For today, links to five reports: from the Cradle, Agence France-Presse, and Anadolu Agency; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (SYRIA 7-1-25 is HERE, or scroll down. GAZA, LEBANON and UKRAINE entries for today are HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up or down.) —MCM
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Israeli special forces launch massive raid in southern Syria. From the Cradle. Israeli occupation forces carried out a large-scale raid near the Syrian capital Damascus late Thursday, lasting several hours and involving the use of helicopters and armored vehicles, local sources told Al Mayadeen. READ MORE . . .
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Syria says ready to work with U.S. to return to 1974 disengagement deal with Israel. From AFP. Syria said today it was willing to cooperate with the United States to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, which created a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating the two countries’ forces. Following a phone call with his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani expressed . . . READ MORE . . .
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U.S. to consider reviewing terrorist designations related to Syria: Rubio, by Rabia Iclal Turan | Anadolu Agency WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to consider reviewing both domestic and UN terrorist designations related to Syria during a phone call with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, the State Department said Thursday. READ MORE . . .
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FROM JULY 3 New Syrian government shifts from state bureaucracy to ‘religious sheikhs.’ From the Cradle. Syria is currently being ruled by a system of religious clerics and figures — or sheikhs — rather than by the official bureaucracy of the state, sources said on Thursday. The country has been divided into regions and sub-regions ruled by extremist Sunni Muslim religious leaders who . . . READ MORE . . .
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FROM JULY 2 Syrian warlords behind torture, kidnapping of ethnic minorities benefit from U.S. sanctions relief. From the Cradle. U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order lifting the majority of sanctions on Syria earlier this week included the removal of sanctions on two notorious militia leaders involved in war crimes against minorities. READ MORE . . .
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