Main events on July 16th

• Israel’s relentless attacks continued across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 80 Palestinians since dawn, with UN officials warning of a fast-deteriorating humanitarian situation unfolding because of the war and blockade.
• Israel struck multiple sites in the heart of Damascus as it warned the Syrian government it would escalate attacks if its troops did not withdraw from Suwayda in southern Syria.
• After the series of air strikes, the Syrian government announced a new ceasefire in Suwayda, but it’s unclear if it will hold after a previous one quickly disintegrated.
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the various parties involved in fighting in Syria had agreed on “specific steps” to end the clashes there.
• At least 25 people at a Gaza food distribution site die in a stampede after tear gas was fired near the controversial US- and Israeli-backed GHF.

Syria’s leader: ‘Illegal actions cannot be accepted’

Videos have surfaced on social media of government-affiliated fighters forcibly shaving the moustaches of Druze sheikhs and stepping on Druze flags and pictures of religious clerics.

Other videos showed Druze fighters beating captured government troops and posing by their bodies. Reporters in the area saw burned and looted houses.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a statement condemning the violations and promising that perpetrators would be punished. “These criminal and illegal actions cannot be accepted under any circumstances, and completely contradict the principles that the Syrian state is built on,” said al-Sharaa.

Israel would choose ‘chaos and weakness’ rather than a ‘coherent threat’ in Syria

Israel’s attacks in Syria are an “extreme step beyond making a point”, says Glenn Carle, a former US deputy national intelligence officer.

Carle said he could “understand the Israeli concern about having hostile groups right along its border, that it has just, in over two years, substantially reduced the threat from”. However, “destroying the Ministry of Defence of a very weak government strikes me as using a sledgehammer when possibly a strong statement might have been more effective”.

Carle said Israel prefers a dysfunctional Syria with “a group of factions squabbling among itself but not posing a security threat to Israel”. “They would choose chaos and weakness to dealing with a coherent threat,” he told Al Jazeera.

Israel “Will Destroy You”: Chilling Threat To ICC Chief Prosecutor Exposed

Germany’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices

“This government is a government of nothing less, but a government of genocide lovers.” Being choked, arrested, censored and even deported: This is how Germany is silencing pro-Palestinian voices.

Media finally admits: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, as US corporations profit

The New York Times finally admitted Israel is carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, in an article by an Israeli scholar who studies the Holocaust. A United Nations report detailed how US corporations are profiting from these crimes, although the Trump administration responded by imposing sanctions on the UN expert who exposed it, Francesca Albanese. 

Another key ally quits Netanyahu's governing coalition in a major blow to Israel's leader

Israeli government members from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish party Shas announced on Wednesday their resignation, protesting the ruling coalition's failure to pass a law to exempt their community from military service. However, the party stopped short of withdrawing its support for the coalition in parliament, and said it would not back a no-confidence vote to bring down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Syrian official says Israeli military attacking medical convoy trying to reach Suwayda

Syria’s Minister of Health Musab al-Ali said Israeli military aircraft are preventing a medical convoy sent by the government from entering the city of Suwayda, the state-run SANA news agency reports.

Al-Ali said Israeli air attacks have been targeting any moving vehicle in and near the southern Syrian city over recent hours.

The medical convoy is comprised of 15 ambulances, 10 surgeons from various specialities and two trucks carrying medication and medical supplies, he added.

Separately, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent in Syria reports that the Israeli military has shelled the headquarters of the Syrian army’s 107th Brigade in the village of Bzamel in the Latakia governorate.

UNSC to hold emergency session to discuss Israel’s strikes on Syria: Reports

The UN Security Council (UNSC) will meet on Thursday for an emergency session on Israel’s attacks on Syria, the Reuters news agency reports, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.

The Anadolu news agency also reports that the meeting – requested by Syria’s UN mission and endorsed by Algeria, a current UNSC member – will take place on Thursday afternoon, Eastern Time.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, called for the UNSC to “condemn the barbaric crimes committed against innocent civilians on Syrian soil” by Syria’s government, according to Reuters.

“Israel will continue to act resolutely against any terrorist threat on its borders, anywhere and at any time,” he added.

Syrian president addresses Israel’s attacks in televised address

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has given a televised address to the nation, saying that Syria has rejected all forms of division over its long history and would overcome attempts by Israel to tear the country apart, according to reports.

Addressing the country’s minority Druze community, al-Sharaa said the Druze people are an essential part of the national fabric in Syria and protecting them was a priority. He also said that Druze “elders” have been tasked with restoring security in the south of the country, where clashes broke out between Bedouin and Druze fighters.

Al-Sharaa said that Israel was seeking to turn Syria into a land of conflict, and that could not be allowed to happen.

US calls Israel’s bombing of Syria a ‘misunderstanding between new neighbours’

Throughout the course of the day, the State Department has been characterising this conflict as a misunderstanding. The spokesperson for the State Department, Tammy Bruce, said, “It’s a misunderstanding between new neighbours”.

The secretary of state has been in touch with all parties from both the Israeli and the Syrian side, and he has now taken to social media announcing that the conflict may be nearing an end.

So the US secretary of state is apparently convinced that an end to this splurge of conflict is now in sight. It is now, he says, up to the parties involved to make good on whatever commitments they have made to the United States and, perhaps, to each other.

Bomb first, talk later kinda thing... Oh it was just a misunderstanding is no excuse to bombing another country...


Syrian president says he will stop Druze being dragged into hands of ‘external party’

Earlier, we reported that interim President al-Sharaa gave a televised address to the nation, saying Syria would overcome attempts by Israel to tear the country apart.

During that speech, al-Sharaa also said that protecting the Druze citizens and their rights is “our priority”.

Addressing Syria’s Druze citizens, al-Sharaa said, “We reject any attempt to drag you into the hands of an external party”.

“We are not among those who fear the war. We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction,” he said.

Syrian leader’s speech marks ‘significant departure’ in tone towards Israel: Analyst

Mohamad Elmasry, professor of media studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said the televised speech by Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa contained a note of warning to Israel that while the country does not want a war, “anyone who starts a war with Syria … would regret it”.

“He said it’s easy to start a war. But it’s not easy to control the end results of a war,” Elmasry told Al Jazeera.

“So these were messages directed at Israel, and it marked a very significant departure from what we’ve heard from him and at times not heard from him when Israel has attacked Syria,” Elmasry said.

“I think we’re at a potentially dangerous tipping point and it really will come down to, I think, the extent to which Donald Trump and the United States are willing to kind of rein in Israel,” he said.

Israel under Netanyahu only knows how to make more enemies. 

Syrian leader’s speech ‘encouraging’ for Druze, but action needs to follow: Analyst

Al Jazeera spoke earlier to Mohamad Elmasry, professor of media studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. Here’s more from what Elmasry said about the televised speech by Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Israeli attacks on Syria.

“It’s a very difficult situation in Syria. You are talking about a very multiethnic society. You have outside forces, starting with Israel, trying to basically fragment the country and establish a separatist system, if you will, in Syria,” Elmasry said.

“I thought it was interesting that al-Sharaa decided to devote part of his speech to the Druze, and the messages were encouraging. He said that the Druze are an essential component. They are an essential part of Syria. He said it’s the Syrian government’s responsibility to protect them and to hold to account those who have transgressed against them in recent days. So that’s all encouraging,” he said.

“But it’s going to come down to policy and what he does and what the government does with their actions, because I think their actions will speak louder than words for those minority groups in Syria.”

Rights group urges accountability for abuses against civilians in Syria

The Syria director of the Norwegian Refugee Council says ensuring accountability is “paramount” as the country continues to rebuild after years of violence and war.

“With hundreds of deaths reported among civilians, at least 1,200 families have fled their homes to seek shelter with friends and relatives elsewhere in Sweida [Suwayda], in rural areas south of the city, and the neighbouring Daraa [Deraa] governorate,” Federico Jachetti said in a statement.

“Hospitals in the region are overwhelmed as medication runs out while shops have closed amid water and power cuts.” He also said Israel’s attacks across Syria, including on the main square in the capital, Damascus, had shattered “any hope of normalcy returning to Syrian lives”.

“For months, Israel has occupied further Syrian territory in the southwest, repeatedly attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure. The international community must make it clear that such actions are unacceptable, represent a violation of international law, and directly contribute to Syria’s instability,” Jachetti said.

Syria government forces withdraw from majority-Druze city of Suwayda: Reports

Syrian government forces have withdrawn from areas they entered in recent days in Suwayda, the heartland of the Druze minority in southern Syria, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting.

The pullout came after al-Sharaa announced in a televised address that “responsibility” for security in Suwayda would be handed to religious elders and some local factions “based on the supreme national interest”.

Syrian government forces leave Suwayda as ceasefire comes into effect

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has spelled out what this new ceasefire deal is about, and it involves the state withdrawing from the border region.

We can confirm that we have seen government forces leave Suwayda for now. The responsibility for security will be handed over to the people of this region, which is populated by the Druze minority.

Al-Sharaa made a choice at this point in time, and it really has been Syria’s policy since he took over. Since the beginning, he has been saying that they are not ready for a confrontation with Israel as there are so many challenges that lie ahead.

People here have enjoyed some sort of autonomy, and security was in the hands of local forces. But the Druze are a divided community. There are some who are ready to work with Syrian authorities, and there are others who refuse a deal with the authorities, who they say are not a government but a group of armed gangs.

And that's exactly the wedge Israel is pushing in Syria.

Attacks in Suwayda created new ‘social fabric’ in Syria

Labib al-Nahhas, a political analyst, says a new social fracture has been created in Syria between not only the Druze community and the authorities, “but also within the Syrian social fabric”.

“Right now, it is impossible to have any government intervention in the Suwayda area. Beyond that, Israel and we have to emphasise that the genesis of what we have witnessed in the last few days is [Hikmat] al-Hijri, who is one of the spiritual leaders of [the] Druze and his secessionist approach to the issue and Israel on the other side,” al-Nahhas told Al Jazeera.

Despite those known factors, we have to emphasise there have been some crucial mistakes in the decision-making, in the timing and the execution of the intervention,” he said.

Al-Nahhas added that what happened in Suwayda sets a “precedent” for other secessionist movements in Syria.

‘Any attack on the Syrian state is an attack on the Druze community’

Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou has condemned Israel’s air strikes on central Damascus, which Israel says it carried out to protect the Druze minority and prevent hostile forces from gaining ground near its borders.

“Any attack on the Syrian state is an attack on the Druze community,” Jarbou told Al Jazeera Arabic.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced late on Wednesday that all parties, including Israel, had agreed to a ceasefire. Jarbou said the agreement enjoyed broad support within the majority-Druze city of Suwayda in southern Syria and expressed his hope that the Syrian state would overcome the obstacles posed by attempts to disrupt it.

Netanyahu facing divisions in Israel after Syria attacks

Netanyahu is accused within Israel of recklessness in attacking Damascus and of attempting to buy time in order not to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

The head of the opposition, Yair Lapid, said that while he has a lot of respect for Israeli Druze, what Netanyahu did was irresponsible and not strategic. Some experts within the intelligence community have made similar comments.

But there is a lot of focus in Israeli media on what the Israeli Druze leaders are saying and how they appreciate what Netanyahu is doing.

The leaders of the sect in Israel have welcomed the military intervention, completely sidelining the Druze community of the occupied Syrian Golan, who identify as Syrians and have rejected Israel’s exploitation of their plight to achieve territorial expansion.

Israel’s Syria strikes expose push for regional hegemony – Marwan Bishara

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara condemned Israel’s strikes on Syria as “vulgar exhibitionism” aimed at asserting regional hegemony.

He argued Israel exploits minority divisions under false pretexts of protection, just as colonial powers historically did, while deflecting from Gaza’s genocide.

Bishara noted Syria’s Druze community prefers national unity despite Israeli interference, comparing it to failed attempts to divide the Kurds.

Israeli drone attack reported in southern Lebanon

Lebanese media are reporting an Israeli drone attack on a car in southern Lebanon. The attack took place between the southern towns of Kfour and Toul, near Nabatieh, according to Lebanon’s National Broadcasting Network (NBN).

مشاهد اضافية للغارة المعادية على سيارة بين بلدتي الكفور وتول pic.twitter.com/p2A2PHeEcS

— nbnlebanon (@nbntweets) July 17, 2025

Israeli drone attack kills one, injures two in southern Lebanon: Health Ministry

At least one person was killed and two were injured in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, the country’s Health Ministry has said. A drone hit a vehicle on a highway in the Nabatieh district, it added.

Israel continues to periodically attack Lebanon despite agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, which ended more than a year of fighting.

According to the November truce, both parties were supposed to pull their forces out of southern Lebanon. But Israel has maintained troops in at least five outposts and continues to hit the Lebanese group, which it accuses of being rebuilding its capacity. On the other side, Hezbollah says it will not disarm until Israel ends its air raids and fully withdraws from the country’s south.

‘There is no one who has clean hands when it comes to Palestine’: UN’s Albanese

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, has called on countries to cut all ties with Israel over its genocide in Gaza while speaking at a two-day conference in Colombia focused on ending Israel’s war on the territory.