Tuesday's Mini-Report, 6.3.25
* In Gaza: 'More than two dozen people were killed early Tuesday after the Israeli military opened fire close to a controversial aid distribution point in southern Gaza, local health officials said, the third time in three days that Palestinians were killed in the area.'
* A new day in South Korea: 'A liberal lawyer has ousted South Korea's troubled ruling party's presidential candidate on Tuesday, ending months of political instability that began with a botched declaration of martial law. Lee Jae-myung will be sworn into office Wednesday after his conservative rival, Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party, conceded the race.'
* A step backwards in Poland: 'Conservative Karol Nawrocki won Poland's weekend presidential runoff election, according to the final vote count on Monday. Nawrocki won 50.89% of votes in a very tight race against liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, who received 49.11%.'
* Political uncertainty in the Netherlands: 'Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders' PVV party left the governing coalition Tuesday, in a move that is set to topple the right-wing government and will likely lead to new elections. Wilders said his coalition partners were not willing to support his ideas on halting asylum migration.'
* An overdue breakthrough in Tulsa: 'The city of Tulsa, home to one of the most horrifying racial-terror massacres in U.S. history and the people who tried to cover it up, has announced a $105 million reparations package that will put dollars and actions toward redress.'
* Difficult diplomacy: 'The Trump administration is proposing an arrangement that would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium at low levels while the United States and other countries work out a more detailed plan intended to block Iran's path to a nuclear weapon but give it access to fuel for new nuclear power plants.'
* It'll be interesting to see how long this pause lasts: 'The Department of Education has not gone through with a plan to garnish Social Security checks over defaulted loans, a department spokesperson told The Hill. 'The Department has not offset any social security benefits since restarting collections on May 5, and has put a pause on any future social security offsets,' Ellen Keast, the spokesperson, said.'
* A struggling cultural institution: 'Sales of subscriptions for the coming season of programming at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts are down by about $1.6 million, or roughly 36 percent, compared with last year.'
See you tomorrow.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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USA Today
21 minutes ago
- USA Today
Israel launches heavy airstrikes in Damascus, vowing to protect Druze
DAMASCUS/JERUSALEM, July 16 (Reuters) - Israel launched powerful airstrikes in Damascus on Wednesday, blowing up part of the defence ministry and hitting near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw. The attacks marked a significant Israeli escalation against the Islamist-led administration of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and came despite his warming ties with the United States and his administration's evolving security contacts with Israel. Describing Syria's new rulers as barely disguised jihadists, Israel has said it won't let them move forces into southern Syria and vowed to shield the area's Druze community from attack, encouraged by calls from Israel's own Druze minority. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the situation as "complicated" but said it looked like a "misunderstanding". He said he thought progress towards de-escalation would be made within hours. Scores of people have been killed this week in violence in and around the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, pitting fighters from the Druze minority against government security forces and members of Bedouin tribes. Reuters reporters heard warplanes swoop low over the capital and unleash a series of massive strikes mid-afternoon. Columns of smoke rose from the area near the defence ministry. A section of the building was destroyed, the ground strewn with rubble. A Syrian medical source said the strikes on the defence ministry killed five members of the security forces. An Israeli military official said the Israeli military struck the entrance to the military headquarters in Damascus and a military target near the presidential palace. The Israeli official said Syrian forces were not acting to prevent attacks on Druze and were part of the problem. Defence Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military would "continue to operate vigorously in Sweida to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until they withdraw completely". Sharaa is facing major challenges to stitch Syria back together in the face of deep misgivings from groups that fear Islamist rule - mistrust exacerbated by mass killings of members of the Alawite minority in March. Syrian government troops were dispatched to the Sweida region on Monday to quell fighting between Druze fighters and Bedouin armed men but ended up clashing with the Druze militias. Late on Wednesday, the Syrian interior ministry and a Druze leader, Sheikh Yousef Jarbou, said a ceasefire had been reached. However, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari, another Druze leader, said fighting should continue until Sweida is "entirely liberated". A ceasefire that was announced on Tuesday collapsed. Sweida residents said they were holed up indoors. "We are surrounded and we hear the fighters screaming ... we're so scared," said a resident of Sweida who was reached by phone. The crack of gunfire interspersed by booms could be heard in the background. "We're trying to keep the children quiet so that no one can hear us," the man added, asking not to be identified for fear of reprisals. The Syrian Network for Human Rights said 169 people had been killed in this week's violence. Security sources put the toll at 300. Reuters could not independently verify the tolls. Minority Druze are followers of a religion that is an offshoot of Islam and are spread between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Following calls in Israel to help Druze in Syria, scores of Israeli Druze broke through the border fence on Wednesday, linking up with Druze on the Syrian side, a Reuters witness said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military was working to save the Druze and urged Israeli Druze citizens not to cross the border. The Israeli military said it was working to safely return civilians who had crossed. U.S. Syria envoy Tom Barrack, who has praised Syria's new rulers and declared in May that peace was possible between Syria and Israel, condemned violence against civilians in Sweida. "All parties must step back and engage in meaningful dialogue that leads to a lasting ceasefire. Perpetrators need to be held accountable," he said. Israeli Druze man Faez Shkeir said he felt helpless watching the violence in Syria. "My family is in Syria - my wife is in Syria, my uncles are from Syria, and my family is in Syria, in Sweida, I don't like to see them being killed. They kicked them out of their homes, they robbed and burned their houses, but I can't do anything," he said. On Tuesday, a Reuters reporter said they had seen government forces looting and burning homes and stealing cars and furniture in Sweida. One man showed the reporter the body of his brother who had been shot in the head inside their home. A Syrian government statement on Wednesday said those responsible for lawlessness in Sweida would be held accountable. It said the government was committed to protecting the rights of the people in Sweida. Sharaa has repeatedly promised to protect minorities. (Reporting by Khalil Ashawi in Damascus, Maya Gebeily, Yamam al-Shaar and Laila Bassam in Beirut, Steven Scheer and Crispian Balmer, Emily Rose in Jerusalem; Tala Ramadan, Ahmed Elimam, Elwely Elwelly in Dubai, Nayera Abdallah; Siyabonga Sishi in Majdal Shams, Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul, Trevor Hunnicutt, Katharine Jackson in Washington; Writing by Maya Gebeily and Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ros Russell)
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Georgetown professor removed as department chair after publicly hoping for symbolic Iranian strike on US
A professor at Georgetown University has been removed as chair of his department and is on leave after he publicly hoped Iran would launch a "symbolic strike" on a U.S. military base, the university's president said. "I'm not an expert, but I assume Iran could still get a bomb easily. I hope Iran does some symbolic strike on a base, then everyone stops. I'm surprised this is what these FDD/Hasbara people have been auto-erotically asphyxiating themselves for all these years," Dr. Jonathan Brown, the Alwaleed bin Talal chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, posted on X in June after the U.S. struck Iran's nuclear enrichment sites. He added, "Ironically, the main takeaways (in my non-expert opinion, and I'm happy to be corrected) from all this have nothing to do with a US attack: 1) Iran can take a licking; 2) if Israel attacks Iranian cities, it gets f---ed up pretty bad. I mean I've been shocked at the damage Iranian missiles caused; 3) despite his best efforts, Reza Pahlavi HVAC repair services still only third best in Nova." Israeli Columbia Professor Leaves School Over Failure To Address Anti-israel Protests Georgetown University Interim President Robert M. Groves testified to the House Education and Workforce Committee that Brown had been removed as chair of the department and placed on leave following the tweet. He said the university was currently reviewing Brown's case. "Within minutes of our learning of that tweet, the Dean contacted Professor Brown, we issued a statement condemning the tweet. Professor Brown is no longer chair of his department, he's on leave, and we're beginning the process of reviewing the case," Groves testified. Read On The Fox News App The hearing, titled "Antisemitism in Higher Education: Examining the Role of Faculty, Funding, and Ideology," saw testimony from Georgetown President Groves, CUNY Chancellor Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Berkeley Chancellor Dr. Rich Lyons and others. The hearing comes as colleges across the country have been plagued with antisemitism in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks. Elite University Professor Sparks Social Media Backlash After Revealing What Iran Should Do Next: 'This Demon' Brown's comments elicited fierce pushback online, with many outraged over his perceived call for violence against U.S. forces. "I went to graduate school with Jonathan Brown," Jewish People Policy Institute fellow Dr. Sara Yael Hirschhorn posted on X. "I'm appalled to see him calling for Iran to attack U.S. troops and his awe at attacks on Israeli civilians. @Georgetown- enough!" Brown previously told Fox News Digital that he had been calling for "de-escalation" with Iran, and that his post had been misinterpreted. He said he was hoping for an Iranian response akin to their attack after the U.S. took out Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, in which the Islamic Republic launched ballistic missiles at a U.S. base in Iraq but caused no casualties. "I was calling for de-escalation as I am very opposed to American involvement in foreign wars," he said. When asked for comment, Georgetown University referred Fox News Digital to President Grove's article source: Georgetown professor removed as department chair after publicly hoping for symbolic Iranian strike on US Solve the daily Crossword
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Israel bombs Damascus military HQ as sectarian strife rages in Syria
BEIRUT — Israeli warplanes pounded Syrian government buildings in the capital of Damascus on Wednesday, escalating its monthslong campaign against Syria's new authorities amid heavy clashes between government forces and the country's Druze minority. The roar of jet engines reverberated around Damascus' downtown districts as Israeli drones and warplanes peppered the Syrian military's General Staff headquarters in the capital with missiles, engulfing sections of the compound in multiple fireballs. Bombs also were dropped near the presidential palace. The bombing of Damascus comes as Israel continues to wage a multi-front war against most of its neighbors just weeks after it launched a campaign against Iran in hopes of destroying its nuclear capabilities. On Wednesday, even as it continued fighting in Syria, it launched attacks in Lebanon on what it said were assets for the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, even while pressing its campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel has hewed to a zero-threat-tolerance policy with the government of Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former Al Qaeda-affiliated rebel leader — he split from the group years ago — who was designated a terrorist by the U.S. until earlier this year. In the hours after Assad fell, Israeli troops occupied a swath of territory along the border with Syria stretching toward neighboring Daraa province, adding to land Israel already annexed in the Golan Heights in 1981. (The occupation is considered illegal by international law.) At the same time, the Israeli military launched an all-out air campaign to destroy Assad-era materiel it feared could be used against it in a future conflict. Since then, Israel has barreled its way into Syria's complicated sectarian dynamics, vowing to defend the country's Druze minority from the Islamist-dominated government: Over the last few months, it repeatedly hit Syrian security forces moving to subdue Druze-dominated areas; critics say it has used recent sectarian unrest as a justification to destabilize a once-troublesome neighbor. The Druze, members of a religious sect that is an offshoot of Ismailism, number around 1 million people across the world, half of them in Syria. Most of the others are spread between Lebanon and Israel. During Syria's 14-year civil war, the Druze, wary of jihadi groups dominating the anti-Assad opposition, formed militias that fought the rebels but maintained a wary distance from Assad's government as well. Though many Druze were pleased to see Assad toppled, they — like other minorities in the country— remain fearful of the government's jihadist origins. Recent sectarian unrest — such as in March, when government-linked factions massacred some 1,500 people, mostly from the Alawite sect — have only increased their suspicion. Then in May, other clashes in Druze-majority areas near Damascus left 39 people dead Druze community leaders have resisted calls to have their militias stand down, insisting they will not surrender arms until government-affiliated factions disband. Fighting began on Sunday, when an intensifying wave of tit-for-tat kidnappings and robberies between Bedouin tribes and Druze militias near Sweida devolved into open conflict. As casualties mounted, the government announced a ceasefire agreement brokered with Sweida's Druze leaders and dispatched its forces to secure the city. But fighting soon restarted, with a Druze leader accusing security forces of indiscriminate shelling, while the government on Wednesday said that 'outlaw groups' fired on Druze personnel and that the militia reserved its right to respond. Later on Wednesday, a Druze religious leader, Sheikh Yusef Al-Jarboo, announced another ceasefire agreement with the government that would end all fighting in Sweida. But it was rejected by another Druze notable, who urged his co-religionists to continue fighting. 'There is no agreement, negotiation or mandate with the armed gangs that falsely call themselves the government,' said Sheikh Hikmat Hajari, a figure long opposed to the new authorities. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor with a network of activists in Syria, said 248 people have been killed in the violence since Sunday, including 21 people — three of them women — killed in field executions by government forces. Activists spoke of additional infractions, publishing videos depicting government-affiliated gunmen forcibly shaving the mustaches of captured Druze fighters and harassing Druze civilians. Another clip depicts sword-toting government fighters entering Sweida and vowing to slaughter Druze. Druze fighters also uploaded videos to social media showing them beating up security personnel or posing with their corpses. Al-Sharaa, whose government has yet to release a report investigating responsibility for the Alawite massacres in March, issued a statement Wednesday vowing that government forces 'will be held accountable legally.' 'We will never allow this to happen without punishment,' he said. In a statement posted to X, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military 'will continue to operate forcefully' in Sweida against government forces 'until their complete withdrawal,' and vowed a series of 'painful blows' would follow — a threat soon made good when live broadcasts showed plumes of smoke shooting out of the military headquarters' compound in Damascus. Meanwhile, Israel's military brought additional units to the border with Syria and inside the Israeli-occupied Syrian buffer zone. In a statement, it said it has struck more than 160 targets in Syria, mostly in the Sweida area since Monday. As strikes began in Damascus and areas of southern Syria, more than 1,000 Israeli Druze assembled near the Israeli-Syrian border to protest violence against their co-religionists; they broke through the barrier and entered Syria, according to the Israeli military, which was returning them to Israeli territory. The military said it also had prevented Syrians from entering Israel. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington is 'very concerned' by the sectarian fighting in Syria. 'We want the fighting to stop,' Rubio said. He added the United States was coordinating with relevant parties to end the conflict. 'Hopefully we'll have some updates later today.'
