Netanyahu’s Hard-Line Ally Welcomes Return to Fighting in Gaza 

Palestinians make their way to flee their homes, after the Israel army issued evacuation orders for a number of neighborhoods, following heavy Israeli strikes, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip March 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians make their way to flee their homes, after the Israel army issued evacuation orders for a number of neighborhoods, following heavy Israeli strikes, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip March 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu’s Hard-Line Ally Welcomes Return to Fighting in Gaza 

Palestinians make their way to flee their homes, after the Israel army issued evacuation orders for a number of neighborhoods, following heavy Israeli strikes, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip March 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians make their way to flee their homes, after the Israel army issued evacuation orders for a number of neighborhoods, following heavy Israeli strikes, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip March 18, 2025. (Reuters)

A key governing partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the return to fighting in Gaza.

Bezalel Smotrich had threatened to leave the government if fighting did not resume, which would imperil Netanyahu’s rule. Critics said those political considerations were influencing Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making.

"We remained in the government for this moment despite our opposition to the (ceasefire) deal, and we are more determined than ever to complete the task and destroy Hamas," Smotrich posted on X.

Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing at least 326 Palestinians, including women and children, according to hospital officials. The surprise bombardment shattered a ceasefire in place since January and threatened to fully reignite the 17-month-old war.

Netanyahu ordered the strikes after Hamas refused Israeli demands to change the ceasefire agreement. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel's actions.



UN Envoy Condemns Intense Wave of Israeli Airstrikes on Syria

A Druze woman waves to relatives fleeing violence in Damascus, as they arrive in the buffer zone across from the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 3, 2025. (AFP)
A Druze woman waves to relatives fleeing violence in Damascus, as they arrive in the buffer zone across from the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 3, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Envoy Condemns Intense Wave of Israeli Airstrikes on Syria

A Druze woman waves to relatives fleeing violence in Damascus, as they arrive in the buffer zone across from the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 3, 2025. (AFP)
A Druze woman waves to relatives fleeing violence in Damascus, as they arrive in the buffer zone across from the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 3, 2025. (AFP)

The United Nations special envoy for Syria on Saturday condemned an intense wave of Israeli airstrikes as Israel said its forces were on the ground in Syria to protect the Druze minority sect following days of clashes with Syrian pro-government gunmen.

The late Friday airstrikes were reported in different parts of the capital, Damascus, and its suburbs, as well as southern and central Syria, local Syrian media reported. They came hours after Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by Syrian Druze.

Israel’s military spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, wrote on X that the strikes targeted a military post and anti-aircraft units. He also said the Israeli troops in Southern Syria were “to prevent any hostile force from entering the area or Druze villages" and that five Syrian Druze wounded in the fighting were transported for treatment in Israel.

The Israeli military issued another statement later Saturday saying that 12 warplanes carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting infrastructure components and weapons across Syria, including anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile launchers.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported Saturday that four people were wounded in central Syria, and that the airstrikes hit the eastern Damascus suburb of Harasta as well as the southern province of Daraa and the central province of Hama.

UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, denounced the strikes on X.

“I strongly condemn Israel’s continued and escalating violations of Syria’s sovereignty, including multiple airstrikes in Damascus and other cities,” Pedersen wrote Saturday, calling for an immediate cease of attacks and for Israel to stop “endangering Syrian civilians and to respect international law and Syria’s sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and independence.”

Four days of clashes between pro-government gunmen and Druze fighters have left nearly 100 people dead and raised fears of deadly sectarian violence.

The clashes are the worst between forces loyal to the government and Druze fighters since the early December fall of President Bashar al-Assad, whose family ruled Syria with an iron grip for more than five decades.

Israel has its own Druze community and officials have said they will protect the Druze of Syria and warned armed groups from entering predominantly Druze areas. Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of airstrikes since Assad’s fall and captured a buffer zone along the Golan Heights.

More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria.

Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south.