Israel’s Gallant Demands Clarity on Post-war Gaza Governance, Opposes Military Rule
This picture taken from Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip shows destroyed buildings in the Palestinian territory on May 15, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Israel’s Gallant Demands Clarity on Post-war Gaza Governance, Opposes Military Rule
This picture taken from Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip shows destroyed buildings in the Palestinian territory on May 15, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was publicly challenged over post-war plans for the Gaza Strip on Wednesday by his own defense chief, who vowed to oppose any long-term military rule by Israel over the ravaged Palestinian enclave.
In a televised news conference, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that, since soon after the conflict erupted with a shock Hamas attack on Oct 7, he had tried to promote a blueprint for an alternative Gaza administration made up of Palestinians.
Those efforts "got no response" from various decision-making cabinet forums under Netanyahu, said Gallant, who comes from the prime minister's Likud party.
"I call on the prime minister to announce that Israel will not rule over Gaza militarily," Gallant said. "An alternative to Hamas governance should be established ... Indecision will erode the military gains (of the war)."
There was no immediate response from Netanyahu, who earlier on Wednesday issued a statement that appeared to be a riposte to similar remarks aired by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Netanyahu has said Israel, if it achieves its war goal of dismantling Hamas' government and military apparatus in Gaza, would retain overall security control over the territory. He has stopped short of describing this scenario as an occupation.
He has also balked at proposals for the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), which wields some governance in the occupied West Bank, to move back into a post-war Gaza.
Netanyahu has accused the PA of being hostile to Israel, but his governing coalition also relies on ultra-nationalist partners which want the PA dismantled and for Jewish settlements to be expanded to Gaza.
Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah Tells Fighters to Prepare for Long Iran-US War https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5245381-iraq%E2%80%99s-kataib-hezbollah-tells-fighters-prepare-long-iran-us-war%C2%A0
A veiled Iranian woman walks past an anti-US mural next to former US embassy in Tehran on February 26, 2026. (AFP)
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Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah Tells Fighters to Prepare for Long Iran-US War
A veiled Iranian woman walks past an anti-US mural next to former US embassy in Tehran on February 26, 2026. (AFP)
The Iran-backed Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah told its fighters to prepare for the scenario of a long war in neighboring Iran should the United States launch strikes.
It warned the US on Thursday of "immense losses" were it to start a war in the region, while a commander in an armed faction told AFP his group was "highly likely" to intervene in case of strikes.
"Amid American threats and military build-up indicating a dangerous escalation in the region, it is necessary" for all fighters "to prepare for a potentially long war of attrition," Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement.
The commander told AFP that his group sees Iran as strategic to its own interests, and therefore any attack on the country "directly threatens us".
US-sanctioned Iraqi armed groups did not intervene during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last year.
This time, the commander said they would be "less restrained", especially in the event of strikes seeking to overthrow the regime.
For months during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Iran-backed groups carried out attacks against US troops in the region and mostly failed attempts against Israel.
Under mounting US and domestic pressure, these attacks came to a halt, while pressure on the groups to disarm has grown.
Iran-backed groups are part of the so-called "axis of resistance", which also includes Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen.
A Hezbollah official told AFP this week that the Lebanese movement would not intervene militarily in the event of "limited" US strikes on Iran, but would consider any attack against supreme leader Ali Khamenei a "red line".
US President Donald Trump has deployed warships and fighter jets near Iran to back up his threats of strikes should ongoing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program fail to secure a deal.
US and Iranian negotiators met for a third round of talks on Thursday, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi telling state TV that the talks "made very good progress."
ISIS Intensifies Lone Wolf Attacks in Syria https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5245361-isis-intensifies-lone-wolf-attacks-syria%C2%A0
This picture shows a view of the empty tent at al-Hol camp, closed by the Syrian authorities in the northeastern Hasakeh governorate on February 25, 2026. (AFP)
This picture shows a view of the empty tent at al-Hol camp, closed by the Syrian authorities in the northeastern Hasakeh governorate on February 25, 2026. (AFP)
The ISIS extremist group has intensified its lone wolf attacks against security forces and the army in Syria, especially in its eastern provinces, such as Raqqa and Deir Ezzor.
Al-Ikhbariah Syria reported that the attacks intensified after the state’s security and political achievements across the country.
Despite ISIS’ territorial defeat in Syria, it is still capable of carrying out attacks through various cells in the country.
ISIS staged an attack against security forces in Raqqa this week, killing four members and wounding others. A soldier was also killed in Mayadeen city in Deir Ezzor.
The security forces have since intensified their efforts in cracking down on ISIS cells, reported dpa.
They managed to bust the cell that staged the Raqqa attack, killing two of its members and detaining four others, as well as seizing weapons and ammunition in their possession, according to the Interior Ministry.
In Mayadeen, internal security forces detained an ISIS member during a raid. He was wanted for involvement in an attack against Defense Ministry personnel.
ISIS attacks have notably spiked in wake of the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) sudden withdrawal last month from the sprawling al-Hol camp that was detaining members of the group.
There were scenes of "utter chaos" when thousands of women and children related to suspected ISIS fighters escaped the camp in Syria, witnesses have told AFP.
An AFP journalist who entered the huge al-Hol camp on Wednesday found it virtually deserted after the Syrian government decided to evacuate the site.
Until recently, it housed 23,500 people and was the largest camp for relatives of suspected ISIS members in northeastern Syria.
Since the territorial defeat of ISIS it had been under the control of the SDF. However, the SDF swiftly left the camp on January 20, under pressure from Syrian troops which were seizing swathes of the country's north months after their ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
This picture shows a view of the empty tent at al-Hol camp, closed by the Syrian authorities in the northeastern Hasakeh governorate on February 25, 2026. (AFP)
Syrian security forces say they took over control six hours later.
Thousands of family members of suspected extremists left for parts unknown.
As soon as the Kurdish forces left, "it was utter chaos," Salah Mahmud al-Hafez, who lives in the nearby al-Hol village, told AFP.
"The SDF withdrew, and the locals and tribesmen came," he said. "Cars loaded people and drove off."
- Toys, food left behind -
The camp held mostly women and children, the majority of them Syrian or Iraqi.
However, a high-security annex housed more than 6,000 foreigners of around 40 nationalities.
Access to the camp remains prohibited and checkpoints have been set up on the road leading to it, according to the AFP journalist at the scene.
The paths of the empty camp are now strewn with rubbish bags, and white tents stretch as far as the eye can see.
Children's toys and tricycles have been abandoned in the foreigners' annex.
Clothes, notebooks and even food were left behind, signs of a hasty departure.
Last week, Syrian authorities evacuated the remaining families at the camp after determining that the conditions at al-Hol -- particularly security -- were inadequate.
A member of the Syrian government forces looks towards the empty al-Hol camp, closed by the Syrian authorities in the northeastern Hasakeh governorate on February 25, 2026. (AFP)
Syria's interior ministry confirmed on Wednesday there were mass escapes from the camp, accusing the Kurdish SDF of withdrawing "suddenly, without coordination and without informing" them.
Morhaf Al-Olayan, a 43-year-old farmer who lives next to the camp, said that after the Kurdish forces departed, "cars came, loaded the families, and left".
The father of five said he saw men "wearing camouflage military uniforms" among those transporting the families.
Farhan Abbas, an 86-year-old who lives near the camp, said that "people fled... in all directions".
They rejoiced at being rid of oppression and injustice, he added.
The detained family members had not been charged with any crime.
- Women and children at risk -
The foreigners' annex held a large number of people from around the world.
While the whereabouts of those who left the camp remain unknown, teachers in Idlib in northwestern Syria told AFP that several children from Uzbekistan have enrolled in their schools since late January.
In a report earlier this week, Human Rights Watch said that most of al-Hol's residents "left in a largely unplanned and chaotic manner".
"The way these departures have unfolded has exposed women and children to serious risks, including trafficking, exploitation, and recruitment by armed groups," the report warned.
Kurdish forces still control the smaller Roj camp in Syria's northeast, where more relatives of suspected foreign extremists, including Westerners, are detained.
The Kurds had repeatedly urged countries to take back their citizens, but few did, fearing security threats and a domestic political backlash.
"For years, many governments claimed that difficulties negotiating with a non-state actor in charge of the camps was why they couldn't repatriate their citizens, but now that excuse won't hold," Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in the report.
For the extremists themselves, the United States military has transferred more than 5,700 ISIS suspects from Syrian prisons to Iraq.
Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 5https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5245339-gaza-civil-defense-says-israeli-strikes-kill-least-5
SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Mourners gather next to the bodies of two Palestinians killed by an Israeli strike on Thursday, according to medics, during their funeral at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, February 26, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 5
SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Mourners gather next to the bodies of two Palestinians killed by an Israeli strike on Thursday, according to medics, during their funeral at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, February 26, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Gaza's civil defense ministry said Israeli strikes killed at least five people on Friday.
Violence has continued in the Palestinian territory despite a US-brokered truce that entered its second phase last month, with Israel and Hamas trading accusations of violating the agreement.
The civil defense agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authorities, told AFP that an air strike in the early hours of Friday morning killed at least two people and seriously injured one in central Gaza.
A drone strike in the south of the strip shortly after midnight killed three and injured several more people, the agency added.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, which took effect on October 10, Israeli troops withdrew to positions behind a so-called "Yellow Line", though they remain in control of more than half of the territory.
Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authorities, has previously said at least 601 people had been killed since the truce began.
The Israeli military says at least four of its soldiers have been killed in the same period.
Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.
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