World Echo

Israeli forces restarted excavation work Sunday west of Al-Asha village in Syria's southern Quneitra as part of a project known as the “Sufa Line,” or “Sufa 53,” according to Syria Alikhbaria TV. Military vehicles and bulldozers were seen digging near the separation line with the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, extending a route that runs through rural communities from northern to southern Quneitra. For residents, the project has meant the loss of agricultural land, damage to grazing areas and vegetation, and changes to the natural flow of rainwater in a province where many families depend on farming and livestock. What is Sufa 53? Israel began work on Sufa 53 in mid-2022 near Hadr in northern Quneitra before extending it south through areas near Jubata al-Khashab, Al-Hamidiyah, Qahtaniyah, Bir Ajam and Bariqa toward Al-Asha. The project includes a military road roughly eight meters wide, deep trenches, earth berms reaching about five meters in heigh...

Iran will target all US military bases and American vessels if Washington launches a ground invasion of the country, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned. Ali Fadavi, head of the advisory group to the IRGC commander-in-chief, made the remarks a day earlier while appearing on an Iranian state television program. “If the Americans launch a ground attack, then we will target every location related to the Americans, American bases and every vessel related to the Americans,” he said. Fadavi argued that the US understands military force, saying Americans “understand missiles hitting their warships” and “missiles hitting their bases.” He also said Iran’s production of military equipment exceeds the rate at which it is being used, claiming the country’s current capabilities have increased significantly compared with the previous two wars. Turning to the Strait of Hormuz, Fadavi said Iran and Oman shou...

The United States Supreme Court begins its new nine-month term on Monday with arguments in a major case involving a bid by oil companies ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy to scuttle a lawsuit by officials in Boulder, Colorado, seeking monetary damages for harms caused by climate change. It is the first of several important cases already teed up for the term, with disputes involving issues such as President Donald Trump's immigration policies and state-level bans on assault-style rifles to be heard in the coming months. The court's 6-3 conservative majority has moved US law dramatically rightward in recent years. The top US judicial body, as is its custom, opens its term on the first Monday in October. US-based Exxon and Canada-based Suncor appealed after the Colorado Supreme Court let Boulder's lawsuit accusing them of state law violations proceed. ...

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday will attend a meeting in Riyadh of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee established under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, an alliance founded in August with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. According to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources, Fidan, National Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Chief of General Staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu will also attend the committee meeting in the Saudi capital. At the meeting, Fidan is expected to share Turkiye's views on the institutionalisation of the alliance and steps to be taken in the coming days, as well as assessments of threats to peace and stability in the Middle East. Fidan is also expected to express Turkiye's views on regional developments concerning the allies' collective security and note that the progress achieved in the alliance's work in the short time since it was founded is valuable from the perspective of establishing lasting stability in the region. Re...

Yemen's armed forces said ‌early on Sunday it was conducting strikes against the Houthis in the capital Sanaa and the group's ​stronghold Saada. A spokesperson for Yemen's armed forces, ​which are aligned with the internationally recognised government, ⁠said forces were targeting what he described ​as "vital targets", without providing further details. Yemen's Houthi-run Al ​Masirah TV reported earlier an attack it said was carried out by Saudi Arabia on Sanaa. There was no ​immediate Saudi confirmation on the report. Read: Yemen sees widest escalation in 3 weeks as displacement nears 200,000 The conflict between ​the Houthis and forces aligned with the government ‌mostly ⁠stopped after a 2022 truce, but fighting has broken out again in a spillover from the wider war between Iran and the United States. Hostilities ​resumed this ​year after ⁠the Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in July and began ​attacking Saudi ter...

Israeli assessments indicated that an attempt to assassinate senior Hamas figure Ali al-Amoudi in an airstrike on Gaza City likely failed, Israeli Army Radio said Saturday evening. "Assessments are leaning toward the failure of the attempt to assassinate Ali al-Amoudi, a prominent leader in Hamas' political wing in Gaza, last night," according to the radio. Israel's Channel 12 said it was too early to reach a definitive conclusion but Israel was struggling to obtain confirmation that the assassination attempt had succeeded despite the hours that had elapsed. Earlier Saturday, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that the Israeli army had attempted to kill al-Amoudi in a strike overnight Friday into Saturday. It described him as Hamas' de facto leader in Gaza and a leading candidate to formally head the movement in the territory in anticipated secret internal elections. Read: Hamas commander killed in Israeli strike The broadcaster said reports fro...