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Israeli Defense Minister Orders Troops to Prepare to Spend Winter on Mount Hermon

08 December 2024, Israel, Golan Heights: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Defense Minister Israel Katz (L) visit an observation point on Mt. Bental on the Golan Heights bordering Syria. Photo: Koby Gideon/GPO/dpa
08 December 2024, Israel, Golan Heights: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Defense Minister Israel Katz (L) visit an observation point on Mt. Bental on the Golan Heights bordering Syria. Photo: Koby Gideon/GPO/dpa
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Israeli Defense Minister Orders Troops to Prepare to Spend Winter on Mount Hermon

08 December 2024, Israel, Golan Heights: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Defense Minister Israel Katz (L) visit an observation point on Mt. Bental on the Golan Heights bordering Syria. Photo: Koby Gideon/GPO/dpa
08 December 2024, Israel, Golan Heights: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Defense Minister Israel Katz (L) visit an observation point on Mt. Bental on the Golan Heights bordering Syria. Photo: Koby Gideon/GPO/dpa

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered Israeli troops to prepare to stay over the winter on Mount Hermon, a strategic location overlooking Damascus, adding to signs that Israel's presence in Syria is set to continue for a prolonged period.
"Due to what is happening in Syria - there is enormous security importance to our holding on to the peak of Mount Hermon," a statement from Katz's office said on Friday.
The order suggests that Israeli troops who moved into a buffer zone inside Syrian territory as well as a "few additional points" following the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad's government are likely to remain.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the troops would remain until there was an effective force in place to enforce the Separation of Forces Agreement signed following the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Israel has called the move a limited and temporary measure to ensure the security of its borders but it is unclear when it will judge the situation in Syria stable enough to pull its forces back.
Katz said the severe winter weather on Mount Hermon, a peak of 2,800 meters (9,186 feet) that straddles the border between Syria and Lebanon, made special preparations for a prolonged stay by Israeli troops a necessity.
A number of countries have condemned Israel's incursion, calling it a breach of the agreement that followed the Arab-Israeli war. But the United States has offered its support, saying the move was necessary for Israel's self-defense.
As well as moving troops into the buffer zone, Israel has also destroyed the bulk of the Syrian military's arsenal of weapons and ammunition in hundreds of air and naval strikes this week, a move it said was aimed at preventing the equipment falling into the hand of hostile forces.

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World

Massive Fire Destroys Resort in Dominican Republic and Forces Evacuation of Almost 1,700 Tourists

A drone view shows a fire at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel in Bayahibe, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, June 19, 2026 in this screen grab obtained from social media video. Gojko Culibrk/via REUTERS
A drone view shows a fire at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel in Bayahibe, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, June 19, 2026 in this screen grab obtained from social media video. Gojko Culibrk/via REUTERS
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Massive Fire Destroys Resort in Dominican Republic and Forces Evacuation of Almost 1,700 Tourists

A drone view shows a fire at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel in Bayahibe, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, June 19, 2026 in this screen grab obtained from social media video. Gojko Culibrk/via REUTERS
A drone view shows a fire at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel in Bayahibe, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, June 19, 2026 in this screen grab obtained from social media video. Gojko Culibrk/via REUTERS

A large fire almost completely destroyed a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic on Friday, forcing the evacuation of almost 1,700 tourists, authorities said.

Local media reported an Italian tourist died in the fire and several other tourists required medical assistance.

The Viva Dominicus Beach by Wyndham resort is located in Bayahibe, a popular destination for US and international tourists on the Dominican Republic's southeastern coast.

Authorities reported about 1,690 tourists had to be evacuated from the resort to other hotels and nearby housing facilities because of the massive blaze.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation and the country’s Emergency Operations Center said it appeared the “fire spread rapidly” due to wind and because part of the resort’s roof was made of thatch, The Associated Press reported.

Viva Wyndham’s other nearby resort, the Dominicus Palace, was not damaged by the fire and was operating as normal, the center said.

World

France’s Macron Slams Migrant ‘Return-Hubs’, EU Funding Push

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a press conference during a European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a press conference during a European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)
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France’s Macron Slams Migrant ‘Return-Hubs’, EU Funding Push

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a press conference during a European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a press conference during a European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday slammed the idea of creating deportation centers for irregular migrants outside the EU, saying Paris will oppose efforts to have the bloc fund them.

So-called "return hubs" outside the EU's borders are one of the main features of a tightening of migration rules criticized by human rights groups that won the final approval of the European Parliament this week.

"France does not support that policy," Macron told journalists after a summit of European leaders in Brussels, noting the new rules allowed for people to be sent to countries they had no ties to -- which could receive money in turn.

"I'm not sure that's the Europe we want. I'm not sure those are the fundamental principles on which our Europe was built. And I don't believe, for that matter, that it's effective. The proof is that, so far, I haven't seen anyone make it work."

France was in favor of stricter rules to boost returns of people with no right to stay to their country of origin, but would not be building return hubs, he added.

"I don't believe that this is either effective or in line with our principles," Macron said.

While other EU members were free to go ahead with such plans, Paris was against a move supported by many other member states to have EU money help pay for them, Macron said.

Proponents say return hubs -- which would serve either as the final destination or as transfer centers for those expelled -- could facilitate repatriations and act as a deterrent for would-be irregular migrants

But rights groups have criticized them as "legal black holes" that could see migrants stranded in limbo with little oversight.

Britain abandoned a scheme to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda, while Italian-run facilities to process migrants in Albania have faced legal challenges and a slow uptake.

World

EU Leaders Squabble Over Outreach to Moscow as Ukraine War Rages on

European Council President Antonio Costa speaks during a press conference at the end of European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)
European Council President Antonio Costa speaks during a press conference at the end of European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)
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EU Leaders Squabble Over Outreach to Moscow as Ukraine War Rages on

European Council President Antonio Costa speaks during a press conference at the end of European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)
European Council President Antonio Costa speaks during a press conference at the end of European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, 19 June 2026. (EPA)

European Union leaders have been unable to agree on setting up a back-channel with Moscow to ensure that the bloc’s interests are protected should progress be made in negotiations to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, some of them said on Friday.

European Council President Antonio Costa, who chaired their two-day summit, had directed his office to reach out to the Kremlin and proposed a senior official to make contact. Costa said his aim was not to mediate or set up a parallel negotiating track to the one led by the United States, which is making little progress.

Debate has been swirling around Europe in recent months about whether to appoint a mediator for talks with Russia to help get things moving again, but this has been largely rejected as many believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be unlikely to negotiate anyway.

Instead, the 27 EU countries have focused on concessions that Russia should make to secure peace.

Speaking to reporters, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said the leaders had failed to resolve their differences over the approach overnight. “Europe is unable to agree even on whether there will be negotiations or who will lead them,” he said.

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said that “opening up a channel is not a mistake in our view, and I trust António Costa.”

“What was very clear last evening is that any negotiations would have to be first and foremost between Ukraine and Russia, but there are no indications that Russia is coming to the table at all,” he said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed that peace negotiations must ultimately be conducted by Ukraine, Russia, Europe and the US.

“Who speaks for the European Union is something we don’t need to decide on today,” he said. “We will decide on that when talks come about.”

He added that Costa has “an important to role to play” as president of the European Council, representing the EU, preparing and organizing summits, and “we don’t need to make decisions going beyond that at the moment.”

Merz highlighted efforts to coordinate diplomacy by the so-called E3 group of countries — Germany, France and Britain — a format that he said came about “at the explicit wish of Ukraine.”

Putin has tried to cut out Europe and Kyiv from negotiations with the US over Ukraine’s future. But the Kremlin said on Friday it was “ready for contact” with Europe, on the condition it abandon its desire to talk to Moscow from the position of force.

At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov argued that the EU can not be an impartial peace broker. He again rejected Western claims that Moscow was harboring plants to attack Europe as “provocation” and “nonsense” while warning that Europe’s military buildup poses growing security threats.

“A direct confrontation between NATO and Russia could rapidly escalate into an exchange of nuclear strikes, with catastrophic consequences,” Lavrov said in an essay released by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

As the leaders left their meeting overnight, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever joked that Costa would be the envoy to Moscow.

“I was just talking about you, António,” De Wever said while laughing and shaking Costa’s hand. “I was full of praise, saying you are the only one who can represent us and that we will send you to Moscow.”

Margus Tsahkna, foreign minister of Estonia — a nation on the EU’s eastern flank that has faced drone incursions and was once occupied by the Soviet Union — said that “Europe must not assume the role of a neutral mediator” and instead buttress Ukraine’s position to “force the Kremlin into serious negotiations.”