31, 2025. It was reported that many people, including children, were killed and injured in the attack [Abed Rahim Khatib/ Anadolu Agency] Israel’s concept of targeted killings laid out a blueprint which the United States adapted during its “war on terror”, analysts told Al Jazeera. Advertisement “[In the early 2000s] Israel and the US changed their legal doctrines and implemented that as part of their military dogma,” York University’s Matthews told Al Jazeera. “When it came to distinguishing between civilians and combatants… the US and Israel began to view [anyone as a target] based on their membership to a group,” she added. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, a person is only a legitimate target if they are directly engaged in armed combat at the time they are killed. This means that suspected membership in an armed group is not a sufficient basis to assassinate someone. Leiber’s legacy? Throughout Israel’s war on Gaza, it has routinely dropped 2,000lb (900kg) bombs in densely populated residential areas, as well as systematically targeted schools, hospitals and displacement shelters. Israeli officials justify these attacks by claiming that Israel is fighting a “just war” against barbarians. As a result, the ostensible goal of destroying Hamas outweighs minimising civilian casualties. This is rooted partly in the philosophy of Francis Leiber, a 19th-century German American military theorist, who was tasked with setting out the “rules of conduct” for Unionist soldiers fighting the Confederates in the US Civil War. He argued that some wars are vital to the moral progress of civilised nations and require a quick victory, which can only be achieved using tactics that will likely cause huge civilian casualties. “Leiber basically said that whatever is militarily necessary to carry out war is legal,” Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg, a legal scholar at the London School of Economics, told Al Jazeera. Advertisement This terrifying reasoning is blatantly at odds with international norms and laws, Gurmendi Dunkelberg added. “He believed in killing as many people as you can, so that you finish the job quickly. He believed that was more humane than trying to protect people to the point that the war drags on for say 15 years,” he said. Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, its spokespeople have made similar arguments. Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the goal was to “get the [war] done quicker” when asked by PBS about why Israel had dropped 6,000 bombs in the first six days of attacks on the besieged enclave. Then spokesperson for the Israeli army, Daniel Hagari, also admitted during the first days of the war that the emphasis in Gaza was on “damage and not accuracy”. Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on April 8, 2025 [Ramadan Abed/REUTERS] (Reuters) Destroying the system In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) approved two arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant – accused of using starvation as a weapon of war and deliberately attacking civilians in Gaza. An earlier ruling by the International Court of Justice found that Palestinians in Gaza faced a real risk of genocide due to Israel’s war practices. The rulings by the ICC and ICJ add weight to the argument that Israel has failed in trying to legally justify its war practices, which likely amount to multiple war crimes, crimes against humanity and even genocide. Advertisement As a result, Israel and its western allies are now trying to sabotage the very institutions that were created to uphold international law and prosecute perpetrators of atrocities, said Nadim Khoury, former director at Human Rights Watch and the founder of the Arab Reform Initiative think tank. “Israel has clearly hit the limit of what they can get away with by using legal arguments. Now, they’re just
‘Make showers great again’: Why Trump’s fighting bathroom water pressure
EXPLAINER Trump’s new executive order declares showerheads will not be ‘weak and worthless’ any more. But what about water bills? US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday repealing limits to the flow of water from bathroom showers imposed by previous Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Biden and Obama introduced these limits to increase efficiency and conserve water. Where their focus was on the environment, Trump’s order aims to “make America’s showers great again,” a White House fact sheet says. Showerheads, it added, will no longer be “weak and worthless”. Trump’s order to free the showerhead from regulations would, he said, help him wash his “beautiful hair”. It came at a time when his back-and-forth tariff policies had washed away billions of dollars from the stock markets, which plunged following his declaration of a trade war on the rest of the world, only to gain back some of its lost territory after Trump’s sudden reprieve on tariffs for most countries. Here is more about Trump’s latest order: What is Trump’s executive order about showerheads? Trump’s order calls on Energy Secretary Chris Wright to reverse the definitions of what constitutes a showerhead usable in the United States, as implemented by Obama and Biden. “The Biden definition was a staggering 13,000 words. The Oxford English Dictionary, by contrast, defines “showerhead” in one short sentence,” the White House fact sheet says. Advertisement Trump wants to go back to a 1992 federal energy law, which sets the standard of water pressure for showers to 2.5 gallons (9.5 liters) per minute. Over the years, new showerhead designs began to include multiple nozzles or spray systems. To ensure water conservation, the Obama administration clarified the rule in 2013 to say that even if a showerhead has multiple nozzles, they collectively should not release more than 2.5 gallons a minute. Trump’s order, in effect, would allow each nozzle to eject up to 2.5 gallons of water a minute. So if a showerhead has four nozzles, it could release up to 10 gallons a minute. “These changes served a radical green agenda that made life worse for everyday Americans,” the White House factsheet says about the Obama-era rule. “Overregulation chokes the American economy, entrenches bureaucrats, and stifles personal freedom.” “In my case, I like to take a nice shower, take care of my beautiful hair,” Trump said while signing the order in the Oval Office. “I have to stand under the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.” Has Trump eased showerhead rules before? During his first administration, Trump reversed the Obama-era rule to allow multiple nozzles on one showerhead to each spray out 2.5 gallons of water per minute individually, increasing the permitted amount of water released by a singular showerhead. This was finalised in December 2020. “So, showerheads — you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out. You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect,” Trump said on the campaign trail in 2019. He has complained about low water pressure multiple times since. Advertisement In 2021, the Biden administration reversed Trump’s relaxation of water flow rules. Biden went back to Obama’s 2013 rule to permit an overall 2.5 gallons of water per minute for a showerhead, regardless of the number of nozzles on it. “Biden undid this progress and the shower wars continued,” says the White House factsheet. How could this affect Americans? The average family spends $1,000 every year on water costs, according to a factsheet by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), last updated on March 24. The EPA estimated that households could save more than $380 annually if they retrofitted their homes with WaterSense-labelled fixtures and energy-efficient appliances. A showerhead qualifies for the WaterSense label if it releases no more than two gallons (7.6 liters) per minute. A US government-backed report, published in 2019, issued a warning that climate change and population growth increase the risk of water shortages in many regions of the US. Adblock test (Why?)
Pope Francis meets King Charles, Queen Camilla during Vatican convalescence
Charles tells Italy’s parliament that peace is ‘never to be taken for granted’ before a surprise visit to Pope Francis. Pope Francis met privately with King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Vatican during the royal couple’s four-day state visit to Italy and on the occasion of their 20th wedding anniversary, the Vatican has announced. The British royals’ visit on Wednesday was the pope’s first known meeting since his return to the Vatican after five weeks in hospital for life-threatening double pneumonia. Francis had planned to have an audience with Charles, but the official state visit to the Vatican was postponed due to the pope’s health. The pope issued a new invitation for a private audience, but it was subject to his health and only confirmed on Wednesday morning. The mid-afternoon visit lasted about 20 minutes and included a private exchange of gifts. The Vatican statement said the pope wished Charles and Camilla a happy anniversary, and the king and queen in return wished the pope a speedy recovery. Buckingham Palace said “their majesties were delighted the pope was well enough to host them, and to have had the opportunity to share their best wishes in person’”. Advertisement The pope has been convalescing at the Vatican since March 23 and made an appearance to the faithful in St Peter’s Square on Sunday. He was pushed in a wheelchair, wearing nasal tubes for supplemental oxygen, and wished the crowd a good Sunday from the front of the altar before being greeted by participants in the Mass, some of whom leaned to kiss his hands. Charles, meanwhile, was on his first trip abroad this year after being taken to hospital over side effects related to his ongoing cancer treatment. Earlier on Wednesday, Charles became the first British monarch and fourth foreign leader to address a joint session of the Italian parliament. In his speech, he stressed the need for close ties between Italy and the United Kingdom, calling for unity in defence of common values at a time of war in Europe. “Our countries have both stood by Ukraine in her hour of need and welcomed many thousands of Ukrainians requiring shelter,” he said, referring to the Russia-Ukraine war and warning that images of wars were now reverberating again across the continent. “Our younger generations can see in the news every day on their smartphones and tablets that peace is never to be taken for granted.” Charles added that Italian and British armed forces “stand side by side” as part of the NATO alliance, noting the two countries’ joint plans to develop with Japan a new fighter jet. “It will generate thousands of jobs in our countries and speaks volumes about the trust we place in each other,” he said. Advertisement Charles also spoke passionately in his address about threats facing the planet, recalling another speech he gave in Italy 16 years ago and how the “warnings” he made at the time about the urgency of the climate challenge were “depressingly being borne out by events”. Earlier on Wednesday, Charles had a short private meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the leader of Italy’s hard-right government, at the historic Villa Doria Pamphili. The king was then whisked in his Bentley to Rome’s working-class neighbourhood of Testaccio, where its converted slaughterhouses now hold cultural events, to meet with drama students who performed a portion of Shakespeare’s Othello in Italian. A few dozen curious residents milled about outside, but most appeared nonplussed, such as Carlotta, a 70-year-old woman who declined to give her last name. “I don’t give a damn about the king but they’ve spent three days cleaning the neighbourhood, scrubbing the pavements, clearing up dog poo, so he can come every week if he likes,” she told the AFP news agency. Another woman, 66-year-old Ninetta, quipped: “Rome has seen emperors, how impressive is a king? I couldn’t care less.” Adblock test (Why?)
Macron says France could recognise Palestinian state
‘We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,’ French president says. President Emmanuel Macron says France could recognise a Palestinian state “in the coming months”. Macron told France 5 television on Wednesday that he aimed to finalise the move at a United Nations conference on the Israel-Palestine conflict, which his country will co-chair with Saudi Arabia in June. “We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,” Macron said. “I’m not doing it to please anyone. I’ll do it because at some point it will be right,” he said. Palestine’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, told the news agency AFP that France’s recognition would be “a step in the right direction in line with safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people and the two-state solution”. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said any “unilateral recognition” of a Palestinian state would be a “boost for Hamas”. “A ‘unilateral recognition’ of a fictional Palestinian state, by any country, in the reality that we all know, will be a prize for terror and a boost for Hamas,” he wrote on X. Advertisement “These kind of actions will not bring peace, security and stability in our region closer – but the opposite: they only push them further away,” he said. Palestine has been recognised as a sovereign state by 146 out of 193 UN members so far, with Armenia, Slovenia, Ireland, Norway, Spain, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados joining their ranks last year. However, despite growing international support for Palestinian statehood, several major Western countries like the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany have withheld recognition. Macron said that he foresaw a “collective dynamic”, enabling some countries in the Middle East to recognise the Israeli state in turn. Countries that do not recognise Israel include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Macron said that recognising Palestine as a state would allow France “to be clear in our fight against those who deny Israel’s right to exist, which is the case with Iran, and to commit ourselves to collective security in the region”. France has long championed a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, continuing its policy after the October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian armed group Hamas on Israel. But formal recognition by Paris of a Palestinian state would mark a major policy switch and could antagonise Israel, which insists such moves by foreign states are premature. On a recent trip to Egypt, Macron held talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, making it clear he was strongly opposed to any displacement or annexation in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Barcelona hit Dortmund for four in Champions League quarterfinal
Barcelona set sights on Champions League progress with 4-0 home win in quarterfinal first leg against Borussia Dortmund. Barcelona claimed a commanding 4-0 home win over Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. Robert Lewandowski scored twice and Raphinha recorded a goal and an assist on Wednesday, leaving the Catalan club in a strong position to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2019. Lamine Yamal also scored as Barcelona dealt a hammer blow to the German side’s hopes of advancing. The return match is next Tuesday at Dortmund, who were last year’s runners-up in the final against Barcelona’s fierce rivals, Real Madrid. “We played very well, but we can’t be thinking about the semifinals yet,” Lewandowski said. “We scored four goals at home, but we still have the return leg to play.” Raphinha of Barcelona heads the ball across the goal before his teammate Robert Lewandowski scores his team’s second goal [Pedro Salado/Getty Images] Raphinha added to his Champions League-leading tally by poking the ball into the open net in the 25th minute for his 12th goal in the competition this season. He then helped set up Lewandowski’s first goal of the night in the 48th. Advertisement Lewandowski scored his 11th Champions League goal with a one-timer in the 66th before Yamal closed the scoring in the 77th. The 36-year-old Lewandowski has scored 14 Champions League goals after the age of 35, two more than Cristiano Ronaldo. Lewandowski had scored 17 of his 105 career goals in the Champions League for Dortmund over three seasons, from 2011-14. The Polish striker, who is also the Spanish league’s leading scorer this season with 25 goals, has 40 goals this season. “In my head, I always want to be helping the team with my quality and my goals,” Lewandowski said. “A striker always needs to be thinking about scoring goals, and when the team plays well, it becomes easier for me.” Raphinha of Barcelona scores his team’s first goal [David Ramos/Getty Images] Raphinha has scored in each of Barcelona’s last four Champions League knockout stage matches, with seven goals in that span. He entered the match with 11 goals, one more than Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy and Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane. Also Wednesday in the quarterfinals, a wonder goal from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia upstaged a brilliant curling shot from teammate Desire Doue as Paris Saint-Germain beat Aston Villa 3-1. Adblock test (Why?)
Rescuers search rubble after Dominican Republic club roof collapse
NewsFeed “I know she’s fine, I have faith.” Families waited for rescuers to find their loved ones amongst the rubble after a nightclub roof collapsed in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, killing more than 100 people. Singer Rubby Perez, who was performing at the time, has been confirmed among the dead. Published On 9 Apr 20259 Apr 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Israeli ‘massacre’ in Gaza’s Shujayea as residential tower targeted
[unable to retrieve full-text content] An Israeli strike destroyed an entire residential tower block in Gaza’s Shujayea neighbourhood.
Israel pushes on with strategy to keep neighbours weak in Lebanon and Syria
Beirut, Lebanon – Israel’s continuing attacks intend to keep its neighbours unstable, weak and fragmented, analysts say, and are contributing to the derailing of governing projects in Lebanon and Syria. Conversations with experts, analysts, and diplomats reveal a belief that Israel wants to keep the two states weak and fractured, maintaining Israel as the strongest regional power. “The Israelis believe that having weaker neighbors, as in states that aren’t really able to function, is beneficial for them because, in that context, they’re the strongest actor,” Elia Ayoub, writer, researcher, and founder of The Fire These Times podcast, told Al Jazeera. Lebanon and Syria, the targets of Israel’s forays, have largely not retaliated against the Israelis, who outpower them militarily, financially and technologically. ‘Israel has no limits’ Lebanon and Syria are both in a fragile condition. Lebanon has been in dire economic straits for at least six years, with bouts of political paralysis, and has just emerged from a prolonged Israeli assault that killed more than 4,000 people and destroyed swaths of the country. Advertisement That war, which also badly damaged the armed movemen tHezbollah, a major domestic actor in Lebanon since the 1980s, ostensibly ended with the November 27 ceasefire. Syria, meanwhile, recently emerged from a nearly 14-year-long war that displaced millions and killed hundreds of thousands. The transitional government is working to unify armed factions, stabilise the economy and gain international recognition. Lebanese residents gather around damaged cars at the site where an Israeli air strike hit a building in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Tuesday, April 1, 2025 [Hussein Malla/AP] Along with Lebanon, which is led by its first functioning cabinet in years, Syria has new leadership that wants to turn a page on recent history but, analysts told Al Jazeera, Israel seems intent on preventing that. Israel has been violating the ceasefire with Lebanon since it was signed, justifying each breach by claiming it had hit “Hezbollah targets”. The situation is particularly gruesome along Lebanon’s southern border, where some villages were obliterated during the war and others were completely razed since the ceasefire was agreed on. “There are a lot of violations,” a member of Lebanon’s civil defense force, who asked to not be named, told Al Jazeera from the battered southern town of Meiss el-Jabal, adding, “There’s nothing we can do about it.” Israel has also refused to fully withdraw from Lebanon, as the ceasefire stipulates, instead, leaving its forces in five points that experts say are likely being held for future negotiations over delineating the Lebanon-Israel border. Advertisement “The very clear path ahead is that Israel has no limits in its operations within Lebanon,” Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, told Al Jazeera. “The only distinction made is in firepower and destruction, which is reserved for disproportionate responses to attacks on northern towns in Israel.” Israel betting on Syria’s failure In Syria’s chaos following the Assad regime’s overthrow on December 8, Israel launched attacks on military infrastructure around the country, focusing on the south and creeping its forces further into Syrian territory. Syria’s transitional government has said it has no interest in regional war. Instead it has said that it has no intention to attack Israel and would respect the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between the two countries. But the Syrian government’s overtures fell on deaf ears, and the attacks have continued. The Israeli government immediately revealed its position towards the new Syrian government following President Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow, calling it “a terror group from Idlib that took Damascus by force”. Israel has since repeatedly bombed Syria, and seized territory along the frontier between the occupied Golan Heights and the rest of Syria. Israeli strikes on Syria [Jalaa Marey / AFP] “Israel has made a bet that Syria will fail and will be fragmented,” Aron Lund, a fellow at Century International, told Al Jazeera. “What they’re doing is trying to position themselves in that scenario, as a push to have sway over the south and keep it unthreatening to them and protect their now almost unlimited freedom of manoeuvre in their airspace.” Advertisement In March, Israeli air strikes on Syria increased and expanded to new areas, with ground incursions increasing by 30 percent, including into the southern areas of Deraa and al-Quneitra. “The impact on civilians has been increasingly deadly,” Muaz al-Abdullah, ACLED’s Middle East Research manager, said in a statement. Smoke rises from Taibeh, following Israeli strikes in response to cross-border rocket fire, as seen from Marjayoun in southern Lebanon, March 22, 2025 [Karamallah Daher/Reuters] “To defend themselves, residents in the village of Kuya, in Deraa, fired warning shots to deter Israeli forces from advancing into the village on March 25. The response by Israeli forces was an air strike and shelling of the village, and at least six civilians were killed.” Imad al-Baysiri, from Deraa, told Al Jazeera about a similar incident in Nawa, 34km (21 miles) north of Deraa city. The Israeli army “tried to advance to all the large squares in Nawa so some young men started running and the Israeli army started shooting at them”, he said, adding that locals confronted the army and forced them to retreat. “They brought in helicopters and drones and for around four hours bombed the area,” he said. “Warplanes and helicopters also bombarded the city of Nawa with missiles from helicopters and drones.” The Israelis listen to the Americans ‘but only to a certain extent’, a diplomatic source said [Saul Loeb/ AFP] ‘They know war, but not peace’ Analysts can see little that would stop Israel’s near-daily attacks on Lebanon and Syria. Advertisement “They listen to Americans, but only to a certain extent,” a Western diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera. Hezbollah’s arsenal may once have acted as a deterrent, but the latest war has changed that calculus. “All deterrence has been lost,” Hage Ali said. Without any diplomatic or military pressure in its way, Israel seems set