Witnesses accuse the Israeli army of arbitrary arrests in Syria

The Israeli army has arrested at least 197 men in southern Syria since late 2024. A lawyer confirmed that 43 of them are still being held in what he says is arbitrary detention in Israeli prisons. The Israeli army, for its part, says they are targeting “suspected terrorists”.


Issued on: 27/05/2026
The FRANCE 24 Observers/
Ahmed ALMASSALMAH

These three photos show Israeli soldiers carrying out patrols and manning checkpoints in Quneitra province in southern Syria. © Observers

The place is Beit Jinn, in the countryside to the west of Damascus. It’s the night of November 28, 2025. Israeli soldiers launch a ground offensive. While bombs fall from the sky and artillery is fired at homes, clashes break out between Israeli soldiers and some villagers. A video posted online by the Israeli army shows soldiers arresting brothers Nidal Akasha Akasha and Muhammad Akasha Akasha in the fray. In a statement, the Israeli army claims that Nidal and Muhammad have ties to the Islamist group Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya.

The FRANCE 24 Observers team interviewed a number of Syrians who had been arrested and then detained in an Israeli prison for months before being released. We also spoke to the families of those still detained. We also analysed rare images posted online by the Israeli army, which claims that they have been arresting “suspicious persons” or those “linked to armed groups”. Through our research, we identified three different arrest operations carried out by the Israeli army in 2025.

A total of 13 villagers died, and more than 25 were wounded in the attack on Beit Jinn, according to medical sources. For its part, the Israeli army claims to have "eliminated several terrorists". Six Israeli soldiers were wounded, three seriously.

This is a screenshot taken from a video shared by the Israeli army showing the arrest of two brothers, Nidal Akasha Akasha and Muhammad Akasha Akasha, on November 28, 2025, in the Syrian village of Beit Jinn, located in the countryside to the west of Damascus. The Israeli army said these two men had links with the Islamist group Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya. © Israeli army

‘My father has no links to an armed group’

Alia (not her real name) is the daughter of one of the men arrested during the raid on November 28, 2025. She told us her version of events:

"That night, around 3:30am, we heard someone trying to force open the door. My father got closer to see what was happening, but the Israeli soldiers were already there. They immediately pinned him to the ground. Then, they went upstairs and arrested my uncle. They gathered all of us in the courtyard, including my mother and I, and they pointed their weapons at us. They forced us to our knees.

My father is 52 years old, he’s a farmer. We lived in Lebanon for 12 years when we fled the war in Syria. We’ve only been back for a year. He has no links with any armed groups. That night, they searched everything, broke things, destroyed a door.

Since then, we’ve had almost no information. After several months, an organisation told us that they were being held in Israel, one of them in the Sde Teiman prison, the other in Nafha prison. But other than that, we don’t have any information."

It is not possible for our team to independently verify that the two men who were arrested don’t have any links to armed groups. According to the Israeli army, their brother was part of the group Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya. He was killed during a drone strike, likely carried out by Israel, on September 21, 2023, in Beit Jinn. Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya is a Sunni Islamist organisation with close links to the Muslim Brotherhood. The group, mainly based in Lebanon, blends political, religious and social activities, supports the Palestinian cause and has intermittent links with Hamas. Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, for its part, denies any link to the activities carried out in Beit Jinn.

The Israeli army did not respond when we asked what charges the brothers were facing. They did not respond to our questions about the charges faced by any person mentioned in this article.

This image was taken from a video posted online by the Israeli army showing the arrest of Nidal Akasha Akasha the night of November 28, 2025, in Beit Jinn, a village located in the countryside to the west of Damascus. © Israeli army


Since the beginning of its operations in Syria in December 2024, Israel has maintained that it is arresting people with links to armed groups.

When we spoke to other families across southern Syria, they described similar scenes to Beit Jinn: arrests carried out in the middle of the night, homes raided and family members threatened or immobilised. And, according to family members and other witnesses, the arrest of people who were not taking part in activities hostile to Israel.

At left, Hiyam, who lives in Ghadir al-Bustan in southern Syria, shows her right arm, which she said was bitten by a dog when Israeli soldiers raided her home. The image at right is a photo taken by the UN mission that went to her home the next day and documented the events. © Facebook

‘The dogs attacked me’

Israeli soldiers raided the home of a woman named Hiyam on February 16 in the village of Ghadir al-Bustan. Hiyam said she was attacked by the soldiers’ dogs and her two sons were arrested:

“It was February 16, 2026, in the village of Ghadir al-Bustan. It was 2:10 in the morning. We were sleeping when they burst into the home. The dogs immediately attacked me. They bit my face and hands. You can still see the marks now.

They took my sons while I was injured. My oldest son, Hamza al-Aryan, is 19. They stripped him and threw him on the ground and a dog was on him. He was screaming for them to get the dog off him. My other son was tied up in another room.

They shut me and my 13-year-old daughter in a room and wouldn’t let us out. They didn’t even treat my wounds. They searched the whole home, broke down the doors, destroyed our belongings. There were perhaps around 50 soldiers and cars parked out in the street. People later told us that there were even drones flying overhead.

I haven’t had any news of my sons since that day. It’s been more than a month. They are students, one of them was studying for his final high school exams. Their father died 10 years ago. They are all I have left. I don’t understand why they took them.

All I want is for them to come back. Nothing else is important.”

Our team spoke to a spokesperson for the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (FNUOD), the force tasked with maintaining the ceasefire between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights buffer zone since 1973. She said that when she was alerted by locals, she went to the village "to meet the mukhtar (village leader) and the residents of the home [that had been raided]”. She added that they provided first aid to the residents of the home, who “had injuries on their arms and faces”.

The Israeli army has published photos and videos of police dogs accompanying soldiers during a number of raids carried out in Syria.

The image at left shows a police dog during a raid carried out in September 2025 in southern Syria, according to the Israeli army. The image at right shows a police dog accompanying Israeli soldiers during a raid carried out in southern Syria in July 2025, according to the Israeli army. © Israeli army

The Israeli army installs 10 bases

The Israeli army’s operations are taking place against a specific security backdrop. After the fall of longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Israel announced the collapse of the 1974 disengagement agreement, which established the buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria. Since then, the Israeli army has deployed troops in the buffer zone and made an increasing number of incursions into Syrian territory, setting up at least 10 military bases – six in the buffer zone and four on Syrian soil.

The Israeli army has established at least 10 military bases in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024. The largest of the bases is in Jubata Al-Khashab. © FMM graphics studio


We spoke to six men who were arrested and detained by the Israeli army. They said they were initially held in one of the new Israeli military bases built on Syrian soil in the villages of Jubata Al-Khashab, Tel Ahmar or Sirriyeh al-Jazira. Some were held for just a few hours before being released, while others were held for days. Some of them were transferred to Israeli prisons before being released.
The prison central to many of the accounts

We also spoke to seven people who live in the region. One of them, who hails from Kodna, a village near Quneitra, said that he has been arrested three times by the Israeli army, most recently in late April 2026, when he was held for 24 hours. The six others all said that they were taken to Sde Teiman, a prison in the Negev desert in southern Israel, and held there for periods ranging from two to six months. In July 2024, footage circulated showing Palestinian prisoners being mistreated in Sde Teiman, which is located on an Israeli military base nearly 200 kilometres from the Syrian border. Based on our interviews, there are at least 35 Syrians currently being held in this centre.

Abu Kinan al-Sayed, a former detainee, told us his story:


"I was arrested along with my son, my brother and my nephew at my farm in Jubata Al-Khashab, in the Quneitra region.

Right from the start, they take away your humanity. You no longer have a name, just a number. I was held in solitary confinement at Sde Teiman for around 55 days, while they were interrogating me.

They separate the Syrians and the Palestinians right from the start. After a week, they transferred us into group cells, each containing about 15 people. Everyone in my cell was Syrian, though we came from different regions: Ghouta, Beit Jinn, Quneitra and Deraa.

Life in detention was an endless stream of humiliation. They forced us to sleep on our stomachs on the concrete floor, sometimes for an hour at a time, in the middle of the night or during the day. They would enter at 3am or 8pm and set off stun grenades. They would force us to remain on our knees, our heads on the ground, immobile, while they were aiming guns with lasers at us.

I was finally released on January 19, 2026, after 65 days. But I left behind people who had been held there for more than a year. These were civilians, people with families.

During one of the interrogations in Sde Teman, I asked the interrogator why I was there, and they said that they had received information that I had links to Hezbollah and that I was running groups that threatened the security of Israel.”

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) told our team that "any harm to detainees, whether during their arrest or interrogation, constitutes a violation of the law and IDF regulations and is therefore strictly prohibited".

FNUOD reported that locals regularly contact them about these nighttime operations and arrests, though the UN has not directly observed one take place.
Increasing numbers of arrests and accusations of torture

Lawyer Ahmad al-Moussa, who is based in Germany and working on behalf of a number of these families, says that the number of Syrians detained in Israel has drastically increased since December 2024.


"Before December 2024, there were just four Syrians detained in Israel. At the beginning of May 2026, there were 39, four of whom were minors when they were arrested.

We have contacted a number of international bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, to denounce the arbitrary arrests, conditions in detention and the acts of torture that these detainees have endured. But we are still waiting for a response.

The people we spoke to said that both physical torture and forced confessions were taking place.

Some had already spent five or six years in prison and were only released when the Syrian regime fell. Then, less than a month later, they were arrested by Israel.”

According to the Sijil Centre, a group that works to document the Israeli army’s activities in Syria, at least 197 people have been arrested in less than a year and a half. While most were released after a few days, the centre reported that 43 people are still being held in Israeli prisons, most often in Ofer, Nafha or Sde Teiman.

When questioned by the FRANCE 24 Observers team, the Israeli army responded: “The Israel Defence Forces have apprehended individuals where there was reasonable suspicion of their involvement in terrorist activity against the State of Israel, including activity carried out by Iran and terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas operating in Syria. In appropriate cases, continued detention is carried out for preventive security purposes, in accordance with Israeli law and the applicable rules of international law."
Minors amongst the detained

Saddam was arrested on April 25, 2024, when he was just 17 years old. Hassan Ahmad is his father:


"My son was on our farm, like all the other days. But then, soldiers arrived and arrested him. I saw it happen: they blindfolded him and took him by force.

They called me from his phone to ask me to turn myself in and, in exchange, he would be released. I refused because I was afraid. Since then, I’ve only had one visit from the International Committee of the Red Cross. It’s been nearly two years, and I still don’t know where he is or what state he is in.

Saddam is innocent. He was 17 when he was arrested. What could a minor of that age do, other than study and play with his friends?"

At left is Saddam’s identity card, which says he was born in 2007, meaning that he was a minor when he was arrested. At right is a permit for Saddam to enter into the buffer zone in the Golan Heights, where he was arrested on April 25, 2024. Saddam’s father provided us with these documents. © Observers

This is a screengrab taken from a video shared with us by Saddam’s father. The video, filmed by friends, shows when the Israeli army arrested Saddam on April 25, 2024. Saddam was blindfolded with a white bandage. © Observers


Siraj, a group of Syrian investigative journalists, published an investigation in August 2025 that mentions Saddam’s arrest and identifies where the video was filmed.
An ill man detained

According to the Israeli army, forces from the "Alexandroni" brigade, led by the 210th division, carried out a night raid on June 12, 2025, to arrest members of Hamas who were active in the region of Beit Jinn in Syria.

Mohammed Hamada was one of the people arrested during this operation. We contacted his wife, who said that her husband is a farmer who underwent back surgery on November 16, 2024, at the Damascus University Hospital. She showed us a medical report indicating that he was experiencing serious health problems and that the operation led to partial paralysis. She says that a humanitarian organisation in the West Bank informed her several days ago that her husband is being held in Nafha Prison in Jerusalem. She is worried that his health will deteriorate in detention.

At left is an image of the detainee after his operation. At right is a photo of the medical report documenting his poor state of health. © Observers

‘They want to make us leave, but it is our land’

The arrests seem to fall into two main categories: either people are being arrested during violent raids on their homes, often at night, or farmers are being arrested when they are near the ceasefire line. In some cases, civilians were targeted by gunfire.

A resident of Quneitra, who has been arrested three times, told their story:

“Each time, they’ve come at night. They surround the house, blindfold me and accuse me of filming their positions. The next day, they let me go. They want us to leave, but it is our land.”

This article has been translated from the original in French by Brenna Daldorph.

‘Flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty’: Qatar, Jordan denounce Israeli attack in Damascus countryside

November 28, 2025 

Middle East Monitor 

A view of the destruction and debris after a raid carried out by the Israeli army on the village of Beit Jin, located in the Qatana area of the Damascus countryside in southern Syria on November 28, 2025. [Izz Aldien Alqasem – Anadolu Agency]

Qatar and Jordan on Friday denounced Israel’s strike on the town of Beit Jinn near Damascus, which killed and injured several civilians, calling it a violation of Syrian sovereignty and international law, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said the escalation “deepens tensions and undermines efforts to achieve security and stability in the region.”

The ministry called on the international community to take immediate action to stop the Israeli violations, protect civilians, and hold those responsible accountable under international law.

Qatar reaffirmed its “full solidarity” with Syria’s government and people, expressing support for all efforts aimed at ending the attacks and preserving Syria’s security, stability, and territorial integrity.

Jordan also condemned the Israeli attack, describing it as a “dangerous and provocative escalation” that only fuels regional tension and conflict.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the kingdom “strongly condemns” the incursion and strikes, which resulted in the deaths and injuries of dozens of Syrians.

The ministry said the assault constitutes a “flagrant violation” of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and a clear breach of international law.

Syrian casualties reported after Israeli air strikes on Beit Jinn near Damascus

It reiterated Jordan’s “absolute rejection” of the attack, saying it represents direct harm to the lives of Syrian citizens and a violation of the sovereignty of an Arab state.

The ministry also called for an immediate end to all Israeli actions on Syrian territory, saying such attacks violate the UN Charter and Israel’s obligations under the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

At least 13 people were killed, including women and children, and 24 were wounded early Friday in Israel’s attack on Beit Jinn and the road leading to it, in rural areas around the capital Damascus, according to state media.

The Israeli army said in a statement that six Israeli soldiers were injured, including three in critical condition, during the attack.

It claimed that it had detained members of “the Jaama Islamiya,” alleging that they “operated in the area of Beit Jinn in southern Syria and advanced attacks against Israeli civilians.”

The Israeli army staged 47 raids in southern Syria in November, according to an Anadolu tally.

Government data shows that since December 2024, Israel has carried out over 1,000 airstrikes on Syria and more than 400 cross-border raids into the southern provinces.

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated a 1974 agreement with Syria.

Israel is violating all its ceasefire agreements and escalating on all fronts

Israel is using existing ceasefire agreements to establish new realities on the ground, projecting itself as the regional hegemon by launching attacks on Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank.

By Qassam Muaddi and Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau

November 28, 2025 

MONDOWEISS

Israeli army tank deploys near the Gaza border, May 20, 2025. (Photo: © Saeed Qaq/ZUMA Press Wire/ZUMA Wire/APA Images)

The war that Israel allegedly fought on “seven fronts” a year ago is supposed to be over. But Israel is now escalating on all fronts to achieve what it could not during the war, launching strikes and military incursions across Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank.

In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes killed over 20 Palestinians in a single day last Sunday as home demolitions have continued throughout the week; in Lebanon, Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s chief of staff, Hassan Ali Tabtabai; in the West Bank, the Israeli army has launched a wide-ranging military operation concentrated around the towns and villages of the northern Tubas governorate; and in Syria just this morning, Israel launched missile and artillery strikes in the southern Damascus countryside, killing 13 Syrians.

All of this takes place as Israel is nominally party to two ceasefires, respectively with Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel’s violation of both has become routine and has escalated significantly in recent weeks.

In Gaza, local sources tell Mondoweiss that a new status quo has emerged in which Israel continues to seize the opportunity to assassinate Hamas leaders in Gaza while claiming its actions are in response to an alleged “violation” on the part of Hamas. Israeli forces have also conducted dozens of demolitions of Palestinian buildings over the week, accompanied by shelling in eastern Gaza City, Rafah, and Khan Younis. Last Sunday, Israeli airstrikes killed over 20 Palestinians in a single day, and on the Tuesday before that, the Israeli army killed 33 Palestinians in a single night.

In all cases, the military either claims that Palestinian fighters trapped in Rafah and surrounded by Israeli forces allegedly violated the ceasefire, or it claims that Palestinian fighters approached the yellow line demarcating the area from which Israeli forces had withdrawn since the ceasefire came into effect last October.

But Israeli forces have been shooting at Palestinians near the yellow line indiscriminately, many of them trying to return to their homes in the area. The line remains invisible to most Gaza residents and can only be identified by the yellow concrete blocks Israeli forces have placed across various points, supposedly demarcating the ceasefire withdrawal borders, which effectively cut Gaza in half. The Israeli army also dropped leaflets over Palestinian encampments west of the yellow line, warning them that anyone who approaches the virtual border will expose themselves to danger.

Through these policies, the Israeli army is entrenching Gaza’s de facto division into two areas, one controlled by Hamas and the other controlled by the Israeli army. Even though this state of affairs is supposed to be temporary and linked to the “first phase” of the ceasefire, the deliberate ambiguity of the deal’s terms and the lack of an implementation mechanism make it easy for Israel to declare that Hamas is in violation of the terms — and hence refuse to withdraw further from Gaza. The effect this has had is to force almost all of the Strip’s population into less than half of its already overcrowded territory.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Israeli forces have launched a wide-scale military operation in the northern West Bank concentrated around the so-called “pentagon of villages” — Tubas, Tammun, Aqaba, Tayasir, and Wadi al-Fara — which the Israeli intelligence establishment considers a “hotbed” of resistance activity. Ostensibly to root out resistance in the Tubas district, local residents told Mondoweiss that the real reason for the military invasion is to thin out the population in the area, laying the groundwork for land confiscation and settlement building.

In Lebanon, the international peacekeeping forces — UNIFIL — reported last week that Israeli forces had committed around 10,000 violations of the ceasefire deal with Lebanon, including 2,500 land incursions and 7,500 airspace violations, since entering into its ceasefire with Hezbollah a year ago in November 2024. The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot also reported that the Israeli army has conducted 1,200 land raids into 21 Lebanese villages over the past year.

These violations escalated significantly over recent weeks, culminating in the strike that killed Hezbollah chief of staff Tabtabai on Sunday, who is considered the highest-ranking Hezbollah member to be targeted since the ceasefire began. Following the assassination, Israel put its forces near Lebanon’s border on alert, as Hezbollah officials insinuated the possibility of a response. This series of escalations now threatens to blow up the Lebanon ceasefire.
Using ceasefires to establish realities on the ground

Both ceasefire deals in Lebanon and Gaza were only made possible after long months of mediation, in which Hezbollah and Hamas each eventually accepted terms that allowed Israel to maintain forces in their territories, without any practical guarantees that the ceasefires would be sustainable.

Yet Israel is using these truces to establish new realities on the ground, entrenching its occupation of parts of Gaza and southern Lebanon while asserting its military dominance on the regional stage. This projection of control aims to impose Israel’s vision for a “new Middle East” and a new status quo that recognizes Israel as the uncontested hegemon.

This can be gleaned in Israel’s active escalation in Syria, where Israel has tried to counter the expansion of Turkey’s influence in the country.

Israeli forces continue to position themselves in Syrian territory while conducting land raids in cities such as Quneitra and its surroundings. Last Monday, official Syrian TV reported that Israeli forces “bulldozed extensive farming areas” in the Syrian village of Breiqa in the southern part of the country. Meanwhile, on Thursday, Syrian media outlets reported that Israeli fighter jets flew over several Syrian governorates, and on the following day, an Israeli force invaded the Syrian town of Beit Jinn. When the force was reportedly uncovered, clashes between the Israeli force and Syrians reportedly led to the injury of two Israeli soldiers. According to Syrian state TV, Israeli shelling and strikes led to the killing of 13 Syrians, including at least two children.

Israeli strikes across Syrian territory have continued to become more flagrant over recent weeks, while previous strikes in Damascus in July aimed to strengthen Druze separatist elements in Suwayda. The reality on the ground Israel hopes to create is one of regional fragmentation.

In Gaza, this is manifesting in the recently declared plan to build “alternative safe communities” that would make up a “new Gaza” in the part of the Strip under Israeli control, which appears to have received U.S. backing. Earlier in July, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had stated that Israel would create a “humanitarian city” built over the flattened remains of Rafah, which was supposedly meant to house 600,000 Palestinians and would be used as a pathway for Palestinians to “voluntarily migrate” out of Gaza, a plan that was characterized by UN officials and human rights experts as a “concentration camp.”

In that same month, a Reuters report revealed that the U.S.-run and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) — so-called “aid” sites meant to replace the UN’s aid distribution system, but where thousands of Palestinians were gunned down in what were described by Gazans as “death traps” — had drafted plans to create so-called “Humanitarian Transit Areas” meant to facilitate the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. The GHF was itself the “brainchild” of Israeli officials, the New York Times reported last May.

Now that plans for a “new Gaza” have surfaced as part of the Trump-backed ceasefire framework, new reports have begun to emerge that UG Solutions, the U.S. military subcontractor that provided security for the GHF, is now recruiting for a new deployment in Gaza to run ten to 15 more aid sites during the ceasefire.

All these developments take place as Israel attempts to continue to advance its goals. In Lebanon and Syria, it is to establish itself as a regional hegemon, and in Gaza, it is to achieve during the ceasefire what it could not achieve during the war — the ethnic cleansing of Gaza under the rubric of “voluntary migration.”

Israel is losing the battle of public relations.

Israel is violating ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, and Trump is allowing it

In recent days, Israel has dramatically escalated its violations of the ceasefire in both Gaza and Lebanon, which have been met with utter silence from the United States. Could this mean a return to the full-scale atrocities of the past two years?

By Mitchell Plitnick 

 November 27, 2025 

MONDOWEISS


Benjamin Netanyahu with Donald Trump at the Ben Gurion airport in May 2017. (Photo: Amos Ben Gershom GPO)


According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word “ceasefire” means: “a suspension of active hostilities.” The so-called “kids’ definition” is: “a temporary stopping of warfare.” That all seems clear enough.

But Israel’s definition differs significantly. They understand “ceasefire” to mean: “they cease, we fire.”

This is not news to Palestinians, Lebanese, or any of Israel’s neighbors. Much like how Israel and its supporters like to say that there was “peace” before October 7, 2023, questions of violence are always defined not by whether there is shooting or bombing but by whether Israelis are getting hit with those bullets and bombs.


When the United States imposed or brokered ceasefires between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah, it was well understood by all that Washington would have to keep Israel on a tight leash for the agreements to hold. It was not hard to anticipate that the attention to that task would not be sustainable under Donald Trump.

Recent events have proven that to be true. Israel has never held to either ceasefire, of course. But in recent days, it has dramatically escalated its violations in both Gaza and Lebanon, and these violations have been met with utter silence from the United States.

Are we about to see a return to the full-scale atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon that became so sickeningly familiar these past two years? And why did the U.S. go to the trouble of brokering these ceasefire agreements if they were just going to let Israel destroy them so flagrantly and easily?

Above all, what is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trying to achieve, as he seems to be calling all the shots, directly or indirectly?
Israel’s aims

Israel’s goals are clear enough: endless war.

After the United Nations Security Council shamefully voted to endorse Donald Trump’s colonialist plan to impose conditions on the Palestinians as the price for stopping Israel’s full-scale genocide in Gaza, Netanyahu reacted not like a leader who had gotten what he wanted, but like a man who just saw a development he needed to prevent.

“Israel extends its hand in peace and prosperity to all of our neighbors” and calls on neighboring countries to “join us in expelling Hamas and its supporters from the region,” he said in a series of posts on X.

Expulsion of Hamas was not part of Trump’s plan or the Security Council’s resolution. Netanyahu obviously added this to prick Hamas, add fuel to his efforts to undermine the Trump plan, and to toss a bone to his right flank.

Israel had never heeded the ceasefire to begin with. More than 340 overwhelmingly non-combatant Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire was put in place, and over 15,000 more structures in Gaza have been destroyed, just as flooding, overflowing sewage, rains, and the cold weather of approaching winter start to hit the already battered population.

In just the past few days, though, Israel has killed more than 60 Palestinians in Gaza, a sign of escalation. It is no coincidence that this uptick comes on the heels of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman’s (MBS) visit to Washington where he once again insisted, much to Trump’s annoyance, that if Donald Trump wanted to see a normalization deal between his kingdom and Israel, there would need to be a clear, committed path to a Palestinian state with a timeline. Whether MBS was sincere about that or not, Netanyahu has no intention of making even the slightest gesture in that direction, and the escalation in Gaza was, at least in part, his response to that part of the Trump-MBS confab.

Israel’s justifications for its attacks on Palestinians are threadbare and reflect how little Washington cares.

Netanyahu claims that Hamas has repeatedly violated the ceasefire by sending their people across the arbitrary line Trump drew in Gaza, when, in fact, these are Hamas members who were caught on the wrong side when the ceasefire was imposed and have been cut off from their commanders.

Other Israeli claims are equally thin and disingenuous, such as the false claim that Hamas is killing Palestinian civilians or that they staged a body recovery, which is true but hardly merits the mass slaughter Israel engaged in response.

But for the most part, Israel is not even bothering to justify their actions. They simply say, “There was a Hamas person there,” and that is good enough for the U.S. and most of the mainstream Western media. This is despite the fact that Hamas has stuck to their side of the agreement, in terms of refraining from attacks on Israelis, despite the fact that, legally, they have every right to attack an occupying army.
Setting sights on Lebanon

Yet as much as Israel continues to escalate in Gaza, they are wary of reigniting the global outcry that has quieted a bit as some people — mostly those eager to go back to disinterest in the plight of the Palestinian people — accept the idea that the slightly slower pace of genocide occurring now can be called a “ceasefire,” and an end to “the war.”

Israel is hoping that the isolation that was created, mostly by popular movements, during the genocide might ease. Netanyahu, who is always seeking ways to have the best of both worlds, will not end the killing in Gaza to achieve this, but is hoping the illusion of an end to genocide might take hold. So far, it has not, despite the fact that many sources, even some Arab ones, persist in referring to the ceasefire as if it were genuine.

Netanyahu needs perpetual war. An Israel that faces diplomatic challenges abroad and internal questions at home is not a hospitable one for Netanyahu’s election chances next year.

Lebanon offers an alternative. While there may be protests regarding attacks on Lebanon as well, it has not generated the same kind of global response as attacks on Gaza. With even less provocation from Hezbollah than they have gotten from Hamas (which, itself, was virtually nil), Israel has stepped up the attacks on Lebanon that it also never ceased.

There could not be better proof that Israel has no interest in peace and regional stability, but prefers a state of constant war.

The ceasefire deal that was struck last year between Israel and Lebanon calls for the Lebanese military to take over the defense of the country in the south, where Hezbollah has been the de facto defense force for decades. The new Lebanese government agreed to do this and to work with Hezbollah to bring about the absorption of the group’s armed wing into the Lebanese military, unified under the solitary command of the Lebanese government.

This should be exactly what Israel wants. It would mean that Hezbollah, which would continue to be a political entity in Lebanon, would no longer have an independent armed wing. Their fighters and arms would instead be controlled by a government that is not only friendly to the West but also heavily dependent on it for its economic recovery.

The Lebanese military made it clear from the outset that they would not — and indeed, they could not — disarm Hezbollah by force. They are not about to risk another civil war after the way the last one devastated the small country.

Persistent Israeli attacks and Israel’s refusal to leave key areas in southern Lebanon have greatly complicated matters. Hezbollah has evacuated its sites in the south, but they are not prepared to disarm while Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory and launch regular attacks. That is not an unreasonable position; they are simply asking that Israel fulfill its side of the ceasefire.

Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s chief of staff Haytham Ali Tabatabai last Sunday, in a clear escalation that was widely interpreted as a warning to Lebanon and the U.S. over what they considered the “slow pace” of Hezbollah disarmament and their claims that Hezbollah is slowly building up an arms cache again.

Indeed, the pace is slow, and it seems that Hezbollah is likely rebuilding its stock of weapons. However, their support from Iran is greatly diminished, as are their domestic manufacturing capabilities; therefore, any rearming is a much slower process than it might have been in the past.

Israel’s refusal to abide by even one moment of the terms of the ceasefire agreement is the greatest impediment to the process that the Lebanese government has been insisting is the only way they can not only disarm Hezbollah, but also normalize the country’s entire security apparatus, bringing it under one authority.
The U.S.’ short attention span

At first, when the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel was announced, the United States seemed to understand that the Lebanese military, weak as it is, would need to work with Hezbollah, not against it, in order to achieve the outcome everyone seemed to want. The Trump administration also seemed to get it.

But neither the outgoing Biden administration nor the incoming Trump one was prepared to push Israel to abandon its positions in southern Lebanon. Nor was either prepared to rebuke Israel for its continuous attacks, even when those attacks were directed at civilians, or even United Nations personnel.

American diplomats have sent mixed signals. Trump’s Special Envoy for the region, Tom Barrack, has vacillated between complimentary words on the progress being made by the Lebanese government in its talks with Hezbollah and threats of Israeli action if the process of disarming Hezbollah is not completed soon.

When Trump took office, he sent similarly mixed messages. While he voiced his support for the Lebanese government, he almost immediately started pushing the government to accelerate the process of disarming Hezbollah.

While Trump seemed to understand that Israeli attacks made this already difficult task much harder for the fledgling Lebanese government — asking Israel to “scale down” its attacks — he continued to show impatience with a process that requires careful steps, not bluster.

For Trump, his aims were largely achieved by his ability to claim a ceasefire in Gaza, however false a claim that may be. In Lebanon, the truce was not technically of his making; he likely would not mind a new round of large-scale warfare, which he could then claim to have brought to an end. The reality of such claims, and how they actually play out on the ground, is of no importance to him.

In recent days, Trump has focused his attention on Russia and Ukraine, and, as a result, he is paying even less attention to Gaza and Lebanon than he was before. Netanyahu noticed.

In looking at what Trump is pursuing in Ukraine, and the potential wealth he personally stands to gain from his plans there, it is obvious that any interests he may have had in Trump casinos and towers in Gaza or Beirut are insignificant next to the mineral and other forms of profit he hopes to leech out of Ukraine.

In the end, Trump decided to act in Gaza largely out of his concern for his business partners in Qatar, after Israel’s attack there crossed a line. That rebuke has now been registered, and his interest lies elsewhere.

No one is reading this more clearly than Netanyahu. He will continue to pursue his Genocide 2.0 in Gaza, allowing a quarter of the aid needed into Gaza rather than none of it, and featuring daily killings of a slightly lower number than before.

Lebanon is where he envisions a return to larger-scale fighting, but, at least for now, he needs Hezbollah to retaliate for his provocations. So far, they haven’t taken the bait.

But how much more provocation can they realistically be expected to stand for? That is the bet Netanyahu is making with the full knowledge that Trump has turned his attention away from these actions. Trump, being his mercurial self, could pivot back, but there is little reason for him to do so at this point.

 

Lord Hanuman as ‘First Space Traveler’: Mythology as Science

Ram Puniyani | 28 Aug 2025

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The Indian Constitution with scientific temper stands for social change, while Hindu nationalist ideology stands for reversing the gains of freedom movement.

Mythologies, all over the world, are pleasant flights of imagination. While our childhood fascination with these is everlasting in our memories, the trend from the past few decades is that Right-wing ruling parties’ leaders are flaunting mythologies as if they happened the way we read them or hear them. The beginning of this in the public space began with Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminding the medical fraternity and the nation that there might have been a plastic surgeon, who transplanted the head of a baby elephant on the Lord Ganesh.

I don’t mean to hurt any sentiments but I tried to understand it from the medical point of view and found that it is a biological impossibility, as of now. At the same time, I did come to know that in Egyptian mythology also there are “Egyptian gods and goddesses with animal heads? The interesting thing about Egyptian gods and goddesses is that each animal has an obvious explanation. The connection between the gods and goddesses to the animals is the combination of the god’s power and the animal’s characteristics. Like the Egyptian goddess of war, Sekhmet, had a lioness’ head to show how ferocious she was. There are many more of such awesome gods and goddesses…”

Equally interesting was that during Zia Ul Haq’s regime in Pakistan, the idea that jinns are an infinite source of power was floated and even in Science Congresses, and these were discussed seriously. The idea was “for creating a jinn-based telecommunications network. Another promising direction could be radar-evading jinn-powered cruise missiles. Jinn chemistry, a research subject activated in the Zia ul Haq era, could be another growth point. (they) could also pursue a proposal from the 1970s, initiated by a senior director of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, to replace fossil and nuclear fuels with jinn power.”

One hopes such fanciful solutions based on mythology are not being implemented there!

One was reminded of this as two recent statements by the top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders’ statements about space travels were made in recent times. Anurag Thakur, several times MP and ex-Minister in the Union Cabinet, while talking to school children on the occasion of National Space Day, asked them as to who was the first person to travel in space. The students in unison uttered the name of Neil Armstrong. To this Thakur said “no, that’s a wrong answer, the correct answer is Lord Hanuman. Thakur urged teachers to look beyond “textbooks given to us by the British". He asked them to look toward “our Vedas, our textbooks and our knowledge... As per the prevalent story, Lord Hanuman flew and brought the mountain on which the lifesaving herb was there!

Not to be left behind, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan stated that Pushpak Viman preceded the Wright Brothers flight. Quite a thought!

Even if one has some elementary knowledge of aviation science, one can know the type of infrastructure needed for flying machines. And individual flying has been human ambition for a long time, that’s what made the scientists burn the midnight oil and struggle in the labs and on the ground to make the first flight possible. One is not sure that these worthies who are claiming mythological stories as real technological achievements really believe in that or saying so to undermine the scientific temper.

Not only this, Chouhan went on to say that India was well developed technologically during the Mahabharat (an epic)period. As per him “drones and missiles that we have today were already with us for thousands of years, we have read this all in Mahabharat.”

This is not all there has been a free for all to claim the glorious achievement of the past. Once Modi opened the floodgates of mythology as science, various BJP leaders started making various claims about the present technological achievements, already being there in the ancient times. “Just like Narada, Google is the source of information” (BJP leader Vijay Rupani, former Chief Minister of Gujarat, April 30, 2018).

BJP leader Biplab Kumar Deb, former Chief Minister of Tripura (April 17,2018, The Tribune) stated that “India has been using internet since ages. In Mahabharat, Sanjay was blind but he narrated to Dhritrashtra, what was going on in battlefield. This was due to internet, satellite also existed during that period.”

BJP leader Harsh Vardhan, a medical doctor and former Union Minister of Science and Technology, said that each and every custom of Hinduism was steeped in science, “every modern achievement is steeped in ancient scientific achievement.” (March 16, 2018).

These are just a few of the samples from the vast wisdom dished out by BJP leaders. All this violates the scientific temper, the foundations on which modern Indian scientific institutions were founded. One wonders if this ideology was ruling immediately after Independence, one shudders to think as to what would have happened to all this if this type of ideology had been in the driving seat of planning.

After Independence, for the initial few decades, the country saw the laying foundations of scientific institutions taking India into the status of one of the major countries with scientific manpower and research.

How do we understand as to why BJP government leaders are propagating mythological imaginations as scientific truth. Basically, faith-based knowledge is ruling the roost currently. The babas (godmen) and the glorification of the past is very much in the air. Knowledge is a process which develops with time and does not know national boundaries. Ancient India had great contributions in the field of science, Aryabhat, Sushrut and many like them contributed immensely to the field of knowledge. This runs parallel to the development of society.

Faith and rational thinking have crossed each other’s path time and over again. Those for status quo in the society stick to faith-based understanding while those for social change for equality and against injustice harp on rational knowledge, scientific temper. BJP and the whole RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) combine are primarily based on the social values of inequality. While the Indian Constitution has a scope for social change toward equality, it gives an importance to scientific temper. The RSS-combine, BJP included, look backwards and have opposed the Indian Constitution (including scientific temper) in many ways.

Political ideologies are a package deal. The Indian Constitution with scientific temper stands for social change, while Hindu nationalist ideology stands for reversing the gains of freedom movement (as reflected in Indian Constitution), while the peddlers of faith standing opposed to scientific temper are trying to push the country backward by undermining scientific temper on the one hand, and the concept of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity on the other.  

The writer is a human rights defender and a former professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. The views are personal.

Hanuman

Hindu god and a companion of the god Rama

Hanuman, also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine vanara, and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the Ramayana, Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotion to Rama and is considered a chiranjivi. He is traditionally believed to be the spiritual offspring of the wind deity Vayu, who is said to have played a significant role in his birth. In Shaiva tradition, he is regarded to be an incarnation of Shiva, while in most of the Vaishnava traditions he is the son and incarnation of Vayu. His tales are recounted not only in the Ramayana but also in the Mahabharata and various Puranas. Devotional practices centered around Hanuman were not prominent in these texts or in early archaeological evidence. His theological significance and the cultivation of a devoted following emerged roughly a millennium after the Ramayana was composed, during the second millennium CE.

MY FAVORITE JINN

Iranian official claims Israel used 'the occult and supernatural spirits' during 12-day war

Abdollah Ganji, former editor of the IRGC-linked newspaper Javan, told his 150,000 followers on X that a “strange phenomenon” had taken place during the 12-day war.

An illustrative image of the silhouettes of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set to a backdrop of their respective countries' flags.(photo credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

JULY 13, 2025 

A senior Iranian official claims that Israel deployed "the occult and supernatural spirits" during its war with Iran, Iran International reported on Friday.

Abdollah Ganji, former editor of the IRGC-linked newspaper Javan, told his 150,000 followers on X/Twitter on Wednesday that a “strange phenomenon” had taken place during the 12-day war.

"After the recent war, a few sheets of paper were found on the streets of Tehran containing talismans with Jewish symbols," he wrote. "In the first year of the Gaza war, news had also leaked about Netanyahu meeting with occult specialists.

"A few years ago, the Supreme Leader had stated that hostile countries and Western and Hebrew intelligence services use occult sciences and jinn entities for espionage."

Israeli air defense systems operating during the war with Iran. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)The Mossad's official X account in Farsi responded to Ganji's post on Tuesday.

"Using drugs and talking to the jinn are not desirable traits for someone leading a country," they wrote.

Waleed Gadban, Israel's Political Advisor to the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, reposted the Mossad's X post, with the caption in Farsi, "Jinn, jinn are everywhere," with a ghost emoji at the end.

Jinn are also said to have the capability of assuming different forms and exercising extraordinary powers.

JINN

Iraq bans Labubu dolls citing child behaviour concerns and “demonic spirits”

Iraq bans Labubu dolls citing child behaviour concerns and “demonic spirits” / bne IntelliNews

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By bnm Gulf bureau July 10, 2025

Kurdish authorities in Erbil have confiscated 4,000 Labubu dolls and banned their sale in shops due to alleged negative effects on children's behaviour, marking the first official action against the popular collectable toys, IntelliNews learned on July 10.

The ban follows earlier Iraqi media reports making extraordinary claims about the dolls, including unsubstantiated allegations about "demonic spells" and health problems. However, the Erbil authorities have focused on behavioural concerns rather than supernatural elements.

Labubu dolls, created by Hong Kong-Dutch artist Kasing Lung, became a global phenomenon after celebrities including Lisa from BLACKPINK and Rihanna were seen carrying them. The collectible toys generated over $87mn in revenue during the first half of 2024.

The character features a distinctive design with wide eyes, long ears and a broad smile with sharp teeth, which some child psychology experts have suggested could create confusion about beauty standards or cause anxiety in young children.

Kurdish authorities have not detailed specific behavioural issues attributed to the dolls or provided scientific evidence supporting the ban. The action appears based on concerns about the toy's appearance rather than documented harm.

One psychological consultant described the doll as carrying "poison in honey," referring to its appearance that combines innocence with mystery and cunning features, which could lead to confusion in a child's concepts of what is beautiful or reassuring. He noted that the wide smile accompanied by sharp teeth could leave a long-term psychological impact on some children, especially those in the stage of mental and emotional formation.

Consultants also reported that it causes skin diseases, shortness of breath, and numerous problems in homes. They added that it contains a demonic spell that tells the story of a demon that used to appear in ancient Arab lands to stir up chaos.

Bnm IntelliNews spoke with parents of young children in Iraq about the proliferation of the Labubu toy and asked about their concerns.

One mother in Irbil who did not want to be named said: "I don’t think there is anything superstitious about the dolls, but I will not buy one for my daughter."

Another father said to IntelliNews, “my daughter bought one in the market in the city when she was with me, I had no idea this thing is controversial I thought it was just ugly looking,” he added “and it was overpriced…I won’t say how much. 

The controversy highlights cultural sensitivities around imported entertainment products, particularly those with unconventional designs. Similar concerns have previously been raised about Pokémon and Harry Potter due to their connection to witchcraft and other franchises in various countries.

Pop Mart, the Chinese company producing Labubu dolls, has not commented on the Iraqi ban. The toys remain widely available in most global markets, with no other countries reporting similar restrictions.

The Erbil confiscation represents one of the few official government actions taken against the popular collectible, which continues to drive significant social media engagement with over 1.5mn TikTok videos featuring the dolls.