News Digest — 5/8/26
Report: Hamas Terrorists Using Turkish Ranges And Drone Schools For Training
Hamas terrorists have been utilizing Turkish territory in recent months for training in small arms use and drone operation, according to a report by Kan 11 News on Thursday evening (7th).
The report stated that members of Hamas, under civilian cover, have been regularly participating in training at public shooting ranges. They have also reportedly undergone training and received drone pilot licenses issued by Turkey, a development that expands the circle of Hamas terrorists receiving military grade instruction.
The news report further noted that upon completing their training, Hamas intends to deploy these operatives to Lebanon, Jordan, and Judea and Samaria, fronts identified as having potential for future conflict with Israel.
Turkey has enjoyed close relations with Hamas and has not been shy about boasting about them. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s intelligence chief has several times hosted delegations from the terrorist organization.
Erdogan has been a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and has expressed support for Hamas. In April of 2024, he met then-Hamas political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh was later eliminated by Israel.
Erdogan said after the meeting that Palestinian Arab unity was “vital” and added: “The strongest response to Israel and the path to victory lie in unity and integrity.”
Weeks later, Erdogan boasted of the fact that more than 1,000 members of Hamas were being treated in hospitals across Turkey and took issue with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ reference to Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Turkey has expressed interest in joining the stabilization force which is to be formed under Trump’s Gaza plan. However, Israel has firmly rejected any Turkish involvement in post-war Gaza.
Northern Israel Braces For Retaliation After Beirut Strike Kills Hezbollah Commander
Following a Beirut airstrike that killed Hezbollah’s Radwan Force commander, Israeli authorities in northern communities canceled planned events on Thursday (7th) amid fears of retaliation.
Local officials acted after the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command warned that gatherings previously exempt from defensive restrictions in the northern border area could become vulnerable.
“Accordingly, events that had previously been exempted from the Home Front Command’s defensive guidelines in the northern border area have been canceled due to the possibility of enemy fire by the Hezbollah terrorist organization toward the area,” the Home Front Command said.
The Israel Defense Forces said its Home Front Command guidelines remain unchanged but the Northern Command ordered the cancellation of special exemptions that had allowed large open-air events.
Local authorities said they were updating plans in line with ongoing security assessments.
Among the cancellations were post-Lag BaOmer bonfires in Kfar Vadim, a farmers’ market inAgmon Hula, and municipal events in Nahariya.
Merom Galil Regional Council head Amit Sofer urged residents to avoid nonessential mass gatherings and comply with Home Front Command and restrictions.
The heightened alert follows an overnight airstrike in Beirut that killed Radwan Force Commander Ahmad Ghaleb Balout.
According to the IDF, Balout previously served as the unit’s chief of operations and oversaw dozens of attacks against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, including anti-tank missile fire and explosives.
The IDF also said he was involved in efforts to rebuild Radwan capabilities and advance the group’s “Conquer the Galilee” invasion plan.
“He thought he could continue to direct attacks against our forces and our communities from his secret terrorist headquarters in Beirut,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“He likely read in the press that he had immunity in Beirut. Well, he read it and it is no longer the case.”
Also killed in the strike was an intelligence officer in the Radwan Force, the IDF said.
The strike, in the Dahiyeh district, a Hezbollah stronghold, was the first in Beirut since April 8.
‘Please Save Sweida;’ Syrian Druze Turn To Israel As Lifeline Amid Jihadist Threat
Sweida has long been the heartland of Syria’s Druze minority, a close-knit religious community that largely tried to protect its autonomy through years of civil war, shifting alliances and regime repression.
But last summer, the southern province became one of the bloodiest flashpoints in the post-Assad era, when clashes between Druze fighters, Bedouin militias and forces loyal to President Ahmad al-Sharaa spiraled into days of massacres, executions and attacks on civilians.
Israeli airstrikes on Syrian regime targets helped force a withdrawal from the area, while Druze leaders and residents later credited Israel with helping halt the bloodshed.
But months later, the province remains gripped by fear and deprivation. Food, medicine and basic services are scarce, trust in Damascus has collapsed and many Druze feel abandoned by the new authorities now shaping Syria’s future. Some in Sweida have begun looking openly beyond Syria’s borders for support, including toward Israel, where Druze citizens have mobilized in solidarity with their Syrian counterparts.
For Syrian Druze content-creator Nervanah Taleb Ghabra, who left Syria in January 2023 and now lives in France, the shift is both political and deeply personal.
Speaking to Ynet Global, she said many members of Syria’s Druze minority initially hoped the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime would open the door to change after years of war and repression, but that hope quickly faded as instability deepened and minorities began feeling increasingly vulnerable.
“At first, we were really happy that the regime changed,” she said. “But when we saw the results and what happened afterward, it became really awful.”
Ghabra said many people there now fear being isolated and abandoned as conditions continue to worsen. “Sweida is under siege,” she said. “There is no food, medicine, or education.”
Ghabra said she remains in constant contact with friends and residents in the beleaguered province, often speaking with them daily. According to her, many now openly discuss Israel as a possible source of assistance and protection amid growing uncertainty inside Syria. “They ask Israel to help them,” she said.
The growing interest in Israel also influenced her own personal journey. Ghabra, a language enthusiast, said she began learning Hebrew after encouragement from her father, who suggested she try studying the language. Over time, she said, the process became deeply meaningful for her, not only linguistically but culturally and emotionally as well.
“I appreciate what Israel did for us,” she said. “I wanted to know Israelis and Jewish people more, to discover the culture and connect through the language.”
She described the response from Israelis and Jewish communities as overwhelmingly supportive, saying many people encouraged her decision and helped her continue learning. Her favorite Hebrew word, she said, is “ahava,” meaning love.
For Ghabra, learning Hebrew became more than a personal interest. She said it represents an attempt to create understanding between communities that remain largely unfamiliar with one another, despite living in the same region.
“I want to be a bridge between Syrian Druze people and Jewish people,” she said. “We need to know more about each other, our culture and our mentality.”
Oct. 7 Was A Psychological Awakening – Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf
After the Hamas-led massacre of 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, it’s no longer possible to speak about defensible borders in purely military or cartographic terms. A border is not truly defensible if the people living behind it do not believe that it can protect them. It is not defensible if parents cannot send their children to school without calculating the range of anti-tank missiles. It is not defensible if entire communities remain displaced for months, uncertain whether returning home is an act of resilience or an act of recklessness.
Most importantly, it is not defensible if citizens believe the enemy’s ultimate goal is total destruction and elimination. This is the reality now facing Israel’s citizens. A psychological border is the line between a society that feels protected and a society that feels exposed. It is the internal frontier of public trust, civic endurance and collective confidence. Once that frontier is breached, concrete walls and sophisticated sensors are not enough.
Oct. 7 was a psychological awakening. Israelis all identified with each other. They understood that no one in the country is immune from the threat posed by enemies who live by a code of jihad or a national consciousness that refuses to recognize their right to exist.
For many outside observers, the Arab-Israeli conflict is still understood primarily as a territorial dispute. The assumption is that if the right lines are drawn, the right guarantees are issued, and the right diplomatic pressure is applied, then stability can be restored. But this view underestimates the ideological nature of the threats Israel faces, especially from jihadist and Islamist movements that do not seek the conflict as a negotiable disagreement over borders, but as a struggle over Israel’s very legitimacy and existence.
In ordinary territorial conflicts, compromise can be a strategic endpoint. In jihadist frameworks, compromise is often viewed as temporary, tactical or illegitimate. Withdrawal may create space for rearmament, indoctrination, and the next assault. Hamas turned Gaza into a fortified terror enclave after Israel’s withdrawal in2005.
Ballistic missiles threaten every corner of Israel. This is why Israelis need a new security reality. They need to know that the ability of Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, and Palestinians in Judea and Samaria to threaten their homes, schools and roads has been decisively reduced.
Any diplomatic arrangement that looks acceptable in Washington or Brussels, but is not trusted by the people who must live next to eliminationist forces, will not be suitable. Diplomacy is essential, but diplomacy that ignores psychological reality will not produce security. Israel is seeking the minimum condition for national life: the ability of citizens to live securely in their own homes.
The writer is a clinical psychologist and a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, specializing in political psychology.
(jns.org)
For Iran’s True believers, A Serious Peace Deal Is Out Of The Question – Clifford D. May
During a Senate hearing, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth why she was so vehemently opposed to the use of military force to address the threat posed by Tehran. “We did not have any evidence that Iran intended to imminently attack this country in any way, shape or form.”
How odd of her not to reckon with the fact that by the time we had such evidence, it might well have been too late to do anything about it. Or maybe no evidence would come to light, and the attack would emerge from a clear blue sky as happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
Since 1979, “Death to America” has been the openly stated – and regularly chanted – policy of Iran’s self-proclaimed “Islamic revolutionaries” and their terrorist proxies. Prior to the June 2025 air campaign against Iran’s nuclear sites, Iran’s rulers “could have built a nuclear weapon with near certainty in less than six months” according to David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security. Is that not imminent enough?
When someone says he intends to kill you, it’s essential to take him seriously. Former Iranian President Rafsanjani threatened that “the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything.” Iran’s rulers see themselves as jihadis fighting a holy war against the enemies of Allah. They can contemplate temporary ceasefires, periods of calm that allow them to rearm for the next battle. But a serious “peace deal” would be out of the question.
The writer is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. (Washington Times)
