US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson flew into Egypt on Sunday at the start of a five-nation tour that coincides with heightened regional tension, as well as unease over the Trump administration’s Mideast policies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin blew the whistle to stop the confrontation between Israel and Iran in Syria and both sides accepted his decision. That’s the apparent conclusion to be reached from the chain of events this past weekend.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, announced on Saturday evening that it is prepared to respond to ‘any Zionist aggression’ in light of the escalated tensions between Israel and Syria. The spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades to Twitter to relay the message, according to Hamas’s English website.
The Israeli military shot down an Iranian drone launched from Syria into Israeli airspace early Saturday in what the military described as a ‘severe and irregular violation of Israeli sovereignty.’
The village of Jamraya is located several kilometers northeast of Damascus, near a large military and research complex. The entrance to the well-guarded facility is likely permitted exclusively to people who have been checked and approved by Syria’s internal security apparatuses.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a simple, straightforward message this week when he toured Israel’s border with Syria and Lebanon with top security officials.
The American-led coalition in Syria conducted an airstrike on pro-regime forces after an ‘unprovoked’ attack on the headquarters of the Syrian Democratic Forces Wednesday.
Amnesty International has accused the Assad regime of showing “utter contempt” of international law following a chlorine gas attack on the town of Saraqib Sunday. This latest chemical attack comes just one day before the U.N. Security Council failed to agree on a U.S.-proposed statement Monday condemning the continued use of chemical weapons in the war-torn nation. Russia was blamed by some diplomats for its failure.
The Syrian army said Israeli war planes fired a number of rockets from Lebanese airspace targeting an army position in a rural area near Damascus on Wednesday, a statement carried by Syrian state television said.
Four U.N. human rights experts have issued a joint statement, urging Iran to ensure ‘a fair and transparent final hearing’ at the country’s Revolutionary Court for three Iranian Christians who have been sentenced for ‘conducting evangelism’ and ‘illegal house church activities,’ among other charges.
The US said it was ‘gravely alarmed’ by reports of chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian regime Monday, as it accused Russia of protecting Syrian President Bashar Assad from responsibility for the use of chlorine gas against civilians in recent weeks.
Germany’s Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control approved a license for a company to sell military applicable technology to Iranian companies that subsequently was used in Syrian regime chemical weapons attacks, reported the German publication Bild on Monday.
The U.S. and Turkish militaries are on a collision course, and the point of impact for the two NATO allies is the Syrian town of Manbij.
French officials say President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are talking about working on a ‘diplomatic road map’ for Syria in the ‘coming weeks.’
A delegation of senior Russian security officials visiting Israel this week reportedly sought to dissuade Jerusalem from striking Iranian and Hezbollah weapons facilities in Syria and Lebanon.
The Trump administration is prepared to again take military action against Syrian government forces if necessary to deter the use of chemical weapons and is concerned they may be developing new methods to deliver such weapons, senior US officials said on Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday night that it will extend humanitarian protected status for the some 6,900 Syrians in the U.S. that already have it, but won’t allow newly arrived Syrians to apply.
Syria’s Kurdish militias have grown frustrated with the United States and its stance over the assault by Turkish forces in Afrin, on mainly-Kurdish areas of northwestern Syria near the Turkish border.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin met Monday in Moscow.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is headed to Moscow on Monday for a whirlwind trip, during which he is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and visit an exhibition on the Holocaust.