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Hezbollah says it will escalate war with Israel after Hamas leader killed

Western leaders said his death offered an opportunity for the conflict to end, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war would go on until the hostages seized by Hamas militants were returned.

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Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group said on Friday it was moving to a new and escalating phase in its war against Israel while Iran said “the spirit of resistance will be strengthened” after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war, was killed during an operation by Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian enclave on Wednesday, a pivotal event in the year-long conflict, Reuters reported.

Western leaders said his death offered an opportunity for the conflict to end, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war would go on until the hostages seized by Hamas militants were returned.

“Today we have settled the score. Today evil has been dealt a blow but our task has still not been completed,” Netanyahu said in a recorded video statement after the death was confirmed on Thursday.

“To the dear hostage families, I say: This is an important moment in the war. We will continue full force until all your loved ones, our loved ones, are home.”

Sinwar, who was named as Hamas’ overall leader following the assassination of political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, was believed to have been hiding in the warren of tunnels Hamas has built under Gaza over the past two decades.

He was killed during a gun battle in southern Gaza on Wednesday by Israeli troops who were initially unaware that they had caught their country’s number one enemy, Israeli officials said.

The military released drone video of what it said was Sinwar, sitting on an armchair and covered in dust inside a destroyed building.

Hamas has not made any comment itself, but sources within the group have said the indications they have seen suggest Sinwar was indeed killed by Israeli troops.

‘CHIEF OBSTACLE’

Despite Western hopes of a ceasefire, Sinwar’s death could dial up hostilities in the Middle East where the prospect of an even wider conflict has grown.

Israel has launched a ground campaign in Lebanon over the past month and is now planning a response to an Oct. 1 missile attack carried out by Iran, ally of Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

But the demise of the man who planned the attack last year in which fighters killed 1,200 people in Israel and captured more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, could also help push forward stalled efforts to end the war in which Israel has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who spoke to Netanyahu by phone to congratulate him, said Sinwar’s death provided a chance for the conflict in Gaza to finally end and for Israeli hostages to be brought home.

The U.S. wants to kick-start talks on a proposal to achieve a ceasefire and secure the release of hostages, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, calling Sinwar the “chief obstacle” to ending the war.

“That obstacle has obviously been removed. Can’t predict that that means whoever replaces (Sinwar) will agree to a ceasefire, but it does remove what has been in recent months the chief obstacle to getting one,” he said. In recent weeks, Sinwar had refused to negotiate at all, Miller said.

Iran indicated no sign the killing would shift its support. “The spirit of resistance will be strengthened” following the death of Sinwar, its mission to the United Nations said.

Hezbollah was also defiant, announcing “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with Israel”.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held separate phone calls on Thursday with leaders in Saudi Arabia and Qatar aimed at ending the conflict in the Middle East, the State Department said.

NO COMFORT, NO COMPROMISE

Families of Israeli hostages said that while the killing of Sinwar was a significant achievement, it would not be complete while hostages are still in Gaza.

Avi Marciano, the father of Noa Marciano, who was killed in captivity by Hamas, told Israeli broadcaster KAN that “the monster, the one who took her from me, who had the blood of all our daughters on his hands, finally met the gates of hell.”

“A little justice, but no comfort,” he said. “There will be comfort only when Naama, Liri, Agam, Daniela and Karina, our girls’ friends, return home.”

In Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, a displaced Palestinian named Thabet Amour told Reuters the Palestinian fight would continue.

“This is resistance that does not disappear when men disappear,” he said. “The assassination of Sinwar will not lead to the end of the resistance or to a compromise or surrender and raising the white flag.”

World

Zelenskiy in Saudi Arabia as US voices hope for Ukraine peace talks

Trump said on Sunday he expected good results out of the upcoming talks, adding that Washington had “just about” ended a suspension of intelligence sharing with Kyiv.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ahead of talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials that Washington hopes will deliver substantial progress towards ending Russia’s war with Ukraine, Reuters reported.

During the meeting in Jeddah, the crown prince underscored the kingdom’s support for international efforts to resolve Ukraine’s crisis and achieving peace, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported early on Tuesday.

The United States, once Ukraine’s main ally, has upended its policy on the conflict in its stated pursuit of a rapid end to the fighting, engaging directly with Moscow while stopping military assistance and intelligence sharing for Ukraine, which Russian troops invaded at scale in 2022.

Grappling with the new approach in the White House, Ukraine has pushed for “pragmatic” relations after a disastrous Oval Office encounter between Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump descended into acrimony last month.

Saudi Arabia has played a mediating role since Russia’s invasion, including brokering prisoner exchanges and hosting last month’s talks between Moscow and Washington.

Talks on Tuesday between U.S. and Ukrainian officials are the first official session since Zelenskiy’s abortive White House meeting, and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said he had high hopes, read the report.

“I think that we’re going over there with an expectation that we’re going to make substantial progress,” he said in an interview with Fox News.

Asked if he thought Zelenskiy would return to the U.S. to sign a minerals deal this week, Witkoff said: “I am really hopeful. All the signs are very, very positive.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a more cautious note, saying there were still details to be worked out on the minerals deal. He added that the talks could be a success without an accord being signed and stressed the need to gauge Kyiv’s readiness to make concessions to reach peace.

Under huge pressure from Trump, Zelenskiy has been at pains to show that Kyiv is committed to ending the war soon, despite failing to win the U.S. security guarantees that Kyiv sees as vital for any peace deal.

Zelenskiy has said he will not attend Tuesday’s talks with U.S. officials, and the Ukrainian delegation will include his chief of staff, his foreign and defence ministers and a top military official in the presidential administration.

“On our side, we are fully committed to constructive dialogue, and we hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps,” Zelenskiy said in a post on X.

“Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively.”

U.S. officials said they were planning to use the meeting in part to determine whether Kyiv is willing to make material concessions to Russia to end the war.

One U.S. official said: “We want to see if the Ukrainians are interested not just in peace, but in a realistic peace.”

Trump said on Sunday he expected good results out of the upcoming talks, adding that Washington had “just about” ended a suspension of intelligence sharing with Kyiv.

Rubio said Ukraine was already receiving all U.S. defensive intelligence. “All the notion of the pause in aid broadly is something I hope we can resolve … I think what happens tomorrow will be key to that,” he said.

On the eve of the talks, Russia launched air strikes targeting Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, with the Ukrainian air force saying the country was under a threat of a missile attack.

Witkoff, who has been arranging the talks, has said the idea is to “get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well”.

Zelenskiy has called for a truce in the air and at sea, as well as a prisoner exchange, in what he says could be a test of Russia’s commitment to ending the war.

Moscow has rejected the idea of a temporary truce, which has also been proposed by Britain and France, saying it was a bid to buy time for Kyiv and prevent its military collapse, Reuters reported.

Zelenskiy has said Kyiv is ready to sign the minerals deal with the U.S., which would create a joint fund from the sale of Ukrainian minerals. Washington says it is crucial to secure continued U.S. backing.

With U.S. support in question, Zelenskiy has been urging his European allies to ramp up their support as Kyiv’s battlefield position deteriorates and it faces mounting pressure to retreat from Russia’s Kursk region.

Russia holds around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014, and its troops are also pressing in the eastern Donetsk region, having ramped up drone and missile strikes on cities and towns far from the front, read the report.

Russia has launched 1,200 aerial guided bombs, nearly 870 attack drones and more than 80 missiles at Ukraine in the past week alone, Zelenskiy has said.

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World

Mark Carney wins race to replace Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister

Two Liberal Party sources said Carney would call an election in coming weeks, meaning one could take place much sooner.

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Former central banker Mark Carney won the race to become leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party and will succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister, official results showed on Sunday.

Carney will take over at a tumultuous time in Canada, which is in the midst of a trade war with longtime ally the United States under President Donald Trump and must hold a general election soon.

Carney, 59, took 86% of votes cast to beat former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in a contest in which just under 152,000 party members voted.

“There’s someone who’s trying to weaken our economy,” Carney said of Trump, spurring loud boos at the party gathering. “He’s attacking Canadian workers, families, and businesses. We can’t let him succeed.”

“This won’t be business as usual,” Carney said. “We will have to do things that we haven’t imagined before, at speeds we didn’t think possible.”

Trudeau announced in January that he would step down after more than nine years in power as his approval rating plummeted, forcing the ruling Liberal Party to run a quick contest to replace him.

“Make no mistake, this is a nation-defining moment. Democracy is not a given. Freedom is not a given. Even Canada is not a given,” Trudeau said.

Carney, a political novice, argued that he was best placed to revive the party and to oversee trade negotiations with Trump, who is threatening additional tariffs that could cripple Canada’s export-dependent economy.

Trudeau has imposed C$30 billion of retaliatory tariffs on the United States in response to tariffs Trump levied on Canada.

“My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect,” Carney said.

Carney’s win marks the first time an outsider with no real political background has become Canadian prime minister. He has said his experience as the first person to serve as the governor of two G7 central banks – Canada and England – meant he was the best candidate to deal with Trump.

The prospect of a fresh start for the Liberal Party under Carney, combined with Trump’s tariffs and his repeated taunts to annex Canada as the 51st U.S. state, led to a remarkable revival of Liberal fortunes.

At the start of 2025 the party trailed by 20 or more points but is now statistically tied with the official opposition Conservatives led by career politician Pierre Poilievre in several polls.

At a protest outside Canada’s Parliament building in Ottawa on Sunday, dozens of Canadians held up signs protesting Trump with no reference to domestic politics.

“There is a rallying-around-the-flag moment that we would never have predicted a year ago,” said University of British Columbia politics professor Richard Johnston. “I think it’s probably true as we speak that the Liberals have been saved from oblivion.”

Polls though indicate that neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives would be able to form a majority government. An election must be held by October 20.

Two Liberal Party sources said Carney would call an election in coming weeks, meaning one could take place much sooner.

Carney could legally serve as prime minister without a seat in the House of Commons but tradition dictates that he should seek to win one as soon as possible.

Liberals sought to compare Conservative leader Poilievre to Trump in a recent advertisement. Poilievre in turn ramped up attacks on Carney on Sunday.

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Hundreds killed in Syrian crackdown on Alawite region, war monitor says

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Gunmen and security forces linked to Syria’s new Islamist rulers have killed more than 340 people, including women and children from the Alawite minority, in the country’s coastal region since Thursday, the head of a war monitor said.

Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the widespread killings in Jableh, Baniyas and surrounding areas in Syria’s Alawite heartland amounted to the worst violence for years in a 13-year-old civil conflict.

The new ruling authority on Thursday began a crackdown on what it said was a nascent insurgency after deadly ambushes by militants linked to former president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Several dozen members of the security forces have been killed in heavy clashes with militants, a Syrian security official said.

Officials have acknowledged violations during the operation, which they have blamed on unorganized masses of civilians and fighters who sought to support official security forces or commit crimes amid the chaos of the fighting.

A defence ministry source on Saturday told state media that all roads leading to the coast had been blocked to stop violations and help return calm, with security forces deploying in streets of coastal cities.

The source added that an emergency committee set up to monitor violations would refer anyone found not to have obeyed the orders of the military command to a military court.

The reported scale of the violence, which includes reports of an execution-style killing of dozens of Alawite men in one village, puts into further question the Islamist ruling authority’s ability to govern in an inclusive manner, which Western and Arab capitals have said is a key concern.

Assad was overthrown last December after decades of dynastic rule by his family marked by severe repression and a devastating civil war.

Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Sharaa, while backing the crackdown in a televised address late on Friday, said security forces should not allow anyone to “exaggerate in their response… because what differentiates us from our enemy is our commitment to our values.”

“When we give up on our morals, us and our enemy end up on the same side,” he said, adding that civilians and captives should not be mistreated.

Syrian Facebook on Saturday was filled with images and obituaries of people from the coastal area being mourned by family and friends who said they had been killed.

Abdulrahman, a leading critical voice against the Assad-led government who documented its alleged killings for more than a decade, said: “This is not about being pro or against the former Assad regime. These are sectarian massacres that aim to expel the Alawite population from their homes.”

The defence ministry and internal security agency said on Saturday they were trying to restore calm and order and prevent any violations against civilians in the coastal region.

Six residents of the coastal region said thousands of Alawites and Christians had fled their homes since Thursday, fearing for their lives.

Several hundred, mostly women and children and elders, sought refuge at a Russian Mediterranean military base at Hmeimim in Latakia, according to footage from the scene and two people familiar with the matter.

Abdulrahman and four people in the coastal region who spoke on condition of anonymity said killings, looting and burning of homes had continued overnight in Baniyas and in surrounding villages.

Reuters, however, said it cannot independently verify the reports or the assertions.

(Reuters) 

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