Category World News

Satellite images show Israel building military bases in Syria buffer zone

According to satellite images captured by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit, Israel is building military installations in Syria’s demilitarized buffer zone.

The images were taken between December 19, 2024, just 11 days after Syria’s deposed President Bashar Al-Assad fled to Moscow, and February 1, 2025. Six of the six sites that were constructed within the buffer zone are shown. Another structure is being constructed both inside and outside Syria’s borders.

Additionally, Sanad discovered construction of roads on the sites.

(Al Jazeera)

The seven sites are located west of Hadar village, west of Jabata al-Khashab, north of al-Hamidyah, Quneitra village, south of Lake Aziz (two sites), and above Tal al-Ahmar.

In 1974, Israel and Syria reached a ceasefire agreement that declared the Golan Heights to be a demilitarized buffer zone. However, the Israeli military began moving within the buffer zone and entering Syrian territory that is adjacent to it shortly after it became clear that the al-Assad regime had fallen after more than 50 years of dynastic rule.

Despite Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s new transitional leader, stating explicitly that his new government would accept the 1974 accord with Israel, that was untrue.

“Syria’s war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations”, he said on December 14, 2024. Reconstruction and stability are the top priorities at this point, and it’s important to avoid getting involved in conflicts that could lead to further destruction.

However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the 1974 agreement was struck with a deposed regime and is therefore invalid.

Netanyahu remarked, “We will not permit any hostile force to establish itself on our border.” The newly disbanded Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group that formerly had ties to al-Qaeda, has a large share of the country’s populace, whose members largely make up the new administration, especially with al-Assad’s overthrow.

Syrian citizens in and near the demilitarised zone have complained of Israeli encroachment on their land as well as checkpoints, unauthorised arrests, housing raids, and road closures. Israel’s military asserts that it is removing threats directed at its citizens.

Israel initially said the incursions would be temporary, but the construction of bases raises doubts about that assurance.

Instead, the Israelis might have a long-range plan to stay in the newly annexed areas, in line with Israel’s claim that it would remain implacably on top of Mount Hermon, which is located in Syria, and its history of annexing the occupied Golan Heights.

Senior ISIL Somalia commander captured in Puntland

A senior ISIL (ISIS) commander in Somalia has been captured, police and state media have said, as security forces continue a weeks-long offensive against the group.

Abdirahman Shirwac Aw-Saciid, head of the group’s assassination squad, surrendered to authorities on Monday in the Cal Miskaad mountains, in the northeastern Puntland state, Somalia’s state news agency SONNA reported.

Two days after American airstrikes targeted the ISIL leadership in the country, the commander was detained.

Somalia’s ISIL branch has grown in importance over the past few years as a result of improved revenue collection and a rise in foreign fighter fighters’ presence in the organization’s global network.

The group claimed to have used two booby-trapped vehicles in a December military base attack, which security analysts said suggested more sophisticated tactics had been employed.

On Monday, the head of police in Puntland’s Bari region, Abdikadir Jama Dirir, confirmed the capture of Aw-Saciid, known by the alias “Laahoor”, who was also in charge of extorting local businesses for the group.

Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region announced a major offensive against ISIL and a rival group, the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab, in December.

According to US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, an initial assessment of Saturday’s US air strikes indicated that many fighters had died.

Hegseth added that ISIL’s ability to organize and execute attacks was weakened by the US air raids.

Donald Trump, the US president, also applauded the actions. “These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies. The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians”, Trump said in a statement.

Until recently, ISIL’s Somalia wing was considered a minor security threat in the Horn of Africa country compared with al-Shabab, which controls swathes of southern Somalia.

Israeli forces killed 70 in West Bank this year, Health Ministry says

Israeli forces have killed 70 people, including 10 children, in the occupied West Bank since the start of the year, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says.

According to the ministry’s tally – released on Monday – Israel’s sweeping raids have killed 38 people in Jenin, 15 in Tubas, six in Nablus, five in Tulkarem, three in Hebron, two in Bethlehem and one in occupied East Jerusalem.

Last month, shortly after the ceasefire in Gaza, the Israeli military launched a significant offensive known as the “Iron Wall” in the area. The Jenin area’s particular focus is on bringing down Palestinian armed groups.

The Israeli military also killed one woman and two elderly Palestinians, according to the ministry.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) president’s (PA) condemns the Israeli attacks on Monday, citing Palestinians’ refusal to accept “alternative homeland” or resettlement plans.

According to spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the Israeli occupation authorities are “expanding their all-out war against the Palestinian people in the West Bank in order to carry out their plans to displaced citizens and carry out ethnic cleansing.”

He added that hundreds of people have been injured or detained as a result of Israel’s policies, “along with the displacement of thousands of citizens, the displacement of entire residential blocks in the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps, and the massive destruction of infrastructure.”

In the ongoing operation, which has forced about 15, 000 Palestinians from the camp, Israeli forces forcibly displaced 23 buildings in the Jenin refugee camp on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Israel’s attacks in the Tulkarem refugee camp have displaced 75 percent of Palestinians from the area, Faisal Salama, head of the Popular Committee for Services in the camp, told the Anadolu news agency.

Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, on Monday condemned the Israeli attacks.

“Extreme violence has risen since the ceasefire was in place in Gaza, particularly in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas,” according to the statement. This is unacceptable”, the organisation said in a post on X.

It warned that Israel’s blockade on Jenin caused by the ongoing operation is leading to a shortage of “vital” supplies.

“We have been supporting Jenin hospital with 10, 000 litres of fuel and 800, 000 litres of water. Additionally, mattresses, food distribution, and hygiene kits were provided for the camps in Jenin and Tulkarem, according to MSF.

Still, Israel’s offensive in the West Bank shows no signs of slowing down. In an effort to increase attacks, Israeli soldiers raided the occupied territory on Monday, using heavy armored personnel carriers.

Following 15 months of Israel’s genocidal war that reduced the enclave to rubble and killed nearly 62, 000 Palestinians, including thousands who are still unaccounted for and are presumed dead, a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement was signed in Gaza on January 19.

Trump’s tariffs: The US will now find out just how much it needs Mexico

President Donald Trump’s administration announced the date that Mexico and Canada will be subject to 25% tariffs on the majority of goods entering the country after much dithering. On February 4, T-Day will be observed when some retaliatory measures against its neighbors will also be in effect.

Americans are now anticipating higher import product prices. There is a tendency to underestimate the impact of the tariffs because the US media has so far focused primarily on cutesy examples like tequila, avocados, and beer. However, American households will unavoidably face severe consequences beyond just getting enough food and alcohol.

Indeed, it is disastrous to impose tariffs in a region with such a high level of interdependence of trade. Let us take the case of US-Mexico relations. With more than $1.2 million in goods passing across Mexico’s shared border every minute, Mexico is the country’s largest commercial partner. Mexico’s economic significance is constantly underappreciated because the country is constantly being portrayed by the American public as a lacked talent for narcotics. In fact, this image was exactly what Trump needed to invoke the tariffs’ emergency powers.

The US president couldn’t be more wrong when he says the US doesn’t need Mexico. He is so mistaken that by implementing the tariffs, he will not only cause inflation, as Americans will be more likely to pay for goods that the US doesn’t produce, but he will also undermine the very industries he wants to protect. Whatever retaliatory measures the Mexican government decides to implement will only worsen the situation for US consumers and various industries.

Even some of the products, such as beer, are examples of how disruptive this irrational move will be, despite the superficial analyses of the US media. Mexico is a big producer and exporter of beer, but to maintain this industry, it buys 75 percent of US barley exports. US barley producers will inevitably suffer if Mexico’s beer production is halted due to lower demand from its biggest buyer, the US. The situation applies to countless other products that rely on international imports.

A Trump supporter might rebut: “Suck it up and drink American. Disrupted supply chains will recover”. Although this is easier said than done, Americans would still be in a terrible position if everything were to be relocated to the US.

Take the North American auto industry. As each nation gradually increases its value to each car and truck, the spread of the region is increased by the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA), which has increased traffic to and from the US and Mexico. According to Trumpian logic, automakers will be forced to re-importe all of their products to the US and retain all of their profits.

It won’t happen, and this is why.

In this industry, high-skilled but low-paid jobs that have proven stubbornly difficult to automate are often done in Mexico. No skilled worker in the US or Canada would ever accept the wages Mexicans are willing to accept, and these workers add important components to the production of a vehicle. The end result is a car that is both affordable and well-paying elsewhere.

The US is the fifth-largest auto exporter in the world, and its top customers are Mexico and Canada, thanks to this system. The Mexican government can only maintain it thanks to skilled Mexican workers, who can keep the cost low. Short of banning all car imports, China and other established, efficient car-making countries could easily undercut Made-in-America vehicles, even with hefty tariffs.

In a tragic twist of fate given Trump’s widespread deportations, it is also worth noting that businesses would be encouraged to employ undocumented labor to avoid minimum wages and lower prices, just as the agricultural and construction industries already do.

Ultimately, Trump is right about one thing. One side has been subsidizing the other when it comes to trade in North America. But it hasn’t been the US subsidising Mexico or Canada, as he says. The US, its businesses, and its consumers have been subsidized by Mexican workers.

There is still a way to make this right.

Mexico has been working to strengthen the entire North American supply chain while Trump and US economic nationalists accuse Mexicans of “stealing” their industrial jobs in response to US workers’ real concerns about companies cutting Mexican wages. The Mexican government has achieved this by doubling the minimum wage and implementing measures to improve union relations while lowering labor costs.

Transnational collaboration between unions in the US and Mexico is the best way to advance workers’ rights on both sides of the border if American workers truly want to protect their jobs without falling victim to Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric. The review of USMCA in 2026 would be the perfect venue to have this conversation. However, workers will have to take the initiative on their own if the trade agreement does not last that long.

Chelsea star Sam Kerr faces trial, accused of racially harassing policeman

Sam Kerr, the captain of the Australian women’s football team, is facing racial abuse charges in a London court after a drunken argument with a cab driver.

The star forward, who plays for Chelsea in the Women’s Super League, told the officer Stephen Lovell: “You guys are f****** stupid and white”.

Kerr, who has Indian ancestry, accepts saying those words but has pleaded not guilty to one count of racially aggravated harassment. She was allegedly making a statement about power and privilege, according to her attorney.

The 31-year-old sat in the dock on Monday at Kingston Crown Court as West Ham United’s Kristie Mewis, the prosecution’s attorney, told the jury that she and her partner, Kristie Mewis, called a taxi early on January 30th, 2023, after a night out with friends.

“Their cab journey did not go well”, Emlyn Jones said.

The cabbie reported that the police were attempting to smash a window, and the incident ended with the police calling them to complain.

The cab driver took them to a police station instead of Kerr’s home, after which she made the comment about Lovell’s ethnicity, Emlyn Jones said.

He added that Kerr’s statement was uncontested, leaving jurors to decide what she meant and how it affected Lovell.

Kerr’s lawyer Grace Forbes said Kerr’s words did not make her a criminal. “The law is a little more nuanced, a little more human than that”, she argued.

Because he is white, Sam Kerr did not feel hostility toward the officer. The words were a comment, we say – however poorly expressed – about positions of power, about privilege and about how those things might colour perception”.

Kerr is one of the world’s top female strikers, having scored 199 career goals across the Women’s Super League, Australia’s W-League and the National Women’s Soccer League.

She has been sidelined since January 2024 when she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury, which also makes her Australia’s all-time top scorer with 69 goals in 128 appearances.

This week is the expected conclusion of her trial.

Australia’s Sam Kerr, who is her nation’s record all-time leading goal scorer, plays for Chelsea football club in the United Kingdom]Dan Peled/Reuters]