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US Military Says Struck More than 30 ISIS Targets in Syria

US soldiers patrol the countryside of Rumaylan in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on June 7, 2023. (AFP)
US soldiers patrol the countryside of Rumaylan in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on June 7, 2023. (AFP)
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US Military Says Struck More than 30 ISIS Targets in Syria

US soldiers patrol the countryside of Rumaylan in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on June 7, 2023. (AFP)
US soldiers patrol the countryside of Rumaylan in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on June 7, 2023. (AFP)

The US military said Saturday that its forces had struck more than 30 ISIS group targets in Syria this month, maintaining pressure on the militants after a deadly attack on US troops last year.

The strikes also came as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) in recent weeks transferred thousands of ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq, after they had been held in prisons run for years by Kurdish-led forces, AFP reported.

US forces "conducted 10 strikes against more than 30 ISIS targets in Syria... to sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network," a CENTCOM statement said.

The airstrikes, carried out between February 3 and February 12, hit ISIS "infrastructure and weapons storage targets", it said.

The forces additionally conducted "five strikes against an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node, and weapons storage facilities" between January 27 and February 2, the statement said.

Washington has blamed an ISIS militant for ambushing and killing two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter in Palmyra on December 13.

Syria's interior ministry has said the ISIS gunman was a member of the security forces who had been set to be fired for extremism.

The US launched Operation Hawkeye Strike in response to the attack.

"More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck with hundreds of precision munitions during two months of targeted operations," the CENTCOM statement added.

On Friday, CENTCOM said it had completed the transfer of more than 5,700 detained ISIS suspects, from 61 countries, from Syria to Iraq.

The operation began last month as Damascus's capture of territory surrounding the prisons from Kurdish-led forces sparked questions over the fate of the ISIS prisoners, prompting Washington to step in.

Alongside the US-led anti-ISIS coalition, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces spearheaded the battle that led to the militant group's territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.

Washington has however drawn close to Syria's new authorities, recently saying the purpose of its alliance with the Kurdish forces was largely over.

As Damascus seeks to extend its control over all of Syria, US forces confirmed on Thursday their withdrawal from Al-Tanf base near Syria's border with Jordan and Iraq.

 

 

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Arab World

Al-Burhan Announces Plans for Broad Political Dialogue Inside Sudan

Muslim worshippers pray during Eid al-Adha prayers, at Al-Sayyid Abdul Rahman al-Mahdi mosque, in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP)
Muslim worshippers pray during Eid al-Adha prayers, at Al-Sayyid Abdul Rahman al-Mahdi mosque, in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP)
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Al-Burhan Announces Plans for Broad Political Dialogue Inside Sudan

Muslim worshippers pray during Eid al-Adha prayers, at Al-Sayyid Abdul Rahman al-Mahdi mosque, in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP)
Muslim worshippers pray during Eid al-Adha prayers, at Al-Sayyid Abdul Rahman al-Mahdi mosque, in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP)

Sudanese army chief and Transitional Sovereignty Council Chairman Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced plans for a comprehensive political dialogue inside Sudan aimed at completing the country’s transition to civilian democratic rule.

In an address delivered on the eve of Eid al-Adha, al-Burhan declared that the government would provide full support for the initiative, which he said would include involvement by those directly affected by the war.

He also reaffirmed the military’s commitment to continue fighting “until every inch of the country is cleared” of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

According to a statement released by the Sovereignty Council on Facebook, al-Burhan said: “This holiday comes as the capital of my country regains its strength, and as our people prove every day that they are stronger and braver than any conspiracy.”

Arrangements were underway for “a comprehensive political dialogue through which Sudanese will agree on the foundations of national reconstruction and governing principles that unite Sudan and end its recurring crises,” he revealed.

The dialogue, he said, would determine the path toward completing Sudan’s civilian democratic transition.

Al-Burhan stressed that the talks would take place inside Sudan and would include “those who bear the pain,” referring to people affected by the conflict between the army and RSF that erupted in April 2023.

He rejected externally imposed political initiatives, saying Sudanese citizens “will not accept the outcomes of conferences and dialogues held in foreign capitals, where positions are bought and sold.”

“The Sudanese government will invite national forces, excluding those whose hands are stained with the blood of the Sudanese people,” he stated, pledging government support for implementing the dialogue’s outcomes.

Previous statements by al-Burhan indicated that the door remained open to national reconciliation, welcoming anyone willing to align with the state against the RSF.

No immediate reaction was made by political and civilian groups aligned with the military or by the civilian pro-democracy coalition, known as “Somoud,” which opposes the continuation of the war.

Al-Burhan’s remarks came as fierce fighting continued in Blue Nile State in southeastern Sudan, where the RSF has reportedly deployed thousands of fighters in an effort to seize full control of the region.

Despite recent battlefield gains by the army and its recapture of several towns in Blue Nile State, the RSF continues to control the strategic border town of Kurmuk near Ethiopia.

On Wednesday, Sudanese army personnel released video footage from the town of Al-Baraka, saying they had regained full control of the area after defeating RSF fighters and allied forces, inflicting heavy casualties, and capturing several combat vehicles.

Arab World

Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 8 in Lebanon’s Tyre Ahead of Washington Talks

A fireball and smoke erupt from a building following an Israeli strike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, on May 28, 2026. (AFP)
A fireball and smoke erupt from a building following an Israeli strike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, on May 28, 2026. (AFP)
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Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 8 in Lebanon’s Tyre Ahead of Washington Talks

A fireball and smoke erupt from a building following an Israeli strike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, on May 28, 2026. (AFP)
A fireball and smoke erupt from a building following an Israeli strike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, on May 28, 2026. (AFP)

The Israeli military early Thursday pounded Lebanon's fourth largest city, killing at least eight people in its ongoing military escalation against the Hezbollah group ahead of crucial talks in Washington. 

Several others were injured in the strikes, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. 

An Israeli soldier meanwhile in northern Israel was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack, the military said. 

The intensification comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expansion in the Israeli military's attacks in Lebanon, apparently sparked by Hezbollah's use of fiber-optic exploding drones that have struck Israeli troops in Lebanon and reached some of Israel's northern border towns. 

Lebanese and Israeli military officials are set to hold their first security talks on Friday in the US capital. The talks have extended a nominal ceasefire that went into effect April 17, although the attacks have since intensified while sparing the Lebanese capital Beirut. 

Hezbollah has dismissed the talks and instead endorsed its key ally Iran, which has made ending the war in Lebanon a condition for its own talks with Washington brokered by Pakistan. 

Prior to the attacks on Thursday, Israeli military Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued warnings to eight buildings in the coastal city of Tyre along the Mediterranean and surrounding neighborhoods. Many people have fled the area. 

Further north in the city of Sidon, an Israeli drone struck an apartment building where some displaced families lived. 

Mohammad Al-Gharbi, who lived across the street from the building in Sidon. woke to the sound of the explosion. 

"I was in my room when part of the wall and shattered glass fell on me, and everything was thrown into chaos," he said. "This building that was hit had six apartments occupied by poor families who had fled from the south to escape the attacks there, only to be hit here." 

In the nearby coastal town of Adloun, an Israeli drone struck a car with a family that was fleeing, killing six people including children. Another drone strike that came without warning killed two people on a motorcycle near Tyre. The target of the attack was not immediately clear, NNA reported. 

The Israeli military said Thursday that a soldier in northern Israel was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack and two reservists were wounded. 

Hezbollah has claimed dozens of drone and rocket attacks that it says targeted Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. 

Over 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced by the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which was sparked when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran, two days after the Iran war began. 

At least 3,269 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the start of the war, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, with over 9,800 wounded. 

According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 23 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, the vast majority by drones. 

Arab World

Israel Moves to Entrench Control over the West Bank Through New Land Registry System

Israeli troops stand guard as heavy machinery demolishes a Palestinian building in Walaja near Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli troops stand guard as heavy machinery demolishes a Palestinian building in Walaja near Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Moves to Entrench Control over the West Bank Through New Land Registry System

Israeli troops stand guard as heavy machinery demolishes a Palestinian building in Walaja near Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli troops stand guard as heavy machinery demolishes a Palestinian building in Walaja near Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel on Wednesday launched an electronic land registration system in the occupied Palestinian territories, a move aimed at cementing Israeli control over the West Bank and advancing the territory’s de facto annexation.

Branded by Israeli authorities as a modernization of the digital property registry, the initiative was denounced by the Jerusalem Governorate as a tool to institutionalize the unlawful seizure of Palestinian land through a restructuring of land registration mechanisms in favor of settlement expansion.

The Israeli security cabinet approved the broader land settlement plan in May 2025, authorizing a comprehensive process to register land ownership across the West Bank.

Palestinian officials say the measure is designed to complete the legal and administrative integration of occupied territory into Israel by placing all land registration procedures under Israeli authority.

In February, the Israeli government formally approved reopening land registration in the West Bank.

The cabinet backed a proposal put forward by Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Defense Minister Israel Katz. The plan includes registering vast areas of the West Bank as “state land.” Implementation was assigned to the Israeli Ministry of Justice’s Land Registration and Settlement Authority, with a dedicated state budget for the project.

Israeli officials said the initiative would improve transparency, resolve legal disputes, facilitate infrastructure development, and streamline land marketing.

Smotrich described the move as a step toward strengthening Jewish settlement throughout what Israel calls Judea and Samaria, the biblical term used by Israeli officials for the West Bank. “For the first time since the Six-Day War, we are restoring order and proper governance in land management,” he said at the time

According to the Jerusalem Governorate, authority over land registration has already been transferred to the Israeli Ministry of Justice and the Survey of Israel, with 244 million shekels ($79 million) allocated to the effort.

Palestinian officials say the process effectively paves the way for the permanent takeover and registration of nearly 58 percent of Area C — equivalent to roughly 35 percent of the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem.

The move marks a serious shift in Israeli policy toward both the Palestinian Authority and the future status of the West Bank. Until now, land records in the territory had largely remained confidential.

The new framework also expands Israeli oversight and enforcement powers, including demolition authority, into Areas A and B in matters related to water violations, environmental hazards, and archaeological sites.

Palestinians warned that opening the land registry, known as the “tabu,” will allow Israeli settlers and organizations to identify Palestinian landowners directly and pressure them into selling property, thereby facilitating land acquisition.

Particularly contentious is the extension of the policy into Area A, which under the Oslo Accords falls under full Palestinian civil and security control and was previously off-limits to Israelis.

The measure could effectively strip the Palestinian Authority of its role in regulating land ownership, property transactions, and planning in Areas A and B, while granting Israeli authorities expanded inspection and demolition powers.

A legal analysis published by Birzeit University’s Institute of Law argued that Israel is effectively “swallowing” the West Bank by redesigning the mechanisms of control in ways that amount to practical annexation.

The institute said the measures consolidate Israeli dominance, marginalize the Palestinian Authority, legitimize settlement expansion, and create irreversible facts on the ground.

Under the current plan, Israel’s military Central Command is expected to complete land settlement procedures for 15 percent of the West Bank by 2030, initially focusing on Area C.

The Palestinian presidency has instructed its ministries and agencies not to cooperate with any Israeli-imposed arrangements.

Palestinian officials insist international law prohibits an occupying power from annexing occupied territory, permanently seizing public or private property except under strict military necessity, or altering the legal status of occupied land — all of which, they say, is now taking place openly through administrative and technological means.