US EditionThe World This Week - 50 Days for Putin: “Much Ado About Nothing?”, UK Data Breach Scandal, Israel Bombs Damascus
SWEIDA, SYRIA, JUL 18 – Conflict between Druze militiamen and Bedouin tribes killed over 200 people before a ceasefire ended fighting, while Israel struck government sites in Damascus, officials said.
- On Wednesday, sectarian clashes erupted in Suwayda, southern Syria, with hundreds killed before a ceasefire was announced.
- On July 11, a Bedouin gang allegedly kidnapped a Druze merchant, sparking clashes in Suwayda from July 11 to 16, due to long-standing sectarian tensions.
- From across the border, Israel struck key government sites in Damascus, while heavy shelling in Suwayda forced civilians to flee.
- Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said he had agreed with Druze factions to withdraw forces, and Israel vowed to continue strikes until troops withdrew from Suwayda.
- Broader fallout shows risks of further escalation unraveling progress in Syria, and these clashes threaten regional stability in a fragile context.
15 Articles
15 Articles
This announcement by Tom Barrack, Friday on social network X, comes two days after the Israeli strikes targeting Damascus.
The World This Week - 50 days for Putin: “Much ado about nothing?”, UK Data Breach scandal, Israel bombs Damascus
A panel of Praris-based journalists review the week's international news: stories that made the headlines and also those the viewers may have missed. Putin’s 50 days deadline: “Much ado about nothing?”, The Afghan leak & the UK super injunction, Why did Israel bomb Damascus?
Israeli Airstrikes Inflame Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis
Georgios Gerapetritis, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria. Credit: UN Photo/Mark GartenBy Oritro KarimUNITED NATIONS, Jul 18 2025 (IPS) Over the past week, the humanitarian situation in Syria has significantly deteriorated, with tensions between the Druze religious minority and the Syrian military reaching new peaks. On July 16, Israel launched a series of power…
Israel is exploiting the vacuum left by southern Syria’s sectarian clashes and a weak state
Several days of bitter sectarian fighting in the south of Syria has brought the fledgling government in Damascus dangerously close to direct conflict with Israel, after Israeli warplanes launched strikes against government buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on July 16. The United Nations and a number of countries condemned the attacks, which the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said were “escalatory airstrikes”. Yet Israeli defenc…
Explaining Israel's Airstrikes in Syria
Israeli airstrikes in Syria this week have been publicly framed as a response to threats against the Druze community after massacres of Druze that are being traced back to the new Syrian leadership in Damascus. The actual agenda is a bit more complicated. Western media has largely framed Israel’s recent strikes in Syria as a defensive move to protect the Druze community from escalating sectarian violence. Why the Druze and what they have to do …
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