Syrian Regime Retakes Deir Ezzor from ISIS

Members of Syrian regime forces stand at the entrance to Deir Ezzor city. The writing in Arabic reads: 'Welcome to Deir Ezzor.' AFP file photo
Members of Syrian regime forces stand at the entrance to Deir Ezzor city. The writing in Arabic reads: 'Welcome to Deir Ezzor.' AFP file photo
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Syrian Regime Retakes Deir Ezzor from ISIS

Members of Syrian regime forces stand at the entrance to Deir Ezzor city. The writing in Arabic reads: 'Welcome to Deir Ezzor.' AFP file photo
Members of Syrian regime forces stand at the entrance to Deir Ezzor city. The writing in Arabic reads: 'Welcome to Deir Ezzor.' AFP file photo

Syrian regime forces said Friday they have liberated the eastern city of Deir Ezzor from ISIS, putting them in full control of the long contested city.

The forces and their allies first broke the militant group's siege of its part of the city in September and have been advancing against ISIS positions since then.

Deir Ezzor had been divided into a regime-held and an ISIS-held part for nearly three years.

The development is the latest significant defeat for ISIS as the extremist group sees its self-proclaimed "caliphate" crumble and lose almost all urban strongholds.

The Syrian regime forces and Kurdish-led forces backed by the US are now racing to take the rest of the oil-rich eastern province.

The developments in the Syrian battlefield came as Iraqi forces punched into ISIS’ last urban bastion across the border.

The simultaneous assaults on Deir Ezzor and Al-Qaim in western Iraq dealt fresh blows to to the terrorist group in its former heartland, leaving Albu Kamal, on the Syrian side of the border, the last town of note under its full control.

Also Friday, a suicide car bomb attack killed nine people in a regime-held village in Syria's Golan Heights, regime media said.

The car bomb hit the outskirts of the village of Hader, and had injured at least 23 people.



Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general has said, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024.

Netanyahu has described probes against Urich and other aides as politically motivated and on Monday said that Urich had not harmed state security. Urich's attorneys said the charges were baseless and that their client's innocence would be proven beyond doubt, reported Reuters.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement late on Sunday that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024.

The hostages' deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostages' families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.

Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free if a ceasefire had been reached, according to a defense official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.

Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.

In his statement on Monday, Netanyahu said Baharav-Miara's announcement was "appalling" and that its timing raised serious questions.

Netanyahu's government has for months been seeking the dismissal of Baharav-Miara. The attorney general, appointed by the previous government, has sparred with Netanyahu's cabinet over the legality of some of its policies.