News Digest — 7/14/25
IDF Seizes 3 Tons Of Arms From Ex-Assad Sites; Violence Flares In Southern Syria
Israeli troops found more than three tons of weapons while raiding military facilities inside Syria. The sites had been maintained by the deposed Bashar Al-Assad regime, the Israel Defense Forces said Sunday (13th).
In the raids, which took place over the past week, reservists of the 810th Mountain Regional Brigade located at the peak of Mount Hermon, inside Syria, searched several “key headquarters” formerly belonging to the Assad regime’s commando forces, the IDF said.
The weapons found by troops included anti-tank mines, explosive devices, and rockets.
The IDF said its operations in the area were intended to prevent weapons smuggling into Lebanon from Syria.
Israeli troops have carried out a number of raids in Syria in recent weeks, mostly targeting members of Iran-sponsored cells stationed near the Golan frontier.
The military has also carried out air strikes aimed at keeping Syrian weapons from falling into the hands of the Islamists who ousted Assad late last year.
The raids were announced as deadly sectarian violence flared in Druze areas of the Syrian side of the Golan, which Israel had previously acted to protect from Islamists.
Clashes broke out between Bedouin and local fighters in the predominately Druze city of Sweida on Sunday (13th), with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting 18 killed in the fighting, including 14 Druze and four Bedouin.
In April and May, clashes between the new government’s security forces and Druze fighters killed dozens of people with local leaders and religious figures signing agreements to contain the escalation and better integrate Druze fighters into the new government.
During those clashes, Israel carried out a drone strike on an armed group preparing to attack a Druze community near Damascus, and Defense MInister Israel Katz told troops to be prepared to act in Syria in defense of the Druze. Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a message to Syria at the time that Israel “expects to act to prevent harm to the Druze.”
Following the December overthrow of Assad, Syria’s longtime ruler, Israel sent troops into the United nations-patrolled buffer zone that separated opposing forces on the strategic Golan Heights, from which it had conducted forays into southern Syria.
Troops have been operating in areas up to around 19.3 miles into Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces.”
Immediately after Assad’s ouster, Israel also carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria to prevent key military assets from coming under the control of the administration headed by Sharaa.
Officials from Syria and Israel have held discussions over Israeli military presence in recent weeks, and, in June, a senior Israeli official said the sides were in “advanced talks” to end hostilities, even as Jerusalem has taken a cautious approach toward the country’s new Islamist leadership.
The two countries have formally been in a state of war since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and last fought a major conflict in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
A meeting this past weekend in Azerbaijan between Syria and Israel officials was reportedly focusing on the IDF presence in Syria. Sharaa, who was in Baku, the capital,to discuss energy cooperation with Azerbaijani leaders, did not attend the meeting with the Israelis.
In addition, on Sunday (12th), the Syrian Interior Minister announced that it had arrested a Hezbollah operative who was planning terrorist attacks. Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group that is sworn to Israel’s destruction, was a chief ally of the ousted Assad regime.
The ministry named the operative as Mahmoud Fadi, saying he was in possession of ready-to-use explosives that he intended to deploy for terrorist attacks in the area. According to the statement, Fadi belonged to a Hezbollah cell that was active in Syria.
IDF Eliminates Commanders Who Sought To Rebuild Hamas, Islamic Jihad
Over the past two weeks, guided by IDF intelligence and the ISA, the IDF struck and eliminated a series of commanders in various units of Hamas’ military wing and the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. The units operated to rebuild the terrorist organizations’ military capabilities, including the Weapons Production Headquarters and the Military Intelligence Unit.
Hamas’ Weapons Production Headquarters operates to restore and expand its weapons arsenal, while the Military Intelligence Unit provides intelligence through various means in order to maintain the operational control of Hamas’ military wing in the Gaza Strip and to advance terrorist activities against Israel.
The Eliminated Terrorists are:
• Muhammad Abu Awwad was Senior terrorist in the Projects and Development Department in Hamas’ Weapons Production Headquarters. Awwad was responsible for developing and advancing the terrorist organization’s precision missile project, and was head of Production and Technical Control of the department.
• Bilal Abu Shikha was the Section Commander in Hamas’ Weapons Production Headquarters.
• Tayseer Shareem was the Section Commander in Hamas’ Weapons Production Headquarters.
• Mundhir Salami was production Site Commander in Hamas’ Weapons Production Headquarters. Salami oversaw the production of various types of weapons and significantly contributed to Hamas’ military buildup in the Gaza Strip.
• Bilal Musallam, was Section Commander in Hamas’ Military Intelligence Unit.
• Rabi Mustafa Rabi’ Sukhweil, acted as Financial Operative in Hamas’ military wing. He was involved in transferring millions of dollars in terror funds to the terrorist organization, and as such, financed its continued terrorist activities and its re-establishment.
• Ahmad Abu Shamala was Squad Commander in Hamas’ MIlitary Intelligence Unit.
• Mustafa Dababesh was Deputy Head of a department in Hamas’ Weapons Production Headquarters.
• Muhammad Al-Batouk, was a Senior Terrorist in the Islamic Jihad’s Weapons Production apparatus.
The IDF is acting to prevent the terrorist organizations’ attempts to reestablish their military capabilities. As part of this effort, the IDF is pursuing the commanders responsible for carrying out concrete actions aimed at rebuilding the terror organizations, and will continue to operate in order to eliminate them.
Filipino Caregiver Dies Of Wounds from Iranian Missile Attack
A woman wounded in an Iranian ballistic missile strike last month succumbed to her wounds on Sunday (13th) making her the 29th victim of the 12-day war with Iran in Israel.
The Philippine Embassy named the woman as Leah Mosquera, 49, who had been in Israel working as a caregiver.
Mosquera was seriously wounded when a missile struck a residential area in Rehovot on June 15.
She remained hospitalized in critical condition at Shamir Medical center for nearly a month and underwent multiple surgeries before succumbing to her wounds, the embassy said.
Word of her death was relayed to the Philippines’ foreign ministry by Mosquera’s sister Joy, who also works as a caregiver in Israel, it said.
Her body will be repatriated to the Philippines for burial.
The ministry thanked the Israeli medical staff who took care of Mosquera during her time in the hospital, “as well as the Filipino community in Israel who offered comfort and support to her family during her hospitalization.”
The Israeli Embassy in the Philippines said that Israel “ shares the profound grief of her family and the Filipino community,” emphasizing that Mosquera “was a woman, a daughter, a devoted worker, and her life was a testament to quiet strength and everyday courage. Her passing reminds us of the shared grief that binds our nations.”
Missile strikes in Rehovot during the early hours of June 15 destroyed apartment buildings in the central Israeli city and injured at least 42 people, according to Magen David Adom rescue service.
One man was alive for hours under the rubble in the site of a strike until rescuers extracted him.
“There were casualties with bleeding and fractures,” a first responder told the Walla News at the time. “Everyone was in a panic, screaming. The homes in the area – most without bomb shelters as this is an old area – were damaged by the impact. Residents lay on the floor in front of the municipal market and waited for rescue. Some were rescued from a nearby bomb shelter.
Another missile hit Rehovot around the same time and destroyed a life science building at the Weizmann Institute of Science, though no human injuries were reported in that incident.
The war between Israel and Iran began on June 13, when Israel launched surprise overnight strikes aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear program and degrading its ballistic missile capabilities, to counter Iran’s avowed threat to destroy the Jewish state.
Iran responded by firing approximately 550 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel. Most of the missiles were intercepted, but at least three dozen ballistic missiles hit populated areas, destroying apartment buildings and leaving over 13,000 Israelis displaced. The missiles also damage critical infrastructure sites, including a power station in southern Israel and an oil refinery in Haifa, and a few military sites.
The attacks killed 29 people, 28 of whom were civilians, as well as a woman in Karmiel who died of a heart attack triggered by a missile attack.
The sides agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24.
Arab Influencer: Gaza’s Children Suffer Because Of Hamas
Ali Shaaban, a well-known Israeli-Arab influencer and popular Instagram personality, responded in a new video to questions from followers who claimed he was ignoring the suffering of Gaza’s children. In his response, he explained that he is not staying silent but instead chooses to speak the truth, even if it’s painful.
“You keep asking me in the comments why I don’t talk about the suffering of Gaza’s children,” Shaaban began. “Let’s talk about their suffering. First of all, I never deny that the children of Gaza suffer and that they are innocent and not responsible for the October 7th massacre. But also don’t forget that Gaza’s children are not only suffering because of the war…”
“They suffer from the restrictions that Hamas has imposed on them since the day they were born. They suffer from schools that have turned into electric warehouses and houses that have become human shields. They suffer from an education that teaches them that being a martyr is more important than childhood, and that murder is the way to paradise. They suffer from the media that plants in their minds that all Jews are monsters and that blood is the only solution,” he added.
Shaaban continued by blaming Hamas leadership for the suffering. “The children of Gaza have no shelters, no hope – not because Israel wanted it, but because their leaders chose missiles over infrastructure, tunnels over hospitals and schools. They suffer because there are leaders who hide their own children in protected homes outside Gaza, and send other people’s children to die in the name of resistance.”
Shaaban concluded with a personal statement: “You accuse me of not talking about the suffering of Gaza’s children? I do speak about it, but sometimes the truth hurts, and you simply don’t want to hear it. Because when I talk about Gaza’s children, I talk about their right to live, not to die. About their right to learn to love, not to hate. And about their right to have leadership that protects them, not exploits them. Think about it for a moment. It’s worth considering.”
Israeli Teens Facing Military Drafts Say They Are Determined To Fight – Rachel Chason
Yonatan Baba started his junior year of high school taking classes on Zoom as a security precaution after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Over the course of the war, he said, friends of his have been killed or injured while fighting in Gaza. Last month, on the eve of what was supposed to be his graduation ceremony, Baba huddled in a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv, comforting a neighbor amid a barrage of Iranian missiles.
Across Israel, where military service is compulsory for most Jewish citizens above 18, a cohort of high school students who graduated last month will be among the next wave of conscripts entering the Israel Defense Forces – their views on Israel’s place in the world shaped by fire. And now many say they are determined to fight.
“We need to be ready to sacrifice ourselves and to protect our country,” said Baba. While he has seen friends come home from Gaza physically wounded and withdrawn, he has only grown more resolved, he said, because “I don’t want my kids to grow up in a place with rockets and kidnappings.”
Many young Israelis across the political spectrum saw their sense of security shattered in the wake of Oct. 7 and as a result have grown more hawkish, said Tamar Hermann, director of the Center for Public Opinion at the Israel Democracy Institute, which conducts regular surveys. “Young people, and especially young men, see themselves as part of the national war effort,” she said. “They see that war as meant to guarantee Israel’s security in the future.”
The IDF is getting more requests to join elite combat units. Elite units are highly competitive, with top students vying for front-line positions. Physical and mental tests start years before draft day. Shahaf Davidovich, 18, whose family evacuated their home in northern Israel after Oct. 7, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel, will join the paratroopers in August. “Everyone knows that we are surrounded by people who don’t want us here,” he said. “We know that we want to contribute as much as we can to defend the only Jewish country that we have.” (Washington Post)
