EUROPE NEEDS TO BOOST MILITARY CAPABILITIES.

EUROPE NEEDS TO BOOST MILITARY CAPABILITIES.

DEUTORONOMY 18:10-12
10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire,(OCCULT SACRIFICES) or that useth divination,(NEW AGER AND CRYSTALS ETC) divination n. The art or act of foretelling future events or revealing occult knowledge by means of augury or an alleged supernatural agency.) or an observer of times,(Meaning of observer. ... for sketching it. horoscope - Comes from Greek hora, hour, time, and skopos, observer.) or an enchanter,(The word enchant is derived from the Latin word incantare which refers to uttering an incantation or casting a spell). or a witch,(WITCH. Definition: [noun] a female sorcerer (SORCERY IN THE BIBLE IS DRUGS OR OCCULT ACTIVITY) or magician.)
11 Or a charmer,(charmer means a dealer in spells, especially one who, by binding certain knots, was supposed thereby to bind a curse or a blessing on its object.) or a consulter with familiar spirits,(function as mediums or psychics) or a wizard,(MALE WITCH)-influence; a magical spell WITH WANDS) or a necromancer.(one seeking unto the dead.)
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

REVELATION 9:20-21
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues (NUKES) yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils,(OCCULT) and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries,(DRUG ADDICTIONS OR SELLING DRUGS) nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE)(PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

EZEKIEL 32:6-9
6  I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
7  And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
8  All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9  I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator and baby murderers by abortion) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

GEN 12:2-3
2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3  And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Extreme weather misinformation 'putting lives at risk,' study warns.

Washington, July 22 (AFP) Jul 22, 2025-Major social media platforms are enabling and profiting from misinformation around extreme weather events, endangering lives and impeding emergency response efforts, a research group said Tuesday.The report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) -- which analyzed 100 viral posts on each of three leading platforms during recent natural disasters including deadly Texas floods -- highlights how their algorithms amplify conspiracy theorists while sidelining life-saving information."The influence of high-profile conspiracy theorists during climate disasters is drowning out emergency response efforts," the report said, adding that the trend was "putting lives at risk."Nearly all of the analyzed posts on Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram lacked fact-checks or Community Notes, a crowd-sourced verification system increasingly being adopted as an alternative to professional fact-checkers, the report said.Elon Musk-owned X lacked fact-checks or Community Notes on 99 percent of the posts, while Google-owned YouTube "failed entirely," with zero fact-checks or Community Notes, CCDH said.The report noted that well-known conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's false claims during the LA wildfires amassed more views on X throughout January than the combined reach of major emergency response agencies and news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times."The rapid spread of climate conspiracies online isn't accidental. It's baked into a business model that profits from outrage and division," said Imran Ahmed, CCDH's chief executive.During the wildfires, online scammers placed social media advertisements impersonating federal emergency aid agencies to steal victims' personal information, Ahmed said, citing local officials."When distraught people can't distinguish real help from online deception, platforms become complicit in the suffering of innocent people," he said.The tech platforms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.- 'Dangerous' falsehoods -Following natural disasters, misinformation tends to surge across social media -- fueled by accounts from across the political spectrum -- as many platforms scale back content moderation and reduce reliance on human fact-checkers, often accused by conservative advocates of a liberal bias.During Hurricane Milton, which struck Florida last year, social media was flooded with baseless claims that the storm had been engineered by politicians using weather manipulation.Similarly, the LA wildfires were falsely blamed on so-called "government lasers," a conspiracy theory amplified by viral posts.Augustus Doricko, chief executive of cloud seeding company Rainmaker, said he received death threats online after conspiracy theorists blamed him for the devastating floods in Texas."I can confirm that we have received multiple threats since the flooding event," Doricko told AFP, highlighting the real-life consequences of such falsehoods.The CCDH study found that the worst offenders spreading extreme weather misinformation were verified users with large followings, many of whom were attempting to monetize their posts.Eighty eight percent of misleading extreme weather posts on X came from verified accounts, CCDH said. On YouTube, 73 percent of such posts originated from verified users, while on Meta, the figure was 64 percent."Climate disinformation costs lives," said Sam Bright of DeSmog, which reports on climate misinformation campaigns."As extreme weather events become more and more frequent, these falsehoods will only get more dangerous."

RUSSIA,GERMANY, ARAB MUSLIMS COME AGAINST ISRAEL.

EZEKIEL 38:1-23
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA-ARAB-MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;(ISRAEL) I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil,(OIL IS IN SPOIL) and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13  Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDI-ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(SPAIN) with all the young lions thereof,(ENGLAND,AND ALL ITS ASSOCIATES-CANADA,AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND, USA, AND WESTERN ENGLISH SPEAKING NATIONS) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?(OIL IS IN SPOIL-I BELIEVE THATS WHY RUSSIA,ARAB/MUSLIMS MARCH TO ISRAEL)
14  Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15  And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16  And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18  And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19  For in my jealousy and in the fire (atomic bomb) of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20  So that the fishes of the    sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21  And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
22  And I will plead against him with pestilence (biological,chemical,nuclear) and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.(NUKED,THEN MIGRATING BIRDS EAT RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS FLESH)
23  Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.

EZEKIEL 39:1-29
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
13 Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)(EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN THE JORDAN VALLEY)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY SPRING,FALL) and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ARMIES)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye (MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL) shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.(RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS)
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I (GOD-JESUS) will set my glory among the heathen,(WORLD NATIONS) and all the heathen (WORLD NATIONS) shall see my judgment that I have executed,(AGAINST ISRAELS ENEMIES) and my (GODS) hand that I have laid upon them.(ISRAELS HATER ENEMIES)
22  So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23  And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
24  According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26  After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27  When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28  Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29  Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

CHINA AND KINGS O  F THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)

REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)

DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)

REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

Iran meets European powers for new nuclear talks amid snapback sanctions threat-German, British and French diplomats in Istanbul to meet Iranian counterparts for first time since war with Israel, as powers weigh reimposing UN sanctions By AFP Today, 9:50 amUpdated at 11:28 am-JUL 25,25

Iranian diplomats were meeting counterparts from Germany, Britain and France on Friday for renewed nuclear talks amid warnings that the three European powers could trigger “snapback” sanctions outlined under the since-abandoned 2015 deal.The meeting, taking place in Istanbul, was the first since Israel’s mid-June attack on Iran, which the Jewish state says was carried out due to an imminent threat of Tehran obtaining nuclear weapons. Israel’s attack, which sparked a 12-day war, targeted key nuclear and military sites.Israel’s offensive — which killed top commanders, nuclear scientists and hundreds of others as residential areas were struck as well — also derailed US-Iran nuclear talks that began in April.Since then, the European powers, known as the E3, have threatened to trigger the “snapback mechanism,” which would reinstate United Nations sanctions on Iran by the end of August, under the effectively moribund 2015 nuclear deal.The option to trigger the snapback expires in October, and Tehran has warned of consequences should the E3 opt to activate it.“Inaction by the E3 is not an option,” a European source said, noting that Tehran would be reminded during the meeting that the snapback window closes this autumn.The source said Europeans are preparing to trigger the mechanism “in the absence of a negotiated solution” and called on Iran to make “clear gestures” regarding uranium enrichment and the resumption of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who was attending the talks Friday, alongside senior Iranian diplomat Majid Takht-Ravanchi, warned this week that triggering sanctions “is completely illegal.”He also accused European powers of “halting their commitments” to the deal after the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term.“We have warned them of the risks, but we are still seeking common ground to manage the situation,” said Gharibabadi.Sanctions-Iranian diplomats have previously warned that Tehran could withdraw from the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty if UN sanctions are reimposed. Restoring sanctions would deepen Iran’s international isolation and place further pressure on its already strained economy.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has urged European powers to trigger the mechanism.Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran came two days before Tehran and Washington were scheduled to meet for a sixth round of nuclear negotiations.The US joined the Israeli air campaign against Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure on June 22, striking Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.Iran responded to the Israeli attacks with near-daily barrages of missiles at cities, killing 28 people and wounding thousands, according to health officials and hospitals. Some of the missiles hit apartment buildings, a university and a hospital, causing heavy damage.Before the war, Washington and Tehran were divided over uranium enrichment, which Iran has described as a “non-negotiable” right, while the US called it a “red line.”The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran is enriching uranium to 60 percent purity — far above the 3.67% cap under the 2015 deal and close to weapons-grade levels.Tehran has said it is open to discussing the rate and level of enrichment, but not the right to enrich uranium.A year after the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran began rolling back its commitments, which had placed restrictions on its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.Israel and Western powers accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons — a charge Tehran has consistently denied, though it has been enriching uranium to levels that have no civilian application while regularly threatening to annihilate Israel.‘National pride’Iran insists it will not abandon its nuclear program, which Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called a source of “national pride.”“Especially after the recent war, it is important for them to understand that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s position remains unshakable, and that our uranium enrichment will continue. We will not give up this right of the Iranian people,” Araghchi said on the eve of the Istanbul talks.The full extent of the damage sustained in the US bombing remains unclear. Trump has claimed the sites were “completely destroyed,” but US media reports have cast doubt over the scale of destruction.Araghchi has noted that enrichment has currently “stopped” due to “serious and severe” damage to nuclear sites caused by US and Israeli strikes.Since the 12-day war, Iran has suspended cooperation with the IAEA, accusing it of bias and failing to condemn the attacks.Inspectors have since left the country, but a technical team is expected to return in the coming weeks after Iran said future cooperation would take a “new form.”Israel has warned it may resume strikes if Iran rebuilds facilities or moves toward weapons capability.Iran has pledged a “harsh response” to any future attacks.

Europe needs to boost military capabilities: EU defense chief by AFP Staff Writers.

Washington (AFP) July 21, 2025-Europe needs to boost its defense capabilities as the United States seeks to focus on countering China, the EU's defense commissioner said on Monday.President Donald Trump has pushed for increased military burden-sharing with Europe since returning to office earlier this year, with NATO allies agreeing last month to boost their defense spending."Europe is preparing to take responsibility for its own defense. You asked us to do that, and finally we are moving ahead," Andrius Kubilius said in a speech in Washington."We are recognizing that you, Americans, have really the right and the reason in the longer-term perspective to start to shift more and more towards the Indo-Pacific in order to mitigate Chinese rising military power," he said."We Europeans need to ramp up our defense capabilities," the former Lithuanian prime minister said, adding: "That is what we are doing."The United States has for years identified China as its primary military rival and has sought to shift its focus and additional military assets to Asia.But unrest in the Middle East has repeatedly pulled American attention back to that region, with US assets being shifted -- at least temporarily -- away from Asia as a result.

Iran defends 'unshakable' right to enrich uranium ahead of key talks.

Tehran, July 24 (AFP) Jul 24, 2025-Iran on Thursday reaffirmed its right to enrich uranium, saying it was "unshakable", on the eve of key talks with European powers threatening to reimpose nuclear sanctions.Friday's meeting, set to take place in Istanbul, will be the first since Israel's mid-June attack targeting key nuclear and military sites in the Islamic republic sparked a 12-day war.The United States joined its ally Israel in the offensive, striking three Iranian nuclear facilities overnight between June 21 and 22."Especially after the recent war, it is important for them to understand that the Islamic Republic of Iran's position remains unshakable, and that our uranium enrichment will continue," said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi."We will not give up this right of the Iranian people," he said, quoted by Tasnim news agency.The hostilities between Iran and Israel broke out just two days before Tehran and Washington were set to resume negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme.Britain, France and Germany -- alongside China, Russia and the United States -- are parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which placed major restrictions on its atomic activities in return for the gradual lifting of UN sanctions.However, in 2018, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement during Donald Trump's first term as president and reimposed its own sanctions.Britain, France and Germany maintained their support for the 2015 accord and sought to continue trade with Iran, meaning UN and EU sanctions were not reinstated.But they have since accused Tehran of failing to uphold its commitments and are threatening to reimpose sanctions under a clause in the agreement that expires in October -- something Iran is keen to avoid at all costs."Inaction by the E3 is not an option," a European source said of the three powers, noting that Tehran would be reminded during the meeting that the snapback window closes this autumn.The source said Europeans were preparing to trigger the mechanism "in the absence of a negotiated solution" and called on Iran to make "clear gestures" regarding uranium enrichment and the resumption of cooperation with the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.The IAEA says Iran is the only non-nuclear-armed country currently enriching uranium to 60 percent -- far beyond the 3.67 percent cap set by the 2015 accord.That is a short step from the 90 percent enrichment required for a nuclear weapon.Western powers, led by the United States and backed by Israel, have long accused Tehran of secretly seeking nuclear weapons.Iran has repeatedly denied this, insisting its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes such as energy production.Tehran and Washington had held five rounds of nuclear talks starting in April, but a planned meeting on June 15 was cancelled after Israel launched its strikes on Iran.

Atomic Brussels? Support for nuclear power gains ground in EU.

Brussels, Belgium, July 24 (AFP) Jul 24, 2025-Long a taboo, Brussels opened the door to EU funding for nuclear power this month in a sign of the growing support atomic energy is enjoying within the bloc.The European Commission listed "nuclear fission energy" among the sectors eligible to receive EU money in its 2028-2034 budget proposal unveiled last week -- reversing a previous ban.The commission declined to say if that meant Brussels was prepared to fund the building of new nuclear reactors, with a spokeswoman stressing that the proposal was "still to be discussed" with member states.Nuclear's eligibility remained only potential, she said, and fission was listed alongside other related fields such as decommissioning nuclear facilities, management of radioactive waste and nuclear research.But the change in tack -- given atomic energy was explicitly excluded from funding under the current European Union budget -- marked a victory for the pro-nuclear camp, which has been steadily gathering steam.Europe has long been divided on nuclear.While France has championed it, Germany has led the opposition since former chancellor Angela Merkel accelerated a phase-out in 2011, after the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.The two economic powerhouses even captain rival informal clubs of countries that vie for influence in Brussels.Paris leads the "European Nuclear Alliance" while Berlin is top dog in the "Friends of Renewables" group.Informal breakfast talks of the two groups are normally held ahead of meetings of EU energy ministers, with representatives of some countries shuttling between the two gatherings.- 'Unavoidable' topic -France's club has been gaining members, with Belgium and Italy announcing this year they would join, and Greece also expressing interest.This came after Rome opened the door to a return to atomic power, and Belgium officially abandoned a two-decades-old pledge to phase it out.Other members of the club include Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.Germany's grouping includes Austria, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Denmark, and the Baltic states, among others."The enlargement of the alliance makes the subject somewhat unavoidable," Neil Makaroff, a climate transition expert at Strategic Perspectives, a think tank, said of the pro-atomic faction.After years of EU ostracism, these countries want to "make nuclear power politically neutral", he added.Opposition is weaker than a couple of years ago, with more and more governments emphasising the need for a complementary energy mix to speed-up the electrification of the continent.France is even hoping for a more lenient approach from Germany under new leader Friedrich Merz.In May, the chancellor co-signed an opinion piece with French President Emmanuel Macron backing "technological neutrality" and the "non-discriminatory treatment of all low-carbon energies within the European Union".French Energy Minister Marc Ferracci later said the Germans were ready to end "the religious war over nuclear power".Yet, opinions on the matter within Germany's ruling coalition differ and whether Berlin -- a net contributor to the bloc's budget -- would go so far as to greenlight EU funding for nuclear remains to be seen, said Makaroff.Tensions might bubble up again in the coming months, as countries discuss European rules on renewable energy -- a package France would rather be called "decarbonised" energy and include nuclear power.Paris claimed a first victory this month when the commission included the concept of "technological neutrality" dear to the French in its 2040 climate target proposal.Still, even in the most nuclear-heavy scenarios, wind and solar power are projected to dominate the European energy mix in the coming decades.In 2024 renewables accounted for 47 percent of electricity production in Europe, compared with 23 percent for nuclear energy, according to EU data agency Eurostat."In the short term, most of the work on electrification will be done through renewables," said Makaroff.

Anxiety and pride among Cambodia's future conscriptsBy Suy SE.

Phnom Penh (AFP) July 22, 2025-The generation of Cambodians who may find themselves in the firing line when the country introduces military conscription is split between quiet pangs of anxiety and proud proclamations of patriotism."My family is poor. If I am called in for the service, I am worried that my family might face financial issues," 25-year-old tuk-tuk driver Voeun Dara told AFP in Phnom Penh. "It is worrisome for me."Citing rising tensions with Thailand, Prime Minister Hun Manet says Cambodia will next year activate a long-dormant law requiring citizens aged 18 to 30 to enlist in the military.Hun Manet has proposed conscripts serve for two years to bolster the country's 200,000 personnel after a territorial dispute boiled over into a border clash, killing one Cambodian soldier in late May.Graphic design student Ray Kimhak's brother-in-law, a volunteer soldier, has already been deployed to the countries' 800-kilometre-long (500-mile) border.But the 21-year-old says he would gladly join him if compelled by conscription."He said it was a bit difficult to sleep in the jungle, and it rains a lot. But these difficulties don't discourage me at all," Ray Kimhak told AFP at his university in the capital."We are ready to protect our territory because when it is gone, we would never get it back."- 'We should be ready' -Cambodia's conscription law dates back to 2006 but has never been enforced. Hun Manet has said it will be used to replace retiring troops, though it is unclear how many citizens are set to be called up.The country of 17 million has a long and dark history of forced enlistment.Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge communist regime, which ruled from 1975 to 1979, conscripted fighting-aged men, and sometimes children, into its ranks as it perpetrated a genocide that killed two million.One 64-year-old who was conscripted by the Khmer Rouge at 17 told AFP he supported the government's decision, despite standing on a landmine during his time as a soldier."I was forced to be a soldier by Pol Pot," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity from the Thai border town of Sampov Lun."Being a soldier is not easy, but I support the government's plan of military conscription in the face of a border dispute with Thailand. We need to protect our land."Under the newly activated conscription legislation, those who refuse to serve in wartime would face three years in prison, while peacetime refuseniks would face one year behind bars.Sipping green tea at a cafe, 18-year-old IT student Oeng Sirayuth says he fully supports Hun Manet's call to arms."We should be ready, because tension with our neighbouring country is growing," he said. But personally he hopes for a deferral as he finishes his studies."I am a bit reluctant because I have never thought that I will have to join the military service," he said."I think 60 percent of young people are ready to join the military, so these people can go first, and those who are not yet ready can enter the service later."Under the modern-day conscription legislation, women will be allowed to opt for volunteer work rather than military service.But 23-year-old internet provider saleswoman Leakhena said she stands ready to serve on the frontlines.Last month her family delivered donations to Cambodian soldiers patrolling the border, where tensions have spiked with Thailand over a disputed area known as the Emerald Triangle."We have to do something to protect our nation," said Leakhena, speaking on the condition that only her first name was revealed."I feel proud for our soldiers. They are so brave," she added.- 'Trust needs to be earned' -Cambodia allocated approximately $739 million for defence in 2025, the largest share of the country's $9.32 billion national budget, according to official figures.Hun Manet has pledged to "look at increasing" the defence budget as part of reforms to beef up the military.But one young would-be conscript urged the government to defer its plans as the country recovers its finances from the Covid-19 pandemic."Our economy is still struggling," said the 20-year-old fine art student, who asked not to be named."We are in the state of developing our country, so if we enforce the law soon we might face some problems for our economy."Political analyst Ou Virak also said Cambodia's military faces challenges from within as it seeks to win buy-in from a new generation of conscripts."Military training, chain of command, and military discipline are all issues that need to be addressed," he told AFP."For conscription to work and be generally supported and accepted by the people, trust needs to be earned."

Thailand, Cambodia clash with jets and rockets in deadly border rowBy Montira Rungjirajittranon with Suy Se in Phnom Penh.

Bangkok (AFP) July 24, 2025-Thailand launched air strikes on Cambodian military targets on Thursday as Cambodia fired rockets and artillery, killing at least 11 civilians, in a dramatic escalation of a long-running border row between the two neighbours.The neighbours are locked in a bitter spat over an area known as the Emerald Triangle, where the borders of both countries and Laos meet, and which is home to several ancient temples.The squabble has dragged on for decades, flaring into bloody military clashes more than 15 years ago and again in May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a firefight.The conflict blazed up on Thursday, with Cambodia firing rockets and artillery shells into Thailand and the Thai military scrambling F-16 jets to carry out air strikes.The Thai ministry of public health said at least 11 civilians had been killed, most of them in a rocket strike near a petrol station in Sisaket province.Footage from the scene showed smoke pouring from the roof of a convenience store attached to the petrol station. Provincial officials said most of the dead were students inside the shop when the attack happened.Six Thai air force jets were deployed from Ubon Ratchathani province, hitting two "Cambodian military targets on the ground", according to Thai military deputy spokesperson Ritcha Suksuwanon.Both sides blamed the other for starting the fighting, which erupted near two temples on the border between the Thai province of Surin and Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey.Cambodian defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata said in a statement that Thai troops launched an "armed assault on Cambodian forces"."In response, the Cambodian armed forces exercised their legitimate right to self-defence, in full accordance with international law, to repel the Thai incursion and protect Cambodia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," she said.Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to address what his foreign ministry labelled "unprovoked military aggression".Thailand's government spokesman, meanwhile, accused Cambodia of being "inhumane, brutal and war-hungry", and Bangkok's foreign ministry said all border crossings had been shut and nearby residents evacuated.The Thai military blamed Cambodian soldiers for firing first, and later accused them of a "targeted attack on civilians", saying two BM-21 rockets had hit a community in Surin's Kap Choeng district, wounding three people.According to the Thai military, the clashes began around 7:35 am (0035 GMT) when a unit guarding Ta Muen temple heard a Cambodian drone overhead.Later, six armed Cambodian soldiers, including one carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, approached a barbed-wired fence in front of the Thai post, the army said.Around 8:20 am, Cambodian forces opened fire toward the eastern side of the temple, about 200 metres from the Thai base.Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said "the situation requires careful handling, and we must act in accordance with international law"."We will do our best to protect our sovereignty," he said.In a Facebook post, Thailand's embassy in Phnom Penh urged its nationals to leave Cambodia "as soon as possible" unless they had urgent reasons to remain.China, a close ally of Cambodia, said it was "deeply concerned" about the clashes, calling for dialogue -- while also urging its citizens in Cambodia to avoid the country's frontier with Thailand.- Long-running row -The violence came hours after Thailand expelled the Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own envoy in protest after five members of a Thai military patrol were wounded by a landmine.On Thursday morning, Cambodia announced it was downgrading ties to "the lowest level", pulling out all but one of its diplomats and expelling their Thai equivalents from Phnom Penh.Recent weeks have seen a series of tit-for-tat swipes by both sides, with Thailand restricting border crossings and Cambodia halting certain imports.The border row also kicked off a domestic political crisis in Thailand, where prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended from office pending an ethics probe over her conduct.A diplomatic call between Paetongtarn and Hun Sen, Cambodia's former longtime ruler and father of Hun Manet, was leaked from the Cambodian side, sparking a judicial investigation.Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called on both sides to "stand down" and start talks.Malaysia currently chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which both Thailand and Cambodia are members.burs-pdw/fox

US approves $322 mn in arms sales to Ukraine; German government moves to speed up military procurement-by AFP Staff Writers.

Washington (AFP) July 23, 2025-The United States on Wednesday announced the approval of $322 million in arms sales to bolster Ukraine's air defenses and its armored combat vehicles.The announcement of the sales comes after Washington temporarily halted some weapons shipments to Ukraine earlier this month even as Kyiv faced heavy Russian missile and drone attacks.The sale of HAWK air defense equipment and sustainment will cost up to $172 million, while Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle equipment and services will total up to $150 million, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said.The proposed HAWK equipment sale "will improve Ukraine's capability to meet current and future threats by further equipping it to conduct self-defense and regional security missions with a more robust air defense capability," DSCA said.And the Bradley equipment and services will help meet Ukraine's "urgent need to strengthen local sustainment capabilities to maintain high operational rates for United States provided vehicles and weapon systems," it said.The State Department approved the possible sales and the DSCA provided the required notification to the US Congress, which still needs to sign off on the transactions.The latest proposed military sale to Ukraine follows another announced in early May valued at $310.5 million for F-16 training and sustainment.Russia's President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022 and has shown little willingness to end the conflict despite pressure from the United States.Under former president Joe Biden, Washington committed to providing more than $65 billion in military assistance to Ukraine.But President Donald Trump -- long skeptical of assistance for Ukraine -- has not followed suit, announcing no new military aid packages for Kyiv since he returned to office in January.

German government moves to speed up military procurement.

Berlin (AFP) July 23, 2025 - Germany's government on Wednesday approved a draft bill to speed up military procurement as Berlin moves to build up its armed forces in the face of wavering US commitment to European security.The plans would make it easier for defence firms to receive advance payments from the state to start production sooner, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told journalists.Contracts worth less than 443,000 euros ($520,000) will also be exempt from the full procurement process, up from a current limit of 15,000 euros, Pistorius said.The threshold will rise to one million euros for construction projects, he added.He said the proposed bill represented a "quantum leap" for Germany's armed forces, unblocking progress on about 12,000 procurement processes.The changes will address the "jumble of regulations" that hindered "quickly building up Germany's defence readiness", he added.Presenting the bill alongside Pistorius, Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said Germany needed to become "technologically and industrially stronger than potential aggressors"."That is how we preserve peace," Reiche added.Berlin has rushed to rearm itself following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, accelerating that process after US President Donald Trump urged Europe to take more responsibility for its own defence.Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to build Europe's "strongest conventional army" to counter a perceived threat from Moscow.That represents a radical shift in a country with strong pacifist traditions due to its Nazi past.Spending on Germany's armed forces is expected to reach 162 billion euros in 2029, more than triple Germany's defence budget before the war in Ukraine.To become law, the cabinet's draft bill still needs to be passed by Germany's parliament.

Iran to meet European powers amid threats of UN sanctions snapback.

Istanbul, July 25 (AFP) Jul 25, 2025-Iranian diplomats will meet counterparts from Germany, Britain and France on Friday for renewed nuclear talks, amid warnings that the three European powers could trigger "snapback" sanctions outlined under the 2015 deal.The meeting, set to take place in Istanbul, will be the first since Israel's mid-June attack on Iran, which sparked a 12-day war and targeted key nuclear and military sites.Israel's offensive -- which killed top commanders, nuclear scientists and hundreds of others as residential areas were struck as well -- also derailed US-Iran nuclear talks that began in April.Since then, the European powers, known as the E3, have threatened to trigger the "snapback mechanism", which would reinstate United Nations sanctions on Iran by the end of August, under the effectively moribund 2015 nuclear deal.The option to trigger the snapback expires in October, and Tehran has warned of consequences should the E3 opt to activate it."Inaction by the E3 is not an option," a European source said, noting that Tehran would be reminded during the meeting that the snapback window closes this autumn.The source said Europeans are preparing to trigger the mechanism "in the absence of a negotiated solution" and called on Iran to make "clear gestures" regarding uranium enrichment and the resumption of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.Ahead of the talks on Friday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the meeting would be a "test of realism for the Europeans and a valuable opportunity to correct their views on Iran's nuclear issue," in remarks to the official IRNA news agency.- Sanctions -Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who will attend the talks Friday, alongside senior Iranian diplomat Majid Takht-Ravanchi, warned this week that triggering sanctions "is completely illegal".He also accused European powers of "halting their commitments" to the deal after the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 during President Donald Trump's first term."We have warned them of the risks, but we are still seeking common ground to manage the situation," said Gharibabadi.Iranian diplomats have previously warned that Tehran could withdraw from the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty if UN sanctions are reimposed.Restoring sanctions would deepen Iran's international isolation and place further pressure on its already strained economy.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has urged European powers to trigger the mechanism.Israel's June 13 attack on Iran came two days before Tehran and Washington were scheduled to meet for a sixth round of nuclear negotiations.On June 22, the United States itself struck Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz.Before the war, Washington and Tehran were divided over uranium enrichment, which Iran has described as a "non-negotiable" right, while the United States called it a "red line".The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran is enriching uranium to 60 percent purity -- far above the 3.67 percent cap under the 2015 deal and close to weapons-grade levels.Tehran has said it is open to discussing the rate and level of enrichment, but not the right to enrich uranium.A year after the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran began rolling back its commitments, which had placed restrictions on its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.Israel and Western powers accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons -- a charge Tehran has consistently denied.- 'Unshakable' -Iran insists it will not abandon its nuclear programme, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying " Iran's position remains unshakable, and that our uranium enrichment will continue."Araghchi has previously noted that enrichment is currently "stopped" due to "serious and severe" damage to nuclear sites caused by US and Israeli strikes.The full extent of the damage sustained in the US bombing remains unclear. Trump has claimed the sites were "completely destroyed", but US media reports have cast doubt over the scale of destruction.Since the 12-day war, Iran has suspended cooperation with the IAEA, accusing it of bias and failing to condemn the attacks.Inspectors have since left the country, but a technical team is expected to return in the coming weeks after Iran said future cooperation would take a "new form".Israel has warned it may resume strikes if Iran rebuilds facilities or moves toward weapons capability.Iran has pledged a "harsh response" to any future attacks.

US approves $4.67 bn sale of air defense system to Egypt.

Washington, July 24 (AFP) Jul 24, 2025-The United States on Thursday announced the approval of a $4.67 billion sale of the NASAMS air defense system and related support to Egypt.NASAMS -- the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System -- has seen recent use on the battlefield after being provided to Ukraine by Kyiv's supporters as part of efforts to bolster the country's air defenses against Russian attacks."The proposed sale will improve Egypt's capability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to detect various air threats," the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement.The deal also "will support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major non-NATO ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East," DSCA said.The State Department approved the possible sale of the system to Egypt and the DSCA provided the required notification to the US Congress, which still needs to sign off on the transaction.

Space Force general to oversee U.S. 'Golden Dome' missile shield-by Jake Thomas.

Washington DC (UPI) Jul 22, 2025-The U.S. Senate has approved Gen. Mike Guetlein to oversee President Donald Trump's national missile defense system, known as the Golden Dome.The Pentagon announced Tuesday that Guetlein had cleared the final hurdle to leading the Office of Golden Dome for America, which will work with industry, higher education, national labs and other government agencies to develop the high-tech missile shield.The Golden Dome is similar to Israel's "Iron Dome" and is intended to modernize the United States' defenses from threats from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. The missile shield will be designed for ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and other large-scale attacks.Guetlein is currently a Space Force general who serves as vice chief of space operations for the military service branch.Testifying to Congress in March, Guetlein compared the complexity of developing the Golden Dome to that of the Manhattan Project, a World War II-era initiative that produced the world's first nuclear weapons."It is not complex because of technology; it is complex because of the number of organizations and agencies that need to be involved," he told a Senate Senate Armed Services subcommittee.Building the Golden Dome will require cooperation between multiple government agencies, as well as private industry, he said. Guetlein described differences in organizational behavior and culture as the project's biggest challenges, which he said can be overcome by having an empowered and well-resourced agency in charge that has the support of policymakers.The Golden Dome project is expected to cost $175 billion and Trump has previously said it will be "fully operational" by the end of his term.The GOP-backed major tax and spending bill recently signed by Trump includes nearly $25 billion for the Golden Dome. Defense contractors are optimistic it will boost profits.Defense contractor Lockheed Martin on Tuesday reported $18.2 billion in second-quarter sales and predicted more growth as the Golden Dome Project progresses.Speaking during an earnings call Tuesday, Jim Taiclet, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, said the company has already developed missile defense systems that "are the exact solutions needed to make Golden Dome for America a reality."Taiclet added that the company's exact role in the Golden Dome project remains to be seen because "the plan on the government side isn't laid out yet."Chris Calio, chairman and CEO of RTX Corp., also expressed optimism that the project would bolster the company's bottom line during an earnings call Tuesday, saying it "is really well aligned with our core capabilities and product portfolio."The effectiveness of Israel's Iron Dome has been on display after it successfully shielded the country from hundreds of missiles launched by Iran.Trump administration officials say the Golden Dome will fulfill former President Ronald Reagan's vision of a "Star Wars" system that was never completed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said that technology has now advanced enough to build the expansive missile shield envisioned by Reagan.The United States has missile defense systems in place already, but they would not be able to defend against a large-scale attack from Russia, China, Iran or North Korea.Patrycja Bazylczyk, program manager and research associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Missile Defense Project, previously told UPI that the Golden Dome project could reorient the United States' defense for an era of "great power competition.""Our adversaries China and Russia have next-generation weapons that can threaten the U.S. homeland," Bazylczyk said. "We need to prime our defenses to defend against these next generation threats."

Syria rejects Kurd bid to keep weapons: government source.

Damascus, July 24 (AFP) Jul 24, 2025-Syria has rejected Kurdish demands to keep their weapons, a government source said Thursday, as a new round of talks on the Kurds' integration into the state was set to begin.The Kurds, who control large swathes of the north and east, are negotiating with the central government on the integration of their civil and military institutions into the state.Those include the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is Kurdish-led."Talking about refusing to hand over weapons or maintaining an autonomous military force is completely unacceptable," the source told the state broadcaster Al-Ikhbariya.According to the source, such a position "contradicts the principles of unifying the national army and the agreement reached last March between Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi".In March, Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi signed a deal to incorporate Kurdish institutions into the Syrian state.While talks have been held regularly since then, progress has stalled.Recent unrest in the south, where the new authorities have attempted to subdue the Druze minority, as well as ongoing violence targeting the Alawite community, has deepened Kurdish concerns.According to the Kurdish news agency Hawar, a planned meeting on Thursday in Paris between Kurdish representatives and a Syrian government delegation was postponed.During the recent violence in the southern Druze heartland of Sweida -- which left nearly 1,400 dead -- a senior Syrian Kurdish official called on the central government to urgently and comprehensively rethink its approach to minorities.Damascus, meanwhile, insists on reunifying the country at any cost.The government source's comments came a day after SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami told al-Yaum TV that disarmament is a "red line"."No one is surrendering in Syria. Those betting on our capitulation will lose -- the tragic events have made that clear," he added, referring to the communal violence in Sweida.Reacting to this, the Syrian government source said: "Using the events in Sweida or along the coast to justify refusing to return to the state fold is a manipulation of public opinion"."A genuine national dialogue cannot happen under the threat of weapons or with backing from foreign powers," the source added.On Saturday, Abdi, who is backed by Washington, met with US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack to discuss the southern unrest, according to the US embassy in Syria on X.

Risk highlighted as Chinese hackers hit Microsoft.

Paris, July 25 (AFP) Jul 25, 2025-Software giant Microsoft is at the center of cybersecurity storm after China-linked hackers exploited flaws in SharePoint servers to target hundreds of organizations.While such cyberattacks are not new, the scale of the onslaught and the speed with which the hackers took advantage of freshly discovered vulnerabilities is fueling concern.Dutch startup Eye Security warned Saturday of online attacks targeting SharePoint file-sharing servers, with Microsoft quick to confirm the report and release patches to protect systems.The vulnerability allowed hackers to retrieve credentials and then access SharePoint servers kept at users' facilities, according to Microsoft.Cloud-based SharePoint software was safe from the problem, the company said.- Targets -Eye Security determined that more than 400 computer systems were compromised by hackers during waves of attacks.Targets included government organizations in Europe, the Middle East and the United States - among them the US nuclear weapons agency, media reports indicated."On-premises SharePoint deployments - particularly within government, schools, healthcare and large enterprise companies - are at immediate risk," cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks warned in a note.Microsoft has not disclosed the number of victims in the attacks.SharePoint had more than 200 million active users as of 2020, according to the most recent figures available from Microsoft.- Attribution? -Microsoft has attributed the cyberattacks to groups backed by China.The culprits are believed to include Chinese state actors known as Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon along with a group called Storm-2603 which "is considered with moderate confidence to be a threat actor based in China."The Typhoon groups have been active for a decade or more, and are known for intellectual property theft as well as espionage, according to Microsoft.Less was known about Storm-2603 and its motives."Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are ongoing," Microsoft said, urging users to patch SharePoint servers to avoid becoming hacking victims.Cybersecurity specialist Damien Bancal noted in a recent blog post that he found "ready-to-use exploit code" for the vulnerability at a popular website.- Why Microsoft? -The assault on SharePoint servers is the latest in a series of sophisticated attacks carried out by state-sponsored groups against "the Microsoft ecosystem," according to Bancal.In 2021, attacks by a Chinese hacker group known as Silk Typhoon compromised tens of thousands of email servers using Microsft Exchange software.Microsoft's success at making its software commonplace in offices and homes also makes it a prime target for hackers out to steal money or information.Microsoft software can hold sensitive and valuable information."It's not Microsoft that is being targeted, it's its customers," said Shane Barney, head of information security at US-based Keeper.Targeting Microsoft programs is a means to an end, and tomorrow it could be software from another company, said Rodrigue Le Bayon, head of Orange Cyberdefense computer emergency response team.- China's role? -China is not the only nation backing hacker operations as countries around the world hone cyber capabilities, according to Le Bayon.Nevertheless, China is repeatedly singled out by companies and goverments hit by hacks.Western countries have accused hacker groups allegedly supported by China of conducting a global cyber espionage campaign against figures critical of Beijing, democratic institutions, and companies in various sensitive sectors.mng-juj/gc/arp/dw

Hong Kong issues bounties for 19 overseas activists on subversion charges.

Hong Kong, July 25 (AFP) Jul 25, 2025-Hong Kong police announced bounties Friday for information leading to the arrest of 19 overseas activists, accusing them of national security crimes.Political dissent in Hong Kong has been quashed since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020 after huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests the year before.Many opposition figures have fled abroad, while others have been arrested and sentenced to years in jail.Police said the 19 activists were involved in what they called a "subversive organisation", Hong Kong Parliament -- a pro-democracy NGO established in Canada.On July 1, Hong Kong Parliament said on social media that it was holding an unofficial poll online to form a "legislature", aimed at "opposing one-party dictatorship and tyranny and pursuing Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong".In a statement on Friday, police accused the group of seeking to "unlawfully overthrow and undermine the fundamental system" of the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities.The investigation into the organisation is ongoing, the police said, warning that they "will offer bounties to hunt down more suspects in the case if necessary".They also called on the accused to "return to Hong Kong and turn themselves in, rather than make further mistakes".A reward of HK$200,000 ($25,500) each was offered for 15 of the activists, while the four others were already wanted for HK$1 million, the statement said.- Symbolic bounties -The bounties are seen as largely symbolic given that they affect people living abroad in nations unlikely to extradite political activists to Hong Kong or China.Friday's announcement is the fourth time the financial hub's authorities have offered rewards for help capturing those alleged to have violated the city's national security laws.According to the Hong Kong police's website, as of Friday there are now 34 people wanted for national security offences, including secession, subversion, or foreign collusion.Previous rounds of bounties were met with intense criticism from Western countries, with Hong Kong and China in turn railing against foreign "interference".Hong Kong has also previously cancelled the passports of other pro-democracy activists on its wanted list, under its second homegrown national security law enacted in 2024.As of July 1, authorities had arrested 333 people for alleged national security crimes, with 165 convicted in Hong Kong.Earlier this month, Hong Kong police arrested four people, including a 15-year-old, who were allegedly part of a group in Taiwan that called for the overthrow of the Chinese Communist Party.This week police said they had arrested an 18-year-old for writing "seditious words" on a toilet wall in a commercial building.

UK, Australia back embattled submarine deal with US.

Sydney, July 25 (AFP) Jul 25, 2025-Britain and Australia said Friday they will sign a 50-year commitment to their nuclear-powered submarine pact with the United States, seeking to bolster a deal that Washington has thrown into doubt.The two countries cast their pledge as a historic treaty but gave few details beyond saying it would help economic cooperation and "underpin" the existing, three-nation AUKUS pact."It is a profoundly important treaty that we will sign tomorrow," Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles told reporters after talks in Sydney between the two countries' defence and foreign ministers.A US defence official last month revealed that a review of AUKUS was underway to ensure it "aligned with the President's America First agenda" and that the US defence industrial base was "meeting our needs".Under the 2021 AUKUS deal, Australia would acquire at least three Virginia-class submarines from the United States within 15 years, eventually manufacturing its own subs.The US Navy has 24 Virginia-class vessels but American shipyards are struggling to meet production targets set at two new boats each year.In the United States, critics question why Washington would sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia without stocking its own military first."A new government undertaking a review is the most natural thing in the world," Marles said of the decision by US President Donald Trump's administration.- 'Symbolism is important' -Australia had already contributed US$1 billion this year to help boost production and maintenance of submarines in the United States, he said."We are really confident that the production rates will be raised in America."Under AUKUS, Britain will eventually develop a new class of nuclear-powered attack submarines, the SSN-AUKUS, to enter service from the late 2030s.Australia would also build the SSN-AUKUS, with delivery expected to its navy in the early 2040s.British Defence Secretary John Healey said London welcomed the US review."It's an opportunity for the new administration to renew America's commitment to the deep AUKUS partnership that our three nations have," he said.In a government statement, Britain repeated previously released figures saying that the AUKUS submarine programme would lead to the creation of 21,000 UK jobs.It said the submarine programme was expected to be worth "up to" 20 billion pounds (US$27 billion) in British exports over the next 25 years.Analyst Tom Corben from the United States Studies Centre in Australia said the new treaty between Canberra and London was an important show of solidarity."The symbolism is important given everything else that is happening," he said.Britain's defence and foreign ministers were visiting Australia as their country's Carrier Strike Group and 3,000 personnel took part in annual Talisman Sabre military exercises across Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Macron appoints military advisor as new army chief by AFP Staff Writers.

Paris (AFP) July 23, 2025-President Emmanuel Macron has appointed his closest military advisor, an experienced fighter pilot, as the new chief of staff of France's armed forces, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Wednesday.Fabien Mandon, a 55-year-old air force general and former Mirage fighter jet pilot, takes over from Thierry Burkhard.The appointment of Mandon, who has extensive combat experience, comes after Macron last week called for a boost in France's defence spending, citing Russia as a threat for all of Europe.Macron said that "if you want be feared you must be powerful" and urged "mobilisation" by all government departments."I have every confidence in General Fabien Mandon," Macron said on X, adding he would "guide our forces in the face of major challenges".Lecornu said Mandon took on the job in the context of "an increasingly demanding security environment".Until Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, France's armed forces were mainly focused on international missions and asymmetric warfare against non-state actors, such as jihadist groups in Africa's Sahel.Over the past three years, Burkhard has overseen a strategic shift to include the possibility of high-intensity war between states.Mandon's career includes several foreign deployments, including in the Central African Republic, Chad, and Tajikistan, from where he flew missions in Afghanistan."I killed in Afghanistan. And I know whom I killed: Taliban. I have the soul of a fighter," he recently told French magazine L'Express.Mandon also served temporarily as commander at the Avord Air Base, where nuclear-capable fighter jets are stationed.Part of his brief at the Elysee has been to inform Macron about nuclear deterrence questions.bur-jh/as/jj

North Korea's Kim urges troops to prepare 'for real war'by AFP Staff Writers.

Seoul (AFP) July 24, 2025-North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has urged his military to be ready "for real war" as he observed a firing contest of artillery units, Pyongyang state media said Thursday.Kim's remarks follow the North's deployment of troops and weapons to help Russia during its more than three-year long offensive in Ukraine.Video footage aired by state-run Korea Central Television on Thursday showed soldiers from artillery units firing shells towards the sea.Kim is seen looking through binoculars at an observation post, flanked by two military officials, but the location for Wednesday's contest was not disclosed.He urged the soldiers to be ready "for real war" at "anytime" and be capable of "destroying the enemy in every battle", the Korean Central News Agency reported in an English dispatch.South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have reported Pyongyang sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia's Kursk region last year, along with artillery shells, missiles and long-range rocket systems.Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, Seoul has said.Kim offered Moscow his full support for its war in Ukraine during recent talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, state media reported previously.The two heavily sanctioned nations signed a military deal last year, including a mutual defence clause, during a rare visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang.

North Korea plans to build another 5,000-ton destroyer by AFP Staff Writers.

Seoul (AFP) July 22, 2025-North Korea vowed to build an additional 5,000-ton destroyer for its navy, state media reported Tuesday, after the nuclear-armed country launched two similar vessels this year.Leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to ramp up his country's naval capacities, and presided over the April launch of the country's first 5,000-ton destroyer-class naval ship, the Choe Hyon.South Korea's military has said the ship could have been developed with Russian help, possibly in exchange for deploying thousands of troops to help Moscow fight in Ukraine.Kim also presided over the botched launch of the destroyer Kang Kon in May, which was subsequently repaired and set afloat in June.Workers at the Nampho Shipyard pledged Monday at a rally to complete the new warship by October 10 next year, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.The date marks the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.The North will now construct the "Choe Hyon-class Destroyer No. 3" which it described as "a powerful warship of our own type".The Nampho dockyard manager urged workers to meet the construction deadline to uphold the party's "plan for building a powerful army" and "to firmly defend the inviolable maritime sovereignty and national interests," KCNA said.South Korea's new president, Lee Jae-myung, elected last month in a snap election, has promised a more dovish approach towards Pyongyang, compared with that of his hawkish impeached predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol.The Lee administration has halted loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the border, which Seoul began last year following a barrage of trash-filled balloons flown southward by Pyongyang.Seemingly in response, North Korea also ended its own propaganda broadcasts which had relayed strange and eerie noises into the South.

Iran says confronted US destroyer in Gulf of Oman-by AFP Staff Writers.

Tehran (AFP) July 23, 2025-Iranian forces on Wednesday warned a US destroyer to stay out of waters claimed by Tehran, state television reported, an interaction a US defence official said was "safe and professional" and did not affect the ship's mission.The exchange in the Gulf of Oman between the two rivals comes a month after the United States carried out strikes against three key Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war between Israel and the Islamic republic.State TV said an Iranian army helicopter flew over the USS Fitzgerald on Wednesday morning after the vessel "attempted to approach the waters under the supervision" of Iran.The destroyer issued threats of its own, the broadcaster said, but "the Iranian pilot... reiterated the warning to stay away from Iranian waters", forcing the US vessel to "give in" and alter its course.In a video released by Iranian state TV, a destroyer is seen from what seems to be a helicopter window as the pilot calls on the vessel to "change course" and avoid approaching Iranian territorial waters.A US defence official said the American ship "had a safe and professional interaction with an Iranian SH-3 'Sea King' helicopter while operating in international waters"."This interaction had no impact to USS Fitzgerald's mission and any reports claiming otherwise are falsehoods", the official added.Iranian forces have a history of confronting US forces in bodies of water off the country's southern coast.In 2023, Tehran said it forced a US submarine to surface while crossing the strategic Strait of Hormuz -- a claim Washington denied.

Germany approves Eurofighter jet delivery to Turkey-by AFP Staff Writers.

Berlin (AFP) July 23, 2025-Germany said Wednesday it had approved the delivery of Eurofighter jets to Turkey, clearing the way for a deal that had been delayed by tensions between the two countries.Turkey had been in talks for several years on buying 40 of the aircraft, which are constructed by a consortium from Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain.The Typhoon jets are to be built in Britain and London is leading the negotiations.But all members of the consortium must sign off on the sale and Germany, which has clashed with Turkey over Israel's war on Gaza, had objected.However, the defence ministry had now "sent a written confirmation to the Turkish government confirming the approval of the export", government spokesman Stefan Kornelius told journalists in Berlin.News outlet Der Spiegel reported that Chancellor Friedrich Merz had bowed to pressure from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as the project is expected to support about 20,000 jobs in Britain.After Germany gave the green light to the sale, the Turkish and British defence ministers signed a preliminary agreement in Istanbul on Wednesday for the delivery of the jets.The sale "will strengthen the decades-long friendship between key NATO allies and will be an important step towards enhancing Turkey's advanced air combat capabilities", Turkey's defence ministry said.British Defence Secretary John Healey said the deal would "strengthen NATO's collective defence, and boost both our countries' industrial bases by securing thousands of skilled jobs across the UK for years to come".Turkey's request for the planes was submitted to the German government more than two years ago, but the two countries have since clashed over the war in Gaza.Ankara has vocally criticised Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territory while Berlin has been a staunch supporter of Israel, although it has voiced some criticism over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. 

FRANCE,ITALY, UK ORDER MORE AIR DEFENCE MISSLES.

 JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

FRANCE,ITALY, UK ORDER MORE AIR DEFENCE MISSLES.

INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.

2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements (NUKES) shall melt with fervent heat,(BLAST) the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.(BUT ITS NO END OF THE WORLD HOGWASH)
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,(BY NUKES INCLUDING 3 BILLION PEOPLE) what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

JESUS SHED HIS BLOOD FOR US THAT WE CAN BE SAVED FOREVER.AND DURING WW3 PEOPLES BLOOD WILL BE SHED AS A JUDGEMENT FOR HATING HIM AND ISRAEL.GOD IS NOT MOCKED.

ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2  I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3  I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.

PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

EZEKIEL 5:15-17
15  So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the (ARAB/MUSLIM) nations that are round about thee,(ISRAEL) when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
16  When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17  So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts,(WHEN RUSSIA/MUSLIMS GET DEFEATED THIER BODIES GET EATEN BY BIRDS,ANIMALS IN ISRAEL MIGRATION SEASON) and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee;(NUKES) and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire,(NUKES) and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:(GOD/ISRAEL HATE AND BRAKING OF HIS COMMANDMENTS) the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die - 3 BILLION).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:3,30

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(ATOMIC BOMBS)(RUSSIA CHINA DESTROYED BY ISRAELS ATOMIC BOMBS)

REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)

REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.

MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

NAHUM 3:13
13 Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.

'Islamic terrorism will not have immunity,' Katz warns Syria-IDF strikes alleged Islamic Jihad nerve center in Damascus, said to be leader’s house-Member of terror group says Ziad Nakhaleh wasn’t home and building was ’empty’ when struck, though war monitor reports one person killed By Emanuel Fabian,-Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 4:15 pm-MAR 13,25

Israeli fighter jets on Thursday struck a residential building that the military said served as a Damascus headquarters for Palestinian Islamic Jihad to plan and carry out terror activities.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor of unclear funding, said the targeted building was located in the suburb of Dummar, northwest of the capital, and was inhabited by Palestinians. It said one person was killed.“The IDF will not allow terrorist organizations to entrench themselves in Syrian territory and operate against the State of Israel, and will respond forcefully to any such entrenchment,” the Israel Defense Forces said. It released footage of the strikes.A Palestinian Islamic Jihad member at the scene of the airstrike in Syria told The Associated Press that the apartment that was targeted was the home of the terrorist organization’s leader Ziad Nakhaleh.It was not immediately clear where Nakhaleh was, but he is believed to spend his time between Lebanon, Iran and Syria.The PIJ member, Ismail Sindak, said the apartment had been empty for years, adding that Nakhaleh was not in Syria. Asked whether anyone was killed in the strike, Sindak said, “The house was empty.”Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Iran-backed terror group sworn to Israel’s destruction, participated alongside Hamas in the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, in which over 5,000 terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, sparking the subsequent war.PIJ, which was part of the Gaza ceasefire negotiated in January and currently up in the air, has held a number of the hostages, and likely continues to hold some of the remaining captives, of whom 24 are still believed to be alive. The bodies of 34 dead — as well as the body of a soldier killed in 2014 — are also held in the Strip.Israel blasts ‘extreme Islamic’ Syrian leader-Defense Minister Israel Katz, confirming Thursday’s strike, said, “Wherever terror activity against Israel is organized, the extreme Islamic leader al-Jolani will find the Air Force aircraft flying above and striking terror targets.”Katz was referring to Syria’s interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, by his nom de guerre, which he used as the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group, an Islamist offshoot of al-Qaeda.“Islamic terrorism will not have immunity in Damascus nor anywhere else,” Katz added.In the months since his coalition ousted longtime president Bashar al-Assad, Sharaa and his government have projected a moderate image, repeatedly declaring a commitment to protect minorities, including Jews, as well as Druze and Kurds, in the country.The interim leader has objected to Israel’s continued military presence in southern Syria and to its strikes throughout the country, but he has declined to threaten Israel itself.On Thursday, Sharaa signed the country’s constitutional declaration, which will be enforced throughout a five-year transitional period.The interim leader said he hoped the constitutional declaration would mark the start of “a new history for Syria, where we replace oppression with justice,” as he signed the document setting out the transitional period.Israeli leaders, including Katz, have consistently stated that they do not trust Sharaa.Jerusalem has been especially tough in its criticism in light of massacres of Alawite civilians that began last Thursday, blamed on the interim government’s security forces, amid clashes with militants loyal to the old regime. Government reinforcements eventually restored order, and calm appeared to hold by late Monday.

Blood libel’: Israel slams UN report claiming it committed ‘genocidal acts’ in Gaza-Israeli officials, women’s groups accuse UN panel of bias and antisemitism for alleging Israeli forces ‘intentionally destroyed’ fertility center and perpetrated sexual violence-By ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 5:12 pm-MAR 13,25

Israel on Thursday denounced as a “blood libel” a new United Nations report that accused the country of perpetrating “genocidal acts” against Palestinians in the war started by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, and that claimed Israeli forces systematically destroyed women’s healthcare facilities and used sexual violence as a war strategy.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, women’s groups and Israel’s mission to the UN rejected the report as unfounded and antisemitic, saying it attempted to equate Israel’s conduct during the fighting in the Gaza Strip with the horrific acts of sexual violence committed by Palestinian terrorists during the Hamas-led atrocities that sparked the war. The Foreign Ministry called it “one of the worst cases of blood libel the world has ever seen.”The report was published Thursday by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel. The three-person body was formed in May 2021, following a previous round of conflict in Gaza, to probe alleged human rights violations.Israel returns fifth Lebanese prisoner after border delineation talks-Hezbollah-linked outlet reports that 14 Lebanese detainees still held by Israel, including 7 alleged members of the Iran-backed terror group-By Nava Freiberg Today, 6:56 pm-The Lebanese army on Thursday confirmed receiving the last of five detainees that Israel said it would free as part of what the Prime Minister’s Office called a “gesture to the Lebanese president,” following rare talks between the countries.The transfer comes after Tuesday’s military-to-military meeting at the United Nations peacekeeping headquarters in southern Lebanon’s Naqoura, during which Israel and Lebanon agreed to open negotiations to delineate their border, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.The US and France also participated in the meeting.The prisoner, who was not named, was brought to Lebanon by the Red Cross and taken to a hospital, the Lebanese Army wrote on X, after Israel released four other prisoners on Tuesday.Citing two US officials, Axios reported that one of those released is a member of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite terror group based in Lebanon that Israel has battled for decades.Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is affiliated with Iran and Hezbollah, named the final detainee expected for release as Ziad Shibli, saying he was returned separately due to injuries he sustained.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called the return of the detainees a “gesture” to new Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who has said he will work on improving relations with Arab countries and implementing reforms and whose election in January was seen as a setback for Hezbollah.Al-Akhbar also reported that 14 Lebanese detainees remain in Israel, including seven others who Israel says are Hezbollah members.The remaining prisoners could be used as future bargaining chips by Israel, becoming “a price Israel pays in installments whenever it secures a concession from across the border,” sources told Al-Akhbar.Disputes on ‘normalization’Following the four-way meeting in Naqoura, Israel and Lebanon announced that three joint working groups would be established, focusing on the five points Israel still occupies inside of Lebanon; the Blue Line that marks the de facto border between the two countries; the 13 points that are under dispute; and Lebanese citizens held by Israel.The working groups could meet as early as next month, according to Axios.While an Israeli official said the aim of the discussions “is to reach normalization,” a Lebanese source told the pro-Iran Al-Mayadeen channel on Wednesday afternoon that ties with Israel are not on the table.The three working groups, said the source, “are not separate from Resolution 1701, and will not engage in direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.”UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the previous round of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.“Everything being said about these working groups being a prelude to normalization is completely false,” said the Lebanese source.Land border negotiations-Al-Akhbar cited “informed sources” on Thursday, saying that “Lebanon does not want to bring non-military personnel into the [negotiation] process, and that the [working groups] will be composed of Lebanese officers, including experts and technicians, similar to the officers who participated in the Maritime Demarcation Committee.”Jerusalem and Beirut negotiated a maritime boundary in 2022 — an agreement brokered by the US that Netanyahu assailed at the time while serving as opposition leader — but the two countries have yet to adopt an official land border.Lebanon is “ready for land demarcation” but fears that negotiations “will lead to the loss of areas it is entitled to,” sources told Al-Akhbar.In addition to the five strategic points Israel currently operates in Lebanon, the border conflict centers on 13 disputed points along the border.The most recent ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon began on November 27, 2024, halting more than a year of hostilities initiated by Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war during which Israel sent in ground troops across the northern border.The fighting began with attacks by Hezbollah on the Jewish state on October 8, 2023, in support of Palestinian ally Hamas, which invaded southern Israel from Gaza a day earlier. Persistent rocket fire from Lebanon displaced some 60,000 Israeli civilians.“Everyone involved remains committed to maintaining the ceasefire agreement and to fully implement all its terms,” US Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus said in a statement on the new negotiations. “We look forward to quickly convening these diplomat-led working groups to resolve outstanding issues, along with our international partners.”Lazar Berman and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Iran’s top diplomat: Nuclear talks with US only possible on ‘equal terms’-Iranian FM says Tehran will achieve ‘nothing’ if it negotiates while under ‘maximum pressure’ from US, after Khamenei spurns Trump’s letter offering talks-By Reuters Today, 4:20 pm-MAR 13,25

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has not ruled out talks with Washington, but said they can only take place if both countries are on “equal terms,” an Iranian state-run newspaper reported on Thursday.Last week, US President Donald Trump said he had sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing nuclear talks, but also warned that “there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal.”“If we enter negotiations while the other side is imposing maximum pressure, we will be negotiating from a weak position and will achieve nothing,” Araghchi told the Iran paper in an interview.“The other side must be convinced that the policy of pressure is ineffective — only then can we sit at the negotiating table on equal terms.”Khamenei said on Wednesday that talks with the Trump administration would simply “tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran.”In 2018, under Trump’s first presidency, the US withdrew from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy. Tehran reacted a year later by violating the deal’s nuclear curbs.Khamenei, who has the final word in Iranian state matters, said last week that Tehran would not be bullied into talks.While leaving the door open for a nuclear pact with Tehran, Trump has reinstated the “maximum pressure” campaign he applied in his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports towards zero.Iran has long denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, its stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, has jumped, the International Atomic Energy Agency said late last month.Iran is sworn to Israel’s destruction, and Israel has threatened to attack Iranian nuclear sites if diplomacy fails to contain Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.Last year, Israel struck Iranian facilities including missile factories and air defenses in retaliation for Iranian missile and drone attacks. That reduced Tehran’s conventional military capabilities, according to analysts and US officials, an assessment disputed by Tehran.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Russia says forces poised to complete recapture of Kursk region as Witkoff heads to Moscow-Kremlin says troops took border town of Sudzha from Ukraine; Putin, wearing fatigues, visits territory; US negotiators head to Russian capital with 30-day truce plan-By Agencies Today, 3:13 pm-MAR 13,25

MOSCOW — Russia said on Thursday there was no doubt that its troops would soon complete the task of clearing out Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk region where they have held a pocket of territory for more than seven months.The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces were pounding remaining Ukrainian positions after capturing three more settlements, including the town of Sudzha, which is located near the border with Ukraine and lies on a road that Kyiv had used to resupply its forces.Ukraine’s top army commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Wednesday that Kyiv’s troops would keep operating in Kursk as long as needed and that fighting continued in and around Sudzha.Russian war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny, reporting from Sudzha, said: “The town is constantly being hit by enemy artillery, but focal resistance has been suppressed.”Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts from either side.Ukraine sprang one of the biggest shocks of the war on August 6 last year by storming across the border and grabbing a chunk of territory that Kyiv hoped to use as a bargaining chip in peace talks.But Russia’s forces, supported by troops from its ally North Korea, have gradually clawed back the lost ground, mounting what appears to be a final push just as the US tries to get Moscow to agree to a proposed ceasefire in the three-year war.President Vladimir Putin, donning combat fatigues, visited Kursk on Wednesday and ordered his commanders to swiftly finish the job.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that Russian troops would take “as long as necessary to save the maximum number of lives of our military and civilians. But there is no doubt that the Kursk region will be liberated soon enough.”Video from Sudzha, published by Russian media and military bloggers, showed scenes of devastation from the seven months of fighting, with burnt-out vehicles, roofless buildings and mountains of rubble. Regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said 120 Russian civilians had been rescued from the town and evacuated.The renewed Russian military push and Putin’s high-profile visit to his troops came as US President Donald Trump presses for a diplomatic end to the war. The US on Tuesday lifted its March 3 suspension of military aid for Kyiv after senior US and Ukrainian officials made progress on how to stop the fighting during talks held in Saudi Arabia.Trump said Wednesday that “it’s up to Russia now” as his administration presses Moscow to agree to the ceasefire. The US president has made veiled threats to hit Russia with new sanctions if it won’t engage with peace efforts.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that US negotiators were on their way to Russia, but he wouldn’t comment on Moscow’s view of the ceasefire proposal.“Before the talks start, and they haven’t started yet, it would be wrong to talk about it in public,” he told reporters.Senior US officials say they hope to see Russia stop attacks on Ukraine within the next few days.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that national security adviser Mike Waltz spoke Wednesday with his Russian counterpart.She also confirmed that Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will head to Moscow for talks with Russian officials, possibly including Putin.They are to present their plan for a 30-day truce in Ukraine, after receiving Kyiv’s backing earlier this week.Speaking to commanders Wednesday, Putin said he expected the military “to completely free the Kursk region from the enemy in the nearest future.”Putin added that in the future “it’s necessary to think about creating a security zone alongside the state border,” in a signal that Moscow could try to expand its territorial gains by capturing parts of Ukraine’s neighboring Sumy region. That idea could complicate a ceasefire deal.Ukraine launched the raid in a bid to counter the unceasingly glum news from the front line, as well as draw Russian troops away from the battlefield inside Ukraine and gain a bargaining chip in any peace talks. But the incursion didn’t significantly change the dynamic of the war.Meanwhile, Major General Dmytro Krasylnykov, commander of Ukraine’s Northern Operational Command, which includes the Kursk region, was dismissed from his post, he told Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne on Wednesday.He told the outlet he was not given a reason for his dismissal, saying “I’m guessing, but I don’t want to talk about it yet.”Russia says peacekeepers in Ukraine mean ‘direct armed conflict’Russia said Thursday that countries deploying peacekeepers in Ukraine would be engaging in a “direct armed conflict” with Moscow, and that it would respond to this by “all available means.”Ukraine has asked its European allies to deploy military “contingents” on its territory once the three-year conflict ends, to protect against future attacks from Russia.France and the UK have suggested they could deploy peacekeeping forces, but Moscow has balked at this idea — either as part of a ceasefire or as a long-term security guarantee for Ukraine.“It is absolutely unacceptable to us that army units of other states are stationed in Ukraine under any flag,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a briefing.“Be it a foreign contingent and a military base… all this would mean the involvement of these countries in a direct armed conflict with our country,” she added.

Jewish, Muslim groups condemn Trump’s use of ‘Palestinian’ as slur to put down Schumer-CAIR says using term in that way is ‘beneath dignity of his office’; Jewish groups say US president doesn’t get to decide who is a Jew and that his remark weaponizes antisemitism-By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 10:46 am-MAR 13,25

WASHINGTON — US Muslim and Jewish advocacy groups criticized US President Donald Trump on Wednesday for referring to the top Senate Democrat, Senator Chuck Schumer, as a “Palestinian,” with the organizations saying the president used the term as a slur.Trump, a Republican, was asked by reporters at the White House about US corporate tax rate policy during an Oval Office meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, and in response expressed displeasure with congressional Democrats not supporting his agenda. The Irish government is staunchly pro-Palestinian.“Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian,” Trump said apparently suggesting the veteran New York lawmaker has become too critical of Israel.Schumer is the highest-ranking elected US Jewish official and is not of Palestinian heritage.“President Trump’s use of the term ‘Palestinian’ as a racial slur is offensive and beneath the dignity of his office,” said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations.Awad, who is of Palestinian heritage, said Trump’s comments showed the “continuing dehumanization” of Palestinians.Jewish groups panned the remarks with some saying they amounted to antisemitism.“Donald Trump doesn’t get to decide who is Jewish,” Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, posted to X. “‘Palestinian’ should not be used as an insult. These comments are abhorrent but revealing of why the vast majority of Jewish voters have not and will never support Donald Trump.”“The goal for this administration isn’t to counter antisemitism or protect Israel. It’s to weaponize antisemitism to go after their political enemies, advance an extreme agenda, and undercut democracy — and it only makes Jews *less* safe,” Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, wrote on microblogging platform Bluesky.“Trump’s attack on Schumer is antisemitic and racist,” said Jonathan Jacoby, who leads the Nexus Project, an antisemitism watchdog. “He’s policing Jewish identity, invoking the dual loyalty trope, and implying Palestinians are evil. This is dangerous incitement. Jewish groups must say it clearly: the President is spreading hate and weaponizing antisemitism.”Progressive Zionist group New Jewish Narrative, meanwhile, called the remark “absurd and offensive.”The group added, “Schumer is Jewish, regardless of his views on Israel-Palestine or anything else. And ‘Palestinian’ is not a slur. To use it as such is pure racism.”The Anti-Defamation League also condemned the comments, saying in a statement, “A President has many powers, but none of them include deciding who is and isn’t Jewish. Doing so, and using ‘Palestinian’ as a slur, are both beneath any POTUS. Instead of weaponizing people’s identity, use the power of the bully pulpit to bring the American people together.”Trump’s comments also drew some praise. David Friedman, Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, tweeted the remark and wrote, “Metaphorically speaking, I couldn’t have said it better.”Generally, Trump has opted for such language to disparage Democrats whom he sees as inadequately supportive of Israel.In this case, however, Trump made the comments while talking about corporate tax rates. After saying that the American public will blame Democrats for high taxes, Trump launched into an aside on the New York senator, his top adversary in Congress who on Wednesday was opposing a Republican-drafted funding bill.Trump has previously denied allegations of being discriminatory and antisemitic. The White House and Schumer had no immediate comment.Both Trump’s supporters and opponents shared clips of the remark online.Wednesday’s remarks were the latest instance in which Trump has used “Palestinian” as an epithet to refer to Schumer, whom he once also falsely called “a proud member of Hamas.”Schumer, the Senate minority leader, has spoken frequently about his Jewish identity throughout his political career. He is soon to release a book about fighting antisemitism.Trump faced criticism from rights groups during last year’s election campaign in which he referred to former US president Joe Biden as Palestinian during a presidential debate. Trump also said last year that Jews who did not vote for him needed to “have your head examined.”Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.More recently, Trump has faced criticism over his plan for a US takeover of Gaza and a displacement of Palestinians from the enclave. His plan has been called a proposal of ethnic cleansing by rights groups, Arab states, Palestinians and the UN. Trump has apparently softened his stance on the plan.The Trump administration is also seeking to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who has played a prominent role in anti-Israel protests at New York’s Columbia University.

Analysis-Syria shows signs of peril and promise in a week of violence and diplomacy-Though the new regime in Damascus seems to have quelled sectarian violence and secured a deal to merge Kurdish forces into the army, analysts say the leadership has a long way to go-By ABBY SEWELL Today, 11:55 am-MAR 13,25

BEIRUT (AP) — After Syria’s longtime autocratic ruler was toppled late last year, the man who led rebel groups to victory immediately faced a new challenge: unifying the country after more than a decade of civil war.The peril and promise of Syria under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa — the former leader of an Islamist insurgent group — were on dramatic display over the past week. After days of deadly sectarian violence, a diplomatic triumph united a powerful force in the country’s northeast with the new national army.By Tuesday, it seemed as if Syria had made major steps toward quelling the tensions that erupted over the weekend. But analysts say the country still has a long way to go, and that the risks of sliding back into civil war, or partitioning the country along ethnic and sectarian lines, remain.The “path to rebuilding trust” will require Syria’s new leaders to do more to “protect lives and foster a sense of unity among all communities,” said Ammar Kahf, executive director of Omran Center for Strategic Studies in Istanbul.Building a stable, pluralistic society is also key to convincing Western countries to lift crushing economic sanctions that were placed on Syria during the brutal rule of former president Bashar al-Assad.A week of political whiplash-Beginning last Thursday, clashes between government security forces and armed groups loyal to Assad spiraled into sectarian revenge attacks that killed hundreds of civilians, most of them Alawites, a minority sect to which Assad belongs.Government reinforcements eventually restored order, and calm appeared to hold by late Monday.That same day, al-Sharaa had signed a landmark pact under which Kurdish-led forces in the country’s northeast would be merged with the new national army.The deal marked a major step toward unifying the disparate factions that had carved up Syria into de facto mini-states during its civil war. The civil war began in 2011 after the Assad government’s brutal crackdown on massive anti-government protests.Not a professional army-Most of the armed factions that fought to unseat Assad announced in January that they would join the national army. In practice, though, they have maintained their own leadership.“This is not a professional army,” said Issam al-Reis, a military adviser with Etana, a Syrian research group. “In theory, there are plans to join the factions into an army and merge everybody together under the Ministry of Defense. But so far, in reality, on the ground, everybody is still under his own umbrella.”On the other side, there are thousands of former soldiers from the disbanded Assad-era army who are now unemployed and “very easy targets” for local or international actors interested in upsetting Syria’s fragile stability, al-Reis said.The sectarian violence over the weekend was difficult to contain, analysts say, because the government had to turn to a patchwork of undisciplined factions – including armed civilians – to combat pro-Assad militants who attacked security forces along the coast. Members of some of those factions launched bloody revenge attacks on Alawite civilians.The violence only reinforced the “significant challenge to the Syrian (government’s) efforts to consolidate power,” said Kahf, of the Omran Center for Strategic Studies.A landmark deal-Unexpectedly, the violence appears to have expedited the deal to bring the Kurdish-led armed group controlling most of northeastern Syria, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, under the umbrella of the national army.The agreement came about when it did because al-Sharaa “needed to achieve a diplomatic victory” after the weekend violence damaged his image, said Ahmed Aba Zeid, a Syrian researcher. At the same time, the SDF calculated it could “achieve greater gains if it gave Sharaa this gift at this time,” he said.Under the agreement, border crossings, airports and oil fields in the northeast will also be brought under the central government’s control by the end of the year. Many details still need to be ironed out — including who will manage prisons holding Islamic State fighters captured by SDF — but the agreement gives al-Sharaa a much-needed political boost.He appears to have eliminated “the two most significant threats of division in the country within days,” Aba Zeid said.International players pushing for unification-The agreement between the SDF and the Syrian government came about with the blessing of two important international players: the United States, which has supported the SDF as a key ally in the fight against the Islamic State terror group; and Turkey, which backs Syria’s new leaders.“This would not have happened if the Turks weren’t willing to let it happen,” according to a senior US defense official who said Washington encouraged SDF to reach an agreement with Syria’s leaders. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.Although not written into the agreement, the official said Ankara had demanded assurances that the SDF would remove foreign fighters linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that had waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey before recently announcing a ceasefire.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech Tuesday, “The full implementation of the agreement reached yesterday will serve the security and peace of Syria.”Still, the new Syrian government faces an array of challenges.Israeli officials have vowed to demilitarize the southern Syria area close to Israel’s border and dispatched troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights.With sanctions by the US and its allies still in place, Syria will struggle to make significant investments in its economy and rebuild areas destroyed during the civil war.Alawites and other minorities that were already skeptical of the Islamist-led authorities in Damascus are more frightened — and hostile — than they were a week ago, despite promises by the country’s new leaders that those who attacked civilians will be held accountable.Al-Reis said that reassuring them will require the government to take “very strong measures” against the perpetrators.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

PM's office says still open to exiling Hamas chiefs from Gaza-Witkoff reportedly presents new proposal for Gaza truce extension to Israel, Hamas-Israel said to have responded ‘positively’ to plan for release of 5 living and 10 dead hostages if ongoing ceasefire further extended; hostage families express ‘serious concern’By ToI Staff Today, 11:28 pm-MAR 13,25

After arriving in Doha earlier this week, US special envoy Steve Witkoff presented Israel and Hamas with a new outline to extend the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip by several weeks in exchange for the release of five living and 10 dead hostages, according to reports on Thursday.The reports on the new proposal drew concern from the families of the hostages, who said the deal, if agreed upon, would leave their loved ones in captivity for a “long and undetermined length of time.”The existence and details of the new US outline was first reported by Axios, which cited sources familiar with the matter.The proposal, which differs from a previous outline put forward by Witkoff, would extend the current ceasefire by several weeks, until the end of both Ramadan and Passover, in exchange for the release of additional hostages, according to the Axios report. At the same time, Israel would also be required to resume the flow of humanitarian aid into the war-torn Palestinian enclave.Hebrew media outlets reported later Thursday that the US proposal provides for five living and 10 dead hostages to be returned, and extending the ceasefire for a further 42-50 days.Citing two unnamed sources, Axios reported that the extension, should all parties agree to implement it, would give the US additional time to negotiate a more concrete, long-term truce agreement.Should a long-term ceasefire agreement be reached, the report said that Hamas will be required to hand over all remaining hostages, living and dead, on the last day of the temporary truce extension, before the concrete ceasefire comes into effect.Israel gave “a positive response” to Witkoff’s latest proposal, the report said, while Qatar and Egypt are still awaiting Hamas’s response after delivering the details of the outline to the terror group on Wednesday night.According to a Channel 12 report, Israel has demanded that a larger number of living hostages be freed.Hamas, for its part, demanded that the US guarantee that there will be discussions on phase two of the current deal, which provides for the full withdrawal of the IDF and the end of the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to hold negotiations on the second phase despite the agreement’s stipulations.Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday that Netanyahu will convene top aides and security chiefs on Saturday night for a “situational assessment” on the latest developments of the hostage talks in Doha, and if no breakthrough is achieved by then, the premier will bring his negotiating team home.If the sides cannot reach an agreement based on the new Witkoff proposal, the Channel 12 report said that mediators were expected to push Israel and Hamas toward a smaller interim arrangement, under which a “solitary few” living hostages would be freed and the ceasefire maintained.The purpose of the smaller arrangement would be to buy more time for negotiations and avoid the complete collapse of the talks and a return to the fighting.In the course of the extended ceasefire, discussions would take place on “final summations” — an apparent reference to the end of the war.“If there is no progress in the next 48 hours, the Israeli delegation will return to Israel,” the report quoted a senior Israeli source as saying.The network also said that Israel’s demand for Hamas leaders to go into exile is “off the agenda” given the “stubborn opposition” from Hamas’s leaders in Gaza, quoting sources in Israel’s negotiating team as saying the demand was not going to be raised as an option in the ongoing talks.However, Netanyahu’s office firmly denied the report, calling it “fake news,” while confirming that the prime minister is open to extending safe passage abroad for the leaders of Hamas despite his repeated vows to destroy the terror group.“Fake news once again,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. “In contrast to the false report from Channel 12 this evening, the exile of senior Hamas officials has not been taken off the agenda.”‘Serious concerns’Following the reports, the families of the Gaza hostages expressed “serious concerns” about Witkoff’s proposal, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.“The reports about the outline for the return of just a few hostages raise serious concerns among the families of the hostages that their loved ones will be left in captivity for a long and undetermined length of time,” the forum said.The forum demanded a “comprehensive and immediate agreement that will return all 59 hostages in one fell swoop and leave nobody behind.”“Otherwise, the living hostages who remain in the tunnels will be sentenced to death, and we will not be able to locate and return the dead for burial,” it added.MK Benny Gantz, who heads the opposition National Unity party, expressed similar concerns, saying that Netanyahu was either making “concessions” to Hamas or “stalling.”“In the first hostage outline, we returned 10 living hostages per day, in the current outline, four per week, and now we are discussing a plan to return five live hostages per month,” he said.“The conclusion is simple — either Netanyahu is making concessions, or Netanyahu is stalling,” Gantz wrote, adding that “Israel’s interest is to return all the hostages as quickly as possible.”“What is happening now is that Netanyahu is allowing Hamas to rehabilitate instead of dismantling it, endangering the hostages instead of returning them, and preserving his coalition instead of national interests,” he concluded.Hamas has so far released 30 hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals — and the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives during a ceasefire that began in January. The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war.Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 41 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.The body of another soldier killed in 2014, Lt. Hadar Goldin, is still being held by Hamas and is counted among the 59 hostages.

Accordingly, Rajoub urged the Trump administration to engage with the PA leader without delay. “Whether we like him or not, [Abbas] is still legitimate, and his baby remains settling this conflict through peaceful means.”

It is rare for PLO officials to criticize Abbas, but Rajoub’s decision to go out of his way to hail the PA president in a rare interview with an English-language news outlet pointed to his desire to remain in good standing with him.While no elections are in the offing and the nearly 90-year-old Abbas has not named a successor, the 71-year-old Rajoub is often listed among those who could replace the PA president, given his strong positioning within Fatah along with other Palestinian factions.Those factions include Hamas, which Rajoub said could be part of the Palestinian leadership if it accepts PLO obligations, including recognition of Israel and accepting “non-violence as a strategic choice.”Implying an equivalence, he suggested those questioning whether Hamas should be included in Palestinian politics — particularly after the terror group’s atrocities on October 7, 2023 — were not treating Israeli hardliners with the same skepticism.“What about the same crazy groups inside Israel? No one is asking about [Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Bezalel] Smotrich,” he claimed, referring to the two far-right party leaders whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu partnered with two years ago to form the government.Still, Rajoub denounced Hamas’s actions on October 7.“I know that innocent people, including peace activists, along with women and children were killed that day. No one can support something like that,” said Rajoub, who is also the chairman of the Palestinian Football Association.“However, the conflict did not start that day,” Rajoub argued, pointing to decades of “home demolitions, settlement building, humiliations and killing” of Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.He claimed that the uptick in these actions under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule has led to an uptick in antisemitism outside of Israel, which has hit record levels in some Western countries following the October 7 attack and subsequent war in Gaza.“Israelis are now instructed to remove their kippa when abroad,” Rajoub said. “Is this what they want?”Pressed on calls for Palestinian political reform, given that the entire West Bank-based PA system is dominated by Abbas, Rajoub acknowledged that doing so was necessary and “in our national interest.”The PA has not held elections in nearly 20 years, and Rajoub said such a step would be essential, adding that a future Palestinian state must uphold the values of “democracy and political pluralism under the principle of one authority, one law and one gun.”“I think that we do need to make reforms… But the corruption in the PA is kindergarten compared to Mr. Bibi and his mafia,” he claimed, referencing the Israeli premier’s ongoing criminal trial.“Still, we should not lose hope, and we should not give up” on the goal of mutual recognition, Rajoub maintained.“Trust between us is zero. They have their reasons, and we have ours,” he continued, arguing that a third party is needed to move the parties in the right direction.“The third party is the international community, but it should be led by the Americans,” Rajoub said. “The Americans are the only ones who can exert pressure on these Israelis.”There was initial optimism in Ramallah that the US would be willing to play such a role in the lead-up to President Donald Trump’s return to office when his Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, managed to coax Netanyahu into agreeing to a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas after months of deadlock.But that feeling dissipated rather quickly, with Trump declaring his desire last month for the US to take over Gaza and permanently relocate all of its residents.“It’s a shame for this administration to abuse the suffering of innocent people,” Rajoub said.In the more immediate term, though, Washington is more focused on extending the ceasefire in Gaza through additional hostage-prisoner swaps between Israel and Hamas.Rajoub has a unique perspective on this issue, as he once was released from an Israeli prison during the 1980s through such a deal.He spent 17 years in custody for violence against Israel. Rajoub said he used the time to study the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.“My conclusion was that without making space for Israelis’ rational concerns… I can’t achieve my national aspirations,” Rajoub said.“The Israelis — like the Palestinians — have the right to live in peace, in security, with normalizations… but within the internationally recognized borders,” he added, referring to the armistice lines prior to the 1967 Six-Day War.Speaking to the kind of hostage deal that he would support, Rajoub said, “It should be everybody for everybody, so we can open a new chapter.”

Jewish anti-Zionist protesters storm NYC’s Trump Tower in support of Mahmoud Khalil-NYPD confirms multiple arrests as demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace rally to demand release of detained Columbia University anti-Israel activist-By Luke Tress Today, 10:38 pm-MAR 13,25

NEW YORK — Dozens of protesters stormed Trump Tower in New York City on Thursday to demand the release of detained Columbia University protest organizer Mahmoud Khalil.The protest came amid furious backlash over the Trump administration’s detention of Khalil, which has set off a legal battle and daily protests in New York since his arrest on Saturday night.The anti-Zionist activist group Jewish Voice for Peace posted images showing dozens of protesters chanting in the midtown Manhattan building lobby.“Free Mahmoud, free them all,” the protesters chanted.The demonstrators carried signs that said, “Fight Nazis, not students,” and “Jews for Palestinian Freedom,” and wore red shirts that said “Stop arming Israel.”“As Jews, we are taking over the Trump Tower to register our mass refusal,” JVP said in a statement. “We will not stand by as this fascist regime attempts to criminalize Palestinians and all those calling for an end to the Israeli government’s US-funded genocide of the Palestinian people.”The group posted footage of police removing protesters from the building.The NYPD told The Times of Israel that multiple individuals were taken into custody but that the number of arrests and charges had not been finalized.Khalil, a green card holder who finished graduate studies at Columbia in December, was a leading organizer for the university’s anti-Israel protest coalition.He was detained by immigration agents outside his home in New York on Saturday and remains in custody as his defense team seeks his release in an ongoing legal battle in a federal court in Manhattan.The White House has said Khalil was detained and faces deportation due to his protest group distributing pro-Hamas propaganda. Federal law prohibits aliens from espousing support for terror groups.Khalil’s supporters say he is being prosecuted for free speech.His detention is part of a wider crackdown on campus antisemitism by the Trump administration, which has also cut $400 million in funding to Columbia, announced investigations into dozens of other universities, and threatened to deport more foreign activists.

PM's office says he still wants Hamas's Gaza chiefs exiled-Witkoff reportedly presents new proposal for Gaza truce extension to Israel, Hamas-Israel said to respond ‘positively’ to plan for Hamas to release 5 living and 10 dead hostages amid further extension of ceasefire; hostage families others would be left behind-By ToI Staff 13 March 2025, 11:28 pm

After arriving in Doha earlier this week, US special envoy Steve Witkoff presented Israel and Hamas with a new outline to extend the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip by several weeks in exchange for Hamas releasing five living and 10 dead hostages, according to reports on Thursday.The reports on the new proposal drew concern from the families of the hostages, who said the deal, if agreed upon, would leave many of their loved ones in captivity for a “long and undetermined length of time.” Fifty-nine hostages are still held in Gaza, with 24 of them believing to be alive.The existence and details of the new US outline were first reported by Axios, which cited sources familiar with the matter.The proposal, which differs from a previous outline put forward by Witkoff, would extend the current ceasefire by several weeks, until the end of both Ramadan and Passover, in exchange for the release of additional hostages, according to the Axios report. At the same time, Israel would also be required to resume the flow of humanitarian aid into the war-torn Palestinian enclave.Hebrew media outlets reported later Thursday that the US proposal provides for five living and 10 dead hostages to be returned, and extending the ceasefire for a further 42-50 days.Citing two unnamed sources, Axios reported that the extension, should all parties agree to implement it, would give the US additional time to negotiate a more concrete, long-term truce agreement.Should a long-term ceasefire agreement be reached, the report said that Hamas would be required to hand over all remaining hostages, living and dead, on the last day of the temporary truce extension, before the concrete ceasefire came into effect.Israel gave “a positive response” to Witkoff’s latest proposal, the Axios report said, while Qatar and Egypt were still awaiting Hamas’s response after delivering the details of the outline to the terror group on Wednesday night.According to a Channel 12 report late Thursday, Israel has demanded that a larger number of living hostages be freed.Hamas, for its part, has demanded that the US guarantee that there will be discussions on phase two of the current deal, which provides for the full withdrawal of the IDF and the end of the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to hold negotiations on the second phase despite the agreement’s stipulations.Netanyahu will reportedly convene top aides and security chiefs on Saturday night for a “situational assessment” on the latest developments of the hostage talks in Doha, and if no breakthrough is achieved by then, the premier will bring his negotiating team home.If the sides cannot reach an agreement based on the new Witkoff proposal, the Channel 12 report said that mediators were expected to push Israel and Hamas toward a smaller interim arrangement, under which a “solitary few” living hostages would be freed and the ceasefire maintained.The purpose of the smaller arrangement would be to buy more time for negotiations and avoid the complete collapse of the talks and a return to fighting.In the course of the extended ceasefire, discussions would take place on “final summations” — an apparent reference to the end of the war.“If there is no progress in the next 48 hours, the Israeli delegation will return to Israel,” Channel 12 quoted a senior Israeli source as saying.The network also said that Israel’s demand for Hamas leaders to go into exile is “off the agenda” given the “stubborn opposition” from Hamas’s leaders in Gaza, quoting sources in Israel’s negotiating team as saying the demand was not going to be raised as an option in the ongoing talks.However, Netanyahu’s office firmly denied that claim, calling it “fake news,” saying Israel still wants Hamas’s Gaza leaders sent into exile while confirming that the prime minister is open to extending safe passage abroad for them.“Fake news once again,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. “In contrast to the false report from Channel 12 this evening, the exile of senior Hamas officials has not been taken off the agenda.”‘Serious concerns’Following the flurry of reports, the families of the Gaza hostages expressed “serious concerns” about Witkoff’s proposal, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.“The reports about the outline for the return of just a few hostages raise serious concerns among the families of the hostages that their loved ones will be left in captivity for a long and undetermined length of time,” the forum said.The forum demanded a “comprehensive and immediate agreement that will return all 59 hostages in one fell swoop and leave nobody behind.”“Otherwise, the living hostages who remain in the tunnels will be sentenced to death, and we will not be able to locate and return the dead for burial,” it added.MK Benny Gantz, who heads the opposition National Unity party, expressed similar concerns, saying that Netanyahu was either making “concessions” to Hamas or “stalling.”“In the first hostage outline, we returned 10 living hostages per day; in the current outline, four per week, and now we are discussing a plan to return five live hostages per month,” he said.“The conclusion is simple — either Netanyahu is making concessions, or Netanyahu is stalling,” Gantz wrote, adding that “Israel’s interest is to return all the hostages as quickly as possible.”“What is happening now is that Netanyahu is allowing Hamas to rehabilitate instead of dismantling it, endangering the hostages instead of returning them, and preserving his coalition instead of national interests,” he concluded.Hamas has so far released 30 hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals — and the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives during a ceasefire that began in January. The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war.Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 41 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.The body of another soldier killed in 2014, Lt. Hadar Goldin, is still being held by Hamas and is counted among the 59 hostages.

Syria’s interim president signs constitution enshrining Islamist rule for 5 years-Amid major wave of sectarian violence, which has posed first major challenge of post-Assad Syria, new regime issues constitution which it says will grant equality for all citizens-By GHAITH ALSAYED and Kareem Chehayeb Today, 12:11 am

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s interim president on Thursday signed a temporary constitution that leaves the country under Islamist rule while promising to protect the rights of all Syrians for five years during a transitional phase.The nation’s interim rulers have struggled to exert their authority across much of Syria since the Islamist former insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, led a lightning insurgency that overthrew longtime President Bashar Assad in December.Former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa is now the country’s interim president — a decision that was announced after a meeting of the armed groups that took part in the offensive against Assad. At the same meeting, the groups agreed to repeal the country’s old constitution and said a new one would be drafted.While many were happy to see an end to the Assad family’s dictatorial rule of more than 50 years in the war-torn country, religious and ethnic minorities have been skeptical of the new Islamist leaders and reluctant to allow Damascus under its new authorities to assert control of their areas.Abdulhamid Al-Awak, one of the seven members of the committee al-Sharaa tasked to draft the temporary constitution, told a news conference Thursday that it would maintain some previsions from the previous one, including the stipulation that the head of state has to be a Muslim and Islamic law is the main source of jurisprudence.But Al-Awak, a constitutional law expert who teaches at Mardin Artuklu University in Turkey, also said that the temporary constitution includes provisions that enshrine freedom of expression and the media.The constitution will “balance between social security and freedom” during Syria’s shaky political situation, he said, and will set up an “absolute and rigid separation” between legislative, executive and judicial authorities.The text of the temporary constitution, published late Thursday, sets up a People’s Committee that will serve as an interim parliament until a permanent constitution is adopted and elections held. Two-thirds of its members will be appointed by a committee selected by the interim president and one-third by al-Sharaa himself.The documents says the state is “committed to combatting all forms of violent extremism while respecting rights and freedoms” and that “citizens are equal before the law in rights and duties, without discrimination based on race, religion, gender or lineage.” It stipulates that the army is a “professional national institution” and arms outside of its control are prohibited and designates “glorifying the former Assad regime” as a crime.A new committee to draft a permanent constitution will be formed, but it’s unclear if it will be more inclusive of Syria’s political, religious and ethnic groups.Al-Sharaa on Monday reached a landmark pact with the US-backed Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria, including a ceasefire and a merging of their armed forces with the central government’s security agencies.The deal came after government forces and allied groups crushed an insurgency launched last week by gunmen loyal to Assad. Rights groups say that hundreds of civilians — mostly from the Alawite minority sect to which Assad belongs — were killed in retaliatory attacks by factions in the counteroffensive.A key goal of the interim constitution was to give a timeline for the country’s political transition out of its interim phase. In December, Al-Sharaa said that it could take up to three years to rewrite Syria’s constitution and up to five years to organize and hold elections.Al-Sharaa appointed a committee to draft the new constitution after Syria held a national dialogue conference last month, which called for announcing a temporary constitution and holding an interim parliamentary election. Critics said that the hastily-organized conference wasn’t inclusive of Syria’s different ethnic and sectarian groups or civil society.The United States and Europe have been hesitant to lift harsh sanctions imposed on Syria during Assad’s rule until they are convinced that the new leaders will create an inclusive political system and protect minorities. Al-Sharaa and regional governments have been urging them to reconsider, fearing that the country’s crumbling economy could bring further instability.Also Thursday, an Israeli airstrike struck an apartment building in a suburb of the capital, wounding three people, one of them critically, Syria’s state media and a paramedic group said.Israel’s military said that the airstrike on the Damascus suburb of Dummar targeted a command center of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.The military said that the command center has been used to direct attacks against Israel and vowed to “respond forcefully” to the presence of Palestinian terror groups inside Syria.Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that “whenever terrorist activity is organized against Israel,” al-Sharaa “will find air force planes circling above him and attacking terrorist targets.”A Palestinian Islamic Jihad member at the scene of the airstrike in Syria told The Associated Press that the apartment that was targeted was the home of the group’s leader, Ziad Nakhaleh.Ismail Sindak said the apartment had been empty for years, adding that Nakhaleh isn’t in Syria. Asked whether anyone was killed in the strike, Sindak said that “the house was empty.”Also Thursday, a delegation including Turkey’s top diplomat, defense minister and intelligence chief paid a sudden visit to Damascus, days after a deal was reached between the Kurdish-led armed group controlling most of northeastern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces, and Syria’s interim government and after last week’s eruption of violence on the Syrian coast.Meanwhile, thousands of Syrians who fled the sectarian violence are still sheltering in a Russian airbase in the coastal Latakia province.Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a briefing Thursday that “our military sheltered more than 8,000, according to yesterday’s data, probably closer to 9,000 Syrians, mostly women and children.”

Israel and US said in contact with Sudan, Somalia about resettling Gazans-Officials say approaches also made to breakaway region of Somaliland; Sudanese source says proposal rejected, officials from other two say unaware of issue being broached-By AP and ToI Staff Today, 11:09 am-MAR 14,25

The US and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians uprooted from the Gaza Strip under US President Donald Trump’s proposed postwar plan, American and Israeli officials said.The contacts with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway Somali region known as Somaliland reflect the determination by the US and Israel to press ahead with a plan that has been widely condemned but has also jolted new energy into planning for Gaza’s future.Officials from Sudan said they had rejected overtures from the US, while officials from Somalia and Somaliland told The Associated Press that they were not aware of any contacts.Because all three places are poor, and in some cases wracked by violence, the proposal also casts doubt on Trump’s stated goal of resettling Gaza’s Palestinians in a “beautiful area” where they would enjoy a higher standard of living than in the Strip.Trump proposed the plan after a US, Egyptian, and Qatari-mediated ceasefire halted 15 months of war in the Gaza Strip that began on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led 5,000 attackers to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting hundreds, mostly civilians.The war caused widespread devastation to Gaza, raising the need for a comprehensive rehabilitation plan that Israel has demanded include a new administration to replace Hamas’s rule. In the meantime, the complex three-phase ceasefire, which included the release of hostages, has stalled after its first stage amid mutual accusations of violations by Israel and Hamas, though so far fighting has not resumed.Under Trump’s plan, Gaza’s more than 2 million people would be permanently sent elsewhere. He has proposed that the US would take ownership of the territory, oversee a lengthy cleanup process and develop it as a real estate project.The idea of a mass transfer of Palestinians was once considered a fantasy of Israel’s ultranationalist fringe. But since Trump presented the idea at a White House meeting last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed it as a “bold vision.”His allies, including Defense Minister Israel Katz, have touted the formation of a government-backed body to encourage and facilitate voluntary migration out of the Strip.Palestinians in Gaza have rejected Trump’s proposal and dismissed Israeli claims that the departures would be voluntary. Arab nations have expressed vehement opposition and offered an alternative reconstruction plan that would leave the Palestinians in place.Rights groups have said forcing or pressuring the Palestinians to leave could be a potential war crime. On Wednesday, the president appeared to back off the plan somewhat, saying “Nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza,” in answer to a question during an Oval Office meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.Earlier, the White House had said that Trump “stands by his vision.”Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a secret diplomatic initiative, US and Israeli officials confirmed the contacts with Somalia and Somaliland, while the Americans confirmed Sudan as well. They said it was unclear how much progress the efforts made or at what level the discussions took place.Separate outreach from the US and Israel to the three potential destinations began last month, days after Trump floated the Gaza plan alongside Netanyahu, according to the US officials, who said that Israel was taking the lead in the discussions.Israel and the US have a variety of incentives — financial, diplomatic and security — to offer these potential partners. It is a formula that Trump used five years ago when he brokered the Abraham Accords — a series of mutually beneficial diplomatic accords between Israel and four Arab countries.The White House declined to comment on the outreach efforts.The offices of Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a Netanyahu confidant who has been leading Israel’s postwar planning, also had no comment.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a longtime advocate of what he calls “voluntary” emigration of Palestinians, said this week that Israel is working to identify countries to take in Palestinians.He also said Israel is preparing a “very large emigration department” within its Defense Ministry.Here is a closer look at the places the officials say have been approached.Sudan-The North African country was among the four Abraham Accord nations that agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020.As part of the deal, the US removed Sudan from its list of state supporters of terrorism, a move that gave the country access to international loans and global legitimacy. But relations with Israel never took off as Sudan plunged into civil war between government forces and the RSF paramilitary group.The conflict has been marked by atrocities, including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the UN and rights groups. The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, and then-US president Joe Biden’s administration in January said the RSF and its proxies were committing genocide.The US and Israel would be hard-pressed to persuade Palestinians to leave Gaza, particularly to such a troubled country. But they could offer incentives to the Khartoum government, including debt relief, weapons, technology and diplomatic support.Two Sudanese officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic matter, confirmed that the Trump administration has approached the military-led government about accepting Palestinians.One of them said the contacts began even before Trump’s inauguration with offers of military assistance against the RSF, assistance with postwar reconstruction and other incentives.Both officials said the Sudanese government rejected the idea.“This suggestion was immediately rebuffed,” said one official. “No one opened this matter again.”Military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan told an Arab leaders’ summit last week in Cairo that his country “categorically rejects” any plan that aims to transfer “the brotherly Palestinians from their land under whatever justification or name.”Somaliland-Somaliland, a territory of over 3 million people in the Horn of Africa, seceded from Somalia over 30 years ago, but it is not internationally recognized as an independent state. Somalia considers Somaliland part of its territory.Somaliland’s new president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, has made international recognition a priority.An American official involved in the efforts confirmed that the US was “having a quiet conversation with Somaliland about a range of areas where they can be helpful to the US in exchange for recognition.”The possibility of US recognition could provide an incentive for Abdullahi to back away from the territory’s solidarity with the Palestinians.The United Arab Emirates, another Abraham Accord country that has developed strong ties with Israel, once had a military base in Somaliland and maintains commercial interests there, including a port. The territory’s strategic location, in the Gulf of Aden waterway near Yemen, home to the Houthi rebel group, could also make it a valuable ally.Over the years, Somaliland has been lauded for its relatively stable political environment, contrasting sharply with Somalia’s ongoing struggles amid deadly attacks by al-Qaeda-linked extremist group al-Shabab. Since 1991, Somaliland has maintained its own government, currency and security structures. Still, it has one of the lowest income levels in the world.An official in Somaliland, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said his government has not been approached and is not in talks about taking in Palestinians.Somalia-Somalia has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinians, often hosting peaceful protests on its streets in support of them. The country joined the recent Arab summit that rejected Trump’s plan and seems like an unlikely destination for Palestinians, even if they did agree to move.Sambu Chepkorir, a lawyer and conflict researcher in Nairobi, Kenya, said it is difficult to understand why Somalia would want to host Palestinians given the country’s strong support for Palestinian self-rule.“The realignments keep changing, and so maybe there is a hidden agenda in why Somalia,” Chepkorir said.A Somali official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the country had not been approached about taking in Palestinians from Gaza and there had been no discussions about it.

IDF troops shoot dead two suspects trying to cross into Israel from Jordan-Suspects were part of group of migrants looking for work; six others with them arrested; troops opened fire after pair said to have ‘jumped out of the bushes’ at them-By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff Today, 8:45 am-MAR 14,25

Israeli soldiers shot dead two suspects who crossed into Israel from Jordan near the northern town of Beit She’an shortly after midnight between Thursday and Friday, the military said.The two suspects were part of a group of at least eight who were trying to cross into Israel together. Israeli troops arrested the other six suspects.The eight had been identified by soldiers monitoring surveillance cameras, who dispatched troops to the scene.The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that as the troops arrived at the scene, “the suspects approached the forces in a way that was a threat to them,” and they opened fire, hitting the two.The Kan public broadcaster cited one of the troops as saying: “While we were searching, two suspects suddenly jumped out of the bushes at us, so we opened fire.” The sudden movement led the troops to believe that they were under threat.The pair of suspects succumbed to their wounds, while the other six were taken into custody for questioning.According to a military source, all of the suspects appeared to be migrants looking for work.No IDF soldiers were injured during the incident.Late last year, the Defense Ministry said it had begun preliminary work to establish a fence along the entire border with Jordan to prevent infiltrations into the country.The move to upgrade defenses along the 309-kilometer (192-mile) border running from Eilat through the West Bank to the tip of the Golan Heights, ordered by Defense Minister Israel Katz, is the latest attempt by the government to take up the plan, which has long been bandied about but never advanced.The work will include mapping out potential environmental hazards, conducting soil surveys, and laying an initial section of the fence with surveillance equipment and networking infrastructure.There is an aging chain link fence equipped with sensors along some of the border that Jordan shares with Israel and the West Bank. Other sections are only equipped with barbed wire.The border’s porousness has made it a site of frequent gun- and drug-running, as well as for work migrants to try and enter Israel or the West Bank for employment.

China hosts Iranian, Russian diplomats for nuclear talks.

Beijing, March 14 (AFP) Mar 14, 2025-China hosted Russian and Iranian diplomats on Friday for talks Beijing hopes will restart long-stalled negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program.The United States withdrew from a landmark 2015 deal, which imposed curbs on Tehran's nuclear development in return for sanctions relief, during US President Donald Trump's first term.Since his return to the White House in January, the Republican president has called for a new nuclear deal with Iran, but Tehran says no such agreement is possible so long as punishing sanctions remain in place.The effort to secure a pact was given new urgency last month when the UN's nuclear watchdog said Iran had significantly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.Beijing has said it hopes Friday's talks will "strengthen communication and coordination, to resume dialogue and negotiation at an early time".A readout of the meeting by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the three diplomats "exchanged views on the Iran nuclear issue and other issues of common concern".State media did not share any further details of the discussion, which was attended by China's Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.Trump has reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy of sanctions against Iran, mirroring his approach during his first term.This week, he sent a letter to Tehran urging nuclear talks -- warning of possible military action if it refuses.Tehran said the letter, which the US President said was addressed to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was currently "being reviewed"."Ultimately, the United States should lift the sanctions," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview published Thursday by the government's official newspaper."We will enter into direct negotiations when we are on an equal footing, free from pressure and threats, and are confident that the national interests of the people will be guaranteed."The same day, Washington upped its pressure campaign by imposing sanctions on Iranian Petroleum Minister Mohsen Paknejad.The US Treasury Department also blacklisted the owners or operators of vessels it said were engaged in transporting Iranian oil trade to China.In February, a report by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had significantly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to 60 percent purity -- close to the 90 percent needed for an atomic bomb.Iran's supreme leader Khamenei said this week that his country "does not have nuclear weapons" and was "not seeking" them. Tehran has previously said its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

China urges end to 'illegal' sanctions as it hosts Iran nuclear talks.

Beijing, March 14 (AFP) Mar 14, 2025-China urged an end to "illegal" sanctions on Iran as it hosted Iranian and Russian diplomats on Friday for talks Beijing hopes will restart long-stalled negotiations on Tehran's nuclear programme.The United States withdrew from a landmark 2015 deal, which imposed curbs on Tehran's nuclear development in return for sanctions relief, during US President Donald Trump's first term.The Republican president has called for a new nuclear deal with Iran since his return to the White House in January but Tehran says no such agreement is possible so long as punishing sanctions remain in place.The effort to secure a pact was given new urgency last month when the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had significantly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.Beijing hosted Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov for talks on Friday it said it hoped would help "resume dialogue and negotiation at an early time".Meeting the diplomats, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed "the comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue is an important achievement achieved through dialogue and negotiation"."Now the situation has reached a critical juncture again. We must buy time for peace, resolve disputes through political and diplomatic means, and oppose the use of force and illegal sanctions," he said.And the US should demonstrate "political sincerity and return to talks at an early date", said a statement from Beijing's foreign ministry, which outlined propositions from China on the Iranian nuclear issue."All parties should... refrain from actions that might escalate the situation," the statement added.- 'Peaceful' nuclear programme -Gharibabadi, in turn, hailed the "constructive" talks in Beijing and said Iran's nuclear programme "is peaceful in nature"."Our nuclear programme has never been diverted to non-peaceful purposes," Gharibabadi said."But unfortunately, some countries are trying to create an unnecessary crisis in this regard.""The main root cause of the current situation is the unilateral withdrawal of the United States," Gharibabadi said.The Russian and Iranian officials met China's Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu earlier on Friday and "exchanged views on the Iran nuclear issue and other issues of common concern", Chinese state media said.Ma reiterated after that meeting China's support for "political and diplomatic engagement and dialogue based on mutual respect"."We emphasised the necessity of ending all illegal, unilateral sanctions," Ma told reporters."The relevant parties should work to eliminate the root causes of the current situation and abandon sanctions, pressure, and threats of the use of force."Iran's ambassador to China said later on social media platform X the meeting was a "complete success".The talks resulted in important agreements on "trilateral cooperation on important international issues, including the need for the three countries to cooperate in confronting" US sanctions, he said.- 'Maximum pressure' Trump has reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy of sanctions against Iran, mirroring his approach during his first term.He sent a letter to Tehran this week urging nuclear talks and warning of possible military action if it refuses.Tehran said the letter, which Trump said was addressed to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was currently "being reviewed"."Ultimately, the United States should lift the sanctions," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview published by the government's official newspaper on Thursday.Washington upped its pressure campaign the same day by imposing sanctions on Iranian Petroleum Minister Mohsen Paknejad.The US Treasury Department also blacklisted the owners or operators of vessels it said were engaged in transporting Iranian oil to China.A report by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in February said Iran had significantly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to 60 percent purity -- a short step from the 90 percent needed for a nuclear weapon.Khamenei said this week Iran "does not have nuclear weapons" and was "not seeking" them. Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

'Very broad consensus' emerging among Europeans on Ukraine: France-By Mathieu RABECHAULT.

Paris (AFP) Mar 12, 2025-A "very broad consensus" is emerging among European nations on boosting Ukraine's long-term security through the Ukrainian armed forces, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Wednesday after a meeting of Europe's five key defence powers in Paris.The defence ministers of France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Poland addressed reporters after meeting for talks in Paris.They acknowledged the challenges posed by the new administration of Donald Trump in the US -- which is seeking direct talks with Russia to end the war sparked by the Russian 2022 invasion of Ukraine -- while insisting Europe was ready to stand on its own feet."There is obviously a very broad consensus emerging... that the first of the security guarantees for Ukraine is obviously the Ukrainian army itself," Lecornu told reporters, ruling out any postwar "demilitarisation" of Ukraine."The word 'demilitarisation' is emerging, but it is not the case. On the contrary, the real guarantee of long-term security will be the capabilities that we will be able to give to the Ukrainian army," Lecornu, a top ally of President Emmanuel Macron, added.Lecornu said that "at this stage, about fifteen countries have shown an interest in continuing this process," referring to proposed options for a "security architecture" with a view to a lasting ceasefire" in Ukraine.He warned against seeing Ukraine's post-war security solely in terms of European troops who could be deployed there, repeatedly insisting that this was not an issue to be decided on now.Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz also welcomed a "real unity of the continent", referring to the threat from Russia.In his view, it was a matter of "keeping Russia at a distance from all our states as much as possible, and to do that, we must help Ukraine".- 'US engagement is essential' -German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that, despite the rapid pace of change, the current situation could help Europe."I am convinced that if we act now, if we choose security in Europe over the nitty-gritty of national interest, we will emerge from this situation strengthened," he said.UK Defence Secretary John Healey said Britain and its allies knew that "we must step up" and re-arm."We are looking to build a coalition," he said. "We are accelerating this work."He added: "In the coming weeks you will see European allies coming closer together."He also spoke of "decisive days in the push for peace in Ukraine", but added that after Tuesday's agreement between Ukraine and the US it was up to Russia to show it was serious."I say to President (Vladimir) Putin 'it is over to you now'. You said you wanted talks. Prove it. Accept the ceasefire, start negotiations, and end the war""Make no mistake: the pressure is now on Putin," he said.The defence ministers spoke after Ukraine on Tuesday gave the nod to a US-backed plan for a 30-day ceasefire, at talks in Saudi Arabia.They also released a joint statement saying they had decided to "remain committed to NATO as the cornerstone of collective defence.""US engagement is essential in that regard," the joint statement said.Ukraine's deputy defence minister, Serhii Boiev, took part in the meeting by video link, according to the statement.Wednesday's meeting came after Macron on Tuesday called on military chiefs from across Europe and beyond to move "from concept to plan" and draw up a plan "to define credible security guarantees" for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, the Elysee said.That rare meeting on Tuesday in Paris gathered representatives from 34 countries -- most of them from Europe and NATO, but also from Australia, New Zealand and Japan -- but excluded officials from the United States.

France, Italy, UK order more air defence missiles.

Paris, March 14 (AFP) Mar 14, 2025-Paris, Rome and London said Friday they had ordered new air defence missiles after a shock US policy shift in ties with Europe.European governments are under pressure to step up on defence after US President Donald Trump questioned whether the United States -- the guarantor of Europe's security since World War II -- should continue its central role in NATO."France, Italy and United Kingdom, confirm the order of 218 additional Aster missiles and the acceleration of delivery of already ordered Aster missiles," the countries said in a joint statement.The deal underscored "the unwavering commitment of France, Italy and United Kingdom to bolster their air defence capabilities," they said.It would also ensure "speedier delivery, from 2025, of 134 missiles previously ordered" in December 2022, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on X.Aster 15 and 30 missiles are produced by pan-European manufacturer MBDA.The order is for an unspecified number of new Aster 30 B1 missiles, to enter into service next year, that are to be used in the future French and Italian SAMP/T land-to-air defence systems as well as the navy ships of the three nations.They are to be capable of reaching a target flying at an altitude of 2,500 metres (8,200 feet) within a range of 150 kilometres (93 miles).They are to be able to intercept planes, but also medium-range ballistic missiles as well as hypersonic weapons travelling at above five times the speed of sound.A single Aster 30 missile is estimated to cost more than 2 million euros ($2.1 million), according to the French Institute of International Relations.The order also includes an unspecified number of new Aster 15 missiles to be used by the French navy.

Thousands gather at Hostages Square for Purim revelry colored by hopes for captives’ salvation-Families write to Trump, calling him their only hope after ‘abandonment’ by government; ex-hostage Omer Shem Tov tears down ‘kidnapped’ sign, jokes about Hamas kiss to celebrate freedom-By ToI Staff Today, 12:02 pm-MAR 14,25

Thousands crowded into Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Thursday night for the Purim eve reading of the Book of Esther, which tells the story of the biblical heroine Queen Esther saving the Jewish people from extermination in what is now modern-day Iran, as they connected the plight of the Jews in the ancient city of Shushan to that of the hostages, held in the Gaza Strip by Iran-backed terrorists.Nearby, hundreds of protesters gathered to support the families of the hostages on the sixth day of their encampment outside the IDF’s headquarters, where they are attempting to put pressure on those in charge to clinch a deal for the release of the remaining 59 hostages.The Purim gathering at Hostages Square, which included Israelis from different communities, sectors and denominations, also called for parties to agree to a comprehensive deal to return the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip in one fell swoop, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main non-government organization representing families of hostages.Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of freed hostage Romi Gonen, participated in the event.The event was dedicated to the 59 hostages still in captivity, 58 of whom were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The Gaza terror group is also holding the body of fallen IDF soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed during fighting in the Strip in 2014.The forum said it was an “evening of unity, hope, and strength.”“We pray that, as written in the Megillah, our situation will turn ‘from grief to joy, and from mourning to a day of celebration’,” the forum said, using the Hebrew name for the scroll from which the Book of Esther is traditionally read.A complex three-phase ceasefire brought more than a year of fighting to a halt in January, and saw dozens of hostages released in small batches in exchange for Israel releasing thousands of Palestinian security prisoners. But the truce stalled after the first stage and hostage families have demanded the government reach a deal that sees all those still held captive freed together in a single move.Taking up the cry for a comprehensive deal, hundreds of protesters joined the families of the hostages at their encampment on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road, close to the IDF headquarters, where for the past six nights they have been calling for the release of the hostages.Banging drums and holding larger-than-life cutouts of the hostages’ faces, the protesters descended onto the busy Tel Aviv street, temporarily blocking traffic as they did.“All of them! All of them, all of them, all of them!” the protesters chanted. “Why are they still in Gaza?!Looking to ramp up the pressure on all parties working to negotiate a deal between Israel and Hamas, several families of the hostages sent a letter to US President Donald Trump asking for his help, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Friday.Lishi Miran Lavi, wife of hostage Omri Miran; Liran Berman, the older brother of twin hostages Gali and Ziv Berman; Dalia Kushner, sister-in-law of hostage Eitan Horn and released hostage Iair Horn; Yotam Cohen, brother of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, and Einav Zangauker penned the missive.“For more than a year and a half the Israeli government has been playing with the lives of our loved ones,” they wrote. “Assurances were given and violated. Hopes were given and trampled on. While the prime minister and his government members evade, hide, and bide their time, our hostages are being severely tortured, and we saw the results of the terrible abuse when they returned to us in coffins or emaciated and tortured.”Trump, who last week met with a group of freed hostages in the Oval Office, has reportedly been moved by the condition of some hostages who returned after months of being starved and abused by their captors.Families of some hostages, as well as some of those who have been released, have increasingly extolled Trump as their hope and savior, while accusing the government of being ineffective, and bogged down in a coalition quagmire.“When there is no one left to rely on we turn to you, President Donald Trump,” they implored. You are the only person who can now get involved and bring an end to this nightmare.”The families accused the government of “abandoning the lives of our sons and daughters out of stubborn insistence on positions that have no relation to a security threat” and of saying one thing to them behind close doors and “telling a completely different story to the public.”“If it doesn’t act immediately to return all the living hostages — we will reveal to the people everything that they said to us. All the broken promises.”Far-right elements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition oppose extending the ceasefire deal beyond its first phase, which ended late last month, insisting instead that the war continue until the total destruction of Hamas. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has asserted that leaving Hamas in Gaza is a major security threat to the country, has threatened to pull his Religious Zionism party from the government, removing its parliamentary majority, if his demand to continue fighting is not met.Among the hostages released in the first phase of the truce deal was 22-year-old Omer Shem Tov from Herzliya, who on Thursday night took down a banner calling for his release that had been displayed in his hometown since his abduction from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.Shem Tov, who was released on February 22, after 505 days in captivity, was joined at the ceremony by siblings Maya and Itay Regev, who were freed from captivity during a weeklong truce in November 2023 after they were snatched alongside Shem Tov, and whose names were emblazoned on the banner alongside his.“The last time I stood on a stage was the Hamas stage, so forgive me if I’m excited about this occasion,” Shem Tov said with a broad smile, to laughter from the crowd gathered around him at the so-called “Dancers Roundabout” in Herzliya.“If anyone wants a kiss on the head, they can come over here,” he added, referring to the moment in his release when he was directed to kiss two of the masked Hamas gunmen on the top of their heads.His mother took him up on the offer, and he kissed her forehead.“I am Omer Shev Tov, and I am free!” he declared to applause.As the mood turned serious, he recalled the events of his abduction and conditions in Gaza: “I was abducted on October 7 and held hostage for 505 days,” he said. “I didn’t lose hope for a moment. I always believed that I would come home, even though there were difficult moments.He said that after hostage Itay Regev was released in November 2023, his captors transferred him to a 40-meter tunnel where he was held alone, “with little food and no light,” for 50 days.On the 50th day in the pitch-black tunnel, Shem Tov said he “prayed to God to get me out of there, because I couldn’t take it anymore.”“After five minutes, my captor arrived, and told me I was being moved to a different tunnel,” he said.He said that while alone in captivity, he would “imagine laying my head on my mother’s lap. I imagined us sitting in the living room watching a movie.”“The daydream became a reality,” he said.Shem Tov was one of 30 hostages released since the ceasefire and hostage release deal came into effect in January.  Of those released, there were 20 Israeli civilians, five female IDF soldiers and five Thai nationals. Hamas also returned the bodies of eight slain hostages.The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war.Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 41 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.The US-mediated hostage deal stalled at the end of its first phase in late February amid mutual accusations of violations by Israel and Hamas.In an attempt to get the process back on track, US special envoy Steve Witkoff was said on Thursday to have presented Israel and Hamas with a new outline to extend the ceasefire by several weeks in exchange for the release of five living and 10 dead hostages, according to reports on Thursday.The reports drew concern from the families of the hostages, who said the deal, if agreed upon, would leave many of their loved ones in captivity for a “long and undetermined length of time.”