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| World News |
| Trump says he’ll lift sanctions on Syria, restore ties with country’s new president |
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US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will move to normalize relations and lift sanctions on Syria’s new government to give the country “a chance at peace.” Trump is set to meet Wednesday in Saudi Arabia with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the onetime insurgent who last year led the overthrow of former leader Bashar al-Assad. He said the effort at rapprochement came at the urging of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “There is a new government that will hopefully succeed,” Trump said of Syria, adding, “I say good luck, Syria. Show us something special.” Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Tuesday that Trump’s decision to lift sanctions was a “pivotal turning point for the Syrian people, as we move toward a future of stability, self-sufficiency and genuine reconstruction after years of destructive war.” Sharaa will be the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since the late Hafez al-Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000. It was a major boost for the Syrian president, who at one point was imprisoned in Iraq for his role in the insurgency following the 2003 US-led invasion of the Arab country. Sharaa was named president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, stormed Damascus, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family. According to the London Times, citing unnamed security sources, Sharaa may use the meeting to offer talks on normalizing relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords. A US security source confirmed the possibility of Damascus joining the accords, with the United Arab Emirates as a mediator. Sharaa confirmed last week that Abu Dhabi is already acting as an intermediary between Israel and Syria, with talks focusing on security and intelligence matters and confidence-building between the two countries, which have no official relations. The source added that Washington and Gulf countries are seeking to pull Syria away from Iranian influence. Tehran, sworn to Israel’s destruction, propped up the former Assad regime throughout the bloody Syrian civil war. The US has been weighing how to handle Sharaa since he took power in December. Gulf leaders have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and will want Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran’s return to influence in Syria. |
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| Israel News |
| Hamas’s Gaza leader Muhammad Sinwar targeted in IDF strike, fate unclear |
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Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Muhammad Sinwar, was targeted in a massive Israeli airstrike at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon, security sources said. The Israel Defense Forces, which did not confirm if Sinwar was killed, said in a statement that it had targeted Hamas operatives at an underground command center belonging to the terror group, below the European Hospital in Khan Younis. The military also released footage from the aftermath of the strike. The video purported to show that the IDF strike had uncovered the tunnel under the hospital, though the footage showed an adjacent school and not the medical center. Footage posted online showed several large plumes of smoke rising from the ground around the hospital, as Israeli Air Force fighter jets dropped dozens of heavy bombs. Other clips showed that the ground had collapsed in the area of the strike. The Hamas-run health ministry reported 16 dead and over 70 wounded in the strike, though there was no immediate word if Sinwar was among the casualties. Hours after the strike, three rockets were launched from northern Gaza to the area of Ashkelon and Sderot in southern Israel, the military said, adding that it had intercepted two rockets and the third fell in an open area. There were no injuries in the attack, which was claimed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group. Following the attack, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for Palestinians in northern Gaza’s Jabalia. Writing on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, published a map of the area to be evacuated, saying it was a “final warning” before the IDF carries out strikes there Security sources said the military was working to confirm if the assassination attempt against Muahmmad Sinwar was successful. If Sinwar was indeed in the tunnel, as the military’s intelligence indicated, he was likely killed, the sources said, adding that there was a small window of opportunity for the strike. The IDF said it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including by using precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence. “The Hamas terror organization continues to use hospitals in the Gaza Strip for terror purposes, cynically and cruelly exploiting the civilian population in and around the hospital,” the military said. Several hours after the initial attack, Palestinian media reported additional strikes in the area of the hospital, in what appeared to be an attempt by the IDF to prevent anyone from approaching the tunnel where Sinwar was targeted. |
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| US envoys, headed to Doha for truce-hostage talks, tell families they’re optimistic |
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US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US hostage envoy Adam Boehler on Tuesday told families of hostages still in Gaza that they think there is a chance to make progress on freeing their loved ones as they head to Qatar for indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said. The Forum said that during a two-hour meeting, Witkoff “expressed that everyone would prefer to see a diplomatic solution, noting that most captivity survivors have been released through diplomatic means.” “He assured the families that if he and Boehler didn’t believe there was a genuine chance for progress in negotiations, they wouldn’t be making the trip to Doha,” the Forum added. Witkoff also insisted that Trump would be “relentless” in working to ensure that all remaining hostages come home, the Forum said. The comments came with Israeli negotiators also expected on Tuesday in Doha. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel may agree to a short-term truce, but will not end the war in Gaza until Hamas is defeated, his office said Tuesday. “Eliminating Hamas and freeing all our hostages — these go hand in hand. That’s how we’re doing this,” Netanyahu said Monday night in a meeting with injured reservists from the group “Wounded Soldiers for Victory,” according to a video shared by his office. The premier also told the soldiers that Israel was gearing up to take control of the Strip and was looking for countries to take in Gazans. The premier has stressed that negotiations would be conducted with Gaza “under fire” — despite a reported US commitment to the contrary — and that the military’s planned offensive to achieve control of the entire Strip will still go ahead if Hamas does not release more captives first. The negotiations were jump-started by the release on Monday of US-Israeli captive soldier Edan Alexander following indirect talks between Witkoff and Hamas, in which the White House reportedly agreed to the terror group’s request that the US pressure Israel into a ceasefire-hostage deal. Hamas on Tuesday said Netanyahu was “misleading” the public by calling Alexander’s release the result of Israeli military pressure. The terror group said the release was “the result of serious communications with the US administration and the efforts of mediators.” |
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