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Protesters in Syria demand justice for disappeared activists and accountability from all factions

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  • North Korean forces are being slaughtered fighting for Russia, harming combat operations, intel says

    Britain's defense ministry said about 1,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed and about 3,000 more had been wounded fighting against Ukraine.

  • North Korea suspected of preparing to send more troops to Russia, Seoul says

    South Korea's military said on Friday that it suspects North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces, even after suffering losses and seeing some of its soldiers captured. "As four months have passed for the dispatch of troops for the Russia-Ukraine war, and multiple casualties and captives have occurred, (North Korea) is suspected to be accelerating follow-up measures and preparation for an additional dispatch of troops," the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement. The JCS analysis did not specify what other follow-up measures Pyongyang might take.

  • Eurovision: Hamas 7 October attack survivor to represent Israel

    A survivor of the 7 October Hamas attack has been chosen to represent Israel at Eurovision. Yuval Raphael was at the Nova music festival when Hamas led a cross-border attack from Gaza into southern Israel. The amateur singer was there with friends and later told Israel's parliament she hid under dead bodies for eight hours.

  • Hamas set to release four Israeli soldier hostages in second swap

    The Palestinian militant movement Hamas is expected to release four female Israeli soldiers on Saturday in exchange for a group of Palestinian prisoners under a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the 15-month-old war in Gaza. The four soldiers - Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag - were all stationed at an observation post on the edge of Gaza and abducted by Hamas fighters who overran their base during the attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The Hamas prisoners media office said it expected 200 prisoners to be freed on Saturday as part of the exchange, including 120 serving life sentences and 80 prisoners with other lengthy sentences.

  • Watch: Israeli soldiers blow up explosives during West Bank raid

    Israeli soldiers have been filmed firing out of their vehicles at apparent improvised explosive devices as part of a security sweep in the West Bank.

  • Hibatullah Akhundzada: Afghanistan's reclusive Taliban leader

    Secluded in his stronghold in southern Afghanistan, reclusive Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is the cornerstone of the movement that has ruled the country unchallenged since reclaiming power in 2021, strictly enforcing Islamic law.After Kabul's fall in summer 2021, the "emir" gained another title, Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, which comes with new challenges, including transforming his movement into a governing force.

  • Israel will not withdraw troops from Lebanon by ceasefire deadline, Netanyahu says

    The deal, brokered by the United States and France, ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah

  • ‘It’s not the damage, it’s the terror’: Israeli settlers run riot after ceasefire deal

    Violent settlers descend on Sinjil and other West Bank towns to protest against release of Palestinian prisoners

  • Gunmen kill 2 soldiers, wound 12 others deployed to secure a UN project in the southern Philippines

    Gunmen killed two soldiers and wounded 12 others who were deployed to secure a U.N. livelihood project in the southern Philippines, military officials said Thursday. The attack Wednesday in Sumisip town in Basilan province sparked a clash in which two gunmen were also killed, they said. The military said the attackers included members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, an armed Muslim group that signed a 2014 peace deal with the government.

  • Chinese mine worker killed in attack claimed by Isis in Afghanistan

    China says it ‘strongly’ condemns attack on its national

  • Hamas says four women soldiers to be freed in next swap with Israel

    Hamas on Friday said it would release the following day four Israeli women soldiers held hostage since October 7, 2023, in a second exchange under a ceasefire deal that has halted the Gaza war.The exchange is part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza war, which took effect on Sunday and saw three women hostages and 90 Palestinian prisoners freed.

  • Drone footage shows Gaza's mosques before and after the war

    STORY: :: Drone footage shows mosques in Gaza City and Khan Younis before and after the war:: Al Hassaina Mosque, Gaza:: Great Omari Mosque, Gaza City Old Town:: Great Mosque, Khan YounisPalestinian data shows that at least 823 mosques and three churches, over 200 government facilities and 136 schools and universities were destroyed in a 15-month Israeli military offensive that laid waste to the enclave.A ceasefire took effect on Sunday (January 19) with the release of the first three hostages held by Hamas and 90 Palestinians freed from Israeli jails.Now attention is starting to shift to the rebuilding of the coastal enclave which the Israeli military has demolished in retaliation for a Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.More than 47,000 Gazans have been killed. Rebuilding Gaza's shattered homes will take at least until 2040, but could drag on for many decades, according to a U.N. report released last year.

  • Israel seeks 30-day extension for Lebanon withdrawal amid ceasefire concerns, reports claim

    Israel has reportedly asked the US for more time to withdraw from southern Lebanon - only days before the deadline to do so is up. Hezbollah says this is unacceptable, and support for Lebanon from major international players is on display.View on euronews

  • A driver rams an anti-government rally in Serbia's capital and injures one protester

    A woman rammed a car into a crowd of anti-government protesters in Serbia's capital and injured one of them Friday, police said, as a student-led strike shut down businesses and drew tens of thousands of people to demonstrations around the country. The nationwide protests took place on the same day that President Aleksandar Vucic held a big afternoon rally with thousands of supporters in the central town of Jagodina, his coalition stronghold, to counter the persistent anti-government protests that have challenged his tight grip on power for nearly three months. Vucic told his supporters that the country has been “attacked both from outside and inside” by the anti-government protests.

  • Residents leave homes in Jenin as Israeli West Bank raid continues

    RAMALLAH (Reuters) -Hundreds of Jenin residents left their homes on Thursday, prompted by messages from drones fitted with loudspeakers, witnesses said, as the military demolished a number of houses on the third day of a major operation in the West Bank city. The operation, involving large columns of vehicles backed by helicopters and drones, was launched in the first week of a ceasefire in Gaza that saw the first exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since a brief truce in November 2023. Israeli officials said the Jenin operation was aimed at what the military said were Iranian-backed militant groups in the refugee camp adjacent to the city, a major hub for armed Palestinian groups for years.

  • Israel says its troop withdrawal from Lebanon will extend beyond ceasefire deadline

    Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office on Friday announced that the withdrawal of its forces from southern Lebanon would continue beyond the 60-day period stipulated in a November ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah. Under the deal brokered by France and the US, the withdrawal deadline expires Monday, January 27. The Israeli army will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by a Monday deadline, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday, saying Lebanon has no

  • Desperate families await return of 4 female soldiers held by Hamas for 15 months

    Hamas announced Friday that it would release four female soldiers held hostage for 15 months in Gaza, as part of an exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners laid out in its ceasefire agreement with Israel. An advocacy group representing the families of hostages confirmed the identities of the captive Israelis to be released on Saturday.

  • Tens of thousands protest in Slovakia over pro-Russia policies of populist leader Fico

    Tens of thousands of people in Slovakia gathered at squares and street across the country on Friday to voice their opposition to the pro-Russia policies of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico. The latest wave of anti-government rallies was fueled by Fico’s recent trip to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a rare visit to the Kremlin by a European Union leader since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022. Fico’s recent remarks that that it was a possibility to change Slovakia's foreign policy orientation and leave the European Union and NATO were among other recent steps by the prime minister that fueled the anger of protesters.

  • Syrians returning home face deadly threat of landmines

    Landmines are hindering the safe return of Syrians after the fall of the Assad regime.

  • With Gaza quiet, Israel is turning its focus on the West Bank. Here’s why

    The Israeli military has intensified operations across the occupied West Bank, targeting Palestinian militant cells, imposing roadblocks and cutting communities off from the outside world.