Damascus Arrests Drug Trafficker Linked to Maher al-Assad, Others Held Over Tadamon Massacre

Members of Syria's security forces. (Idlib Governorate)
Members of Syria's security forces. (Idlib Governorate)
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Damascus Arrests Drug Trafficker Linked to Maher al-Assad, Others Held Over Tadamon Massacre

Members of Syria's security forces. (Idlib Governorate)
Members of Syria's security forces. (Idlib Governorate)

Security forces in the Damascus countryside announced the arrest of Shadi Adel Mahfouz, describing him as one of the individuals involved in recent attacks on security forces in the coastal region.

Mahfouz was reportedly employed by the ousted regime’s Military Intelligence Branch 277 and was responsible for recruitment on behalf of Military Security.

Security forces also arrested two suspects linked to the 2013 massacre in the Tadamon district of Damascus: Kamel Sharif Abbas and Maher Hadeed.

Hadeed, a member of the National Defense Forces, is accused of committing additional war crimes against Syrian civilians. Authorities suspect a connection between Hadeed and Amjad Youssef, the primary suspect in the Tadamon massacre.

The arrests follow just over a month after Syrian security forces captured three individuals involved in the 2013 Tadamon massacre. One of the suspects confessed to killing more than 500 people in the Tadamon district at the start of the revolution against the former regime.

The massacre took place on Nasreen Street in Tadamon, near the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus.

It remained undiscovered for nearly nine years until footage surfaced in April 2022, published by the Guardian. The video revealed Syrian regime forces executing 41 civilians, including seven women and several children.

In related developments, local media sources reported the arrest of Mohannad Naaman, a close associate of Maher al-Assad and senior officers in the Fourth Division.

Naaman, originally from Harasta in the Damascus countryside, is accused of overseeing one of the major captagon pill production sites in both the Damascus countryside and along Syria’s coastal region, including a ship anchored off Syria’s shores.



Tunisia President Sacks Energy Minister Ahead of Renewable Energy Projects Vote

Tunisian ‌President Kais Saied. (AFP)
Tunisian ‌President Kais Saied. (AFP)
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Tunisia President Sacks Energy Minister Ahead of Renewable Energy Projects Vote

Tunisian ‌President Kais Saied. (AFP)
Tunisian ‌President Kais Saied. (AFP)

Tunisia’s ‌President Kais Saied dismissed Energy Minister Fatma Thabet on Tuesday, amid growing controversy over renewable energy projects set to be voted on in parliament.

Saied said he had appointed Housing and Infrastructure Minister Salah Eddine ‌Zouari to ‌temporarily oversee the ministry. ‌No ⁠detailed explanation was ⁠provided for the decision.

The move comes as Saied's government seeks to pass draft laws on renewable energy, which ⁠will be put to ‌a ‌vote in parliament later on Tuesday.

The ‌projects have a planned ‌capacity of 600 megawatts, with 500 million euros ($585 million) as total investment.

The projects are ‌part of Tunisia’s efforts to expand clean energy ⁠production. ⁠Some lawmakers and political parties oppose the projects, describing them as a form of "energy colonization."

They have criticized the exclusion of the state electricity company (STEG) from the contracts, which they say were awarded exclusively to foreign firms.


Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill Five, Including 9-Year-Old Boy, Medics Say

 Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinian child Adel Al-Najjar, who was killed today in an Israeli strike, according to medics, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinian child Adel Al-Najjar, who was killed today in an Israeli strike, according to medics, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill Five, Including 9-Year-Old Boy, Medics Say

 Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinian child Adel Al-Najjar, who was killed today in an Israeli strike, according to medics, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinian child Adel Al-Najjar, who was killed today in an Israeli strike, according to medics, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians, including a 9-year-old boy, in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said.

Medics said an Israeli drone killed the child, Adel Al-Najjar, in eastern Khan Younis in the south of the enclave, while an Israeli airstrike targeted a vehicle in Gaza City, killing four people.

The Israeli military did not ‌immediately comment on ‌either incident.

At Nasser Hospital’s morgue, relatives arrived ‌to ⁠bid farewell to Najjar's ⁠small, white-shrouded body.

Women cried next to the body, which lay on a medical stretcher on the floor, and men held a special prayer before carrying him to the cemetery for burial.

The boy was collecting cardboard that the family uses for cooking, relatives said. There has been no electricity in ⁠Gaza since the war began in October 2023, ‌and Palestinians have complained of Israeli ‌restrictions on the entry of cooking gas.

"We don't have gas. ‌We collect cardboard to bake, they want to eat; they ‌want to drink," said one of the boy's relatives, Sabreen Al-Najjar.

Violence in Gaza has persisted despite an October 2025 ceasefire, with Israel conducting almost daily attacks on Palestinians.

At least 800 Palestinians have been ‌killed since the ceasefire took effect, according to local medics, while Israel says gunmen attacks have ⁠killed four ⁠of its soldiers over the same period.

“Isn’t it shameful what is happening to us? Isn’t it shameful that we bury our children every day, right in front of us? Isn’t it shameful? I swear to God, our hearts are breaking for these children,” another relative, Suhaib Al-Najjar, said at the morgue.

Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for ceasefire violations.

More than 72,500 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza war began in October 2023, according to Gaza health authorities.

Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.


Israel Says Has ‘No Territorial Ambitions’ in Lebanon, Despite Evacuations

 Smoke rises following an explosion in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following an explosion in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Says Has ‘No Territorial Ambitions’ in Lebanon, Despite Evacuations

 Smoke rises following an explosion in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following an explosion in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel on Tuesday said it was not seeking to take territory in Lebanon, as its military issued a wave of new evacuation warnings for towns and villages in the battle-scarred south. 

"Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. Our presence... serves one purpose: protecting our citizens," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told a news conference. 

"No country would be willing to live in such a way with a gun pointed to its head," he said as the military pressed its operations in Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah. 

Shortly after a ceasefire with Hezbollah came into effect on April 17, Israel declared a so-called "Yellow Line" -- a strip of Lebanese territory around 10 kilometers (six miles) deep along the border within which Israeli troops are operating. 

"In a reality where Hezbollah and other terror organizations -- including Palestinian terror groups -- are dismantled, Israel will have no need to maintain its presence in these areas," he added. 

Despite the ceasefire, Israel and Hezbollah have both engaged in fighting, trading blame over violations of the fragile truce. 

Tuesday's evacuation warning was aimed at residents in more than a dozen villages and towns, urging them to immediately head northwards. 

"Out of concern for your safety, you are required to evacuate your homes immediately and move... towards the Sidon District," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on X. 

Shortly afterwards, Lebanon's state media reported that Israel carried out airstrikes across the south, hitting targets including the named areas. 

It also said at least one Israeli demolition operation was taking place in the south. 

All the areas listed for evacuation appear to be outside or on the border of the "Yellow Line". 

In two incidents earlier on Tuesday, the military said it intercepted "a suspicious aerial target" in an area where troops were operating. 

It also said a soldier had been severely injured and another lightly hurt a day earlier "as a result of an explosive drone impact", branding it a new ceasefire violation by Hezbollah. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Hezbollah's rockets and drones remained a key threat requiring ongoing military action. 

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by firing rockets towards Israel to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.