CounterVortex

Syria

Syria: revolution on the razor’s edge

The investigation by the Syrian transition government into the March violence against the Alawites in Latakia province has been submitted—but the full findings have not been made public, and it apparently exonerates the government of involvement. Meanwhile southern Suwayda province has seen a perhaps even deadlier eruption of violence—this time pitting Druze against Bedouin, with the role of the government similarly the source of much contestation (and fodder for Internet partisans). And a Damascus protest against the violence and for co-existence was attacked by goons. Amid all this, Israel is militarily intervening, the government looks to Turkey for military aid, and both the US and Russia still have forces on the ground—treating the country as a Greet Power chessboard. In Episode 288 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg warns that the Syrian Revolution is poised on a razor’s edge, ready to descend into ethno-sectarian war and authoritarianism unless political space can be kept open for the secular-democratic civil resistance that began the revolution 14 years ago. (Image: Banners read “Syrians must not shed Syrian blood” and “We reject Israeli aggression against Syria.” Credit: The Syria Campaign via Facebook)

Africa

Mali: Fulani face ‘disappearance,’ summary execution

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that Mali’s armed forces and allied Russian mercenaries have carried out numerous “summary executions and enforced disappearances of ethnic Fulani men.” HRW documented that since January the Malian army and Wagner Groupmercenaries have executed “at least a dozen Fulani men and forcibly disappeared at least 81” during joint operations targeting Islamist armed groups. The rights group said that the insurgents have focused their recruitment efforts on the Fulani, and that “successive Malian governments have conflated the Fulani community with Islamist fighters, putting them at grave risk.” (Photo of Fulani elder via IRIN)

Greater Middle East

Jordan: forced displacement of Bedouin community

Human Rights Watch called upon the Jordanian government to immediately reverse a policy that mandates displacing a Bedouin community from the Petra area through forcible evictions. After UNESCO designated Petra a World Heritage Site in 1985, the forced relocation of the Bedul tribe began as a supposed measure to conserve the site’s archeological zone. The present wave of evictions started in late 2024, when authorities targeted approximately 25 families living in caves and tents on the site’s Stooh al-Nabi Harun Mountain. Residents say that the housing complex the authorities plan to relocate them to is in an isolated area, cutting the Bedul off from their traditional lands. The Bedul tribe is recognized by UNESCO as part of Petra’s living heritage. (Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg/Wikimedia Commons)

Africa

Protest police repression in Angola

Angolan police used excessive force and carried out arbitrary arrests during a peaceful protest in Luanda, Human Rights Watch charges. According to reports, officers fired tear-gas and rubber bullets without justification, assaulted demonstrators, and detained several protesters. The demonstration, organized by youth groups and civil society organizations, was a response to the Angolan government’s decision to raise fuel prices and eliminate public transport subsidies without public consultation. (Photo: Nicolas Raymond/Flickr)

Syria

Syria: violent attack on pro-co-existence protesters

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) called on the Syrian government to hold accountable those who attacked peaceful protesters in front of the country’s legislature in Damascus. The protest had been convened to oppose the escalating violence in the southern province of Suwayda, and to demand the protection of minorities and the promotion of civil peace in the country. The rights group stated that several protesters were attacked by men in civilian clothes, some armed with sticks, causing “physical injuries and widespread panic among the participants,” including many prominent activists. The SNHR condemned the inaction of law enforcement officers, despite some being very close to where the attacks occurred, calling it a “failure of the authorities.” (Image: SNHR)

Palestine

UN condemns attack on Gaza Catholic church

UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned a deadly Israeli artillery strike that damaged Gaza’s Holy Family Catholic Church, calling the attack “unacceptable” and reiterating calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages. The strike killed three civilians and injured several others, including parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli, according to the Vatican. The Holy Family Church, Gaza’s only Catholic parish, had served as a refuge for displaced civilians since the onset of the war, and held up to 600 people when it was struck by tank fire. (Photo: Dan Palraz/Wikipedia)

Africa

France withdraws last troops in Senegal

France officially transferred control of its last military installations in Senegal to local authorities in a ceremony, bringing to an end the permanent deployment of French troops in the country since Senegal gained independence in 1960. The withdrawal of over 350 troops marks the completion of a process initiated in March, when France began handing over multiple military sites. Unlike in other West African countries, where French forces were expelled amid political tumult, the withdrawal from Senegal was peaceful and coordinated, reflecting France’s broader re-orientation away from its traditional “Françafrique” military footprint. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

New York City

Zohran Mamdani and municipal resistance II

As a dictatorship consolidates in Turkey, aspiring strongman Recep Tayip Erdogan is launching a special attack on municipalities, arresting the mayor of Istanbul and removing elected governments in hundreds of cities and towns across the country—mostly in the restive Kurdish east. In the United States, aspiring strongman Donald Trump is now threatening to similarly remove Zohran Mamdani if he becomes mayor of New York, and order a federal take-over of the city government. Border czar Tom Homan says he will “flood the zone” with ICE agents in “sanctuary cities” such as New York and Los Angeles. In Episode 287 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg argues that Trump forcing the issue could accelerate the breaking point in which localities coast-to-coast assert their autonomous powers in repudiation of the fascist-coopted federal leviathan—vindicating Murray Bookchin’s theories of radical municipalism. (Photo: Wyatt Souers/Peoples Dispatch)

Palestine

EU in ‘cruel and unlawful betrayal’ of Gaza

At a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, the bloc opted not to take punitive action against Israel over widespread evidence of war crimes and atrocities committed in Gaza. For weeks, the EU had been discussing a range of potential actions, including: suspending its free trade agreement with Israel, an arms embargo, banning the import of products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and ending visa-free travel for Israeli citizens. Instead of taking any of these measures—which advocates argue are necessary to avoid complicity in serious violations of international law—EU ministers pointed to an aid deal for Gaza struck days earlier as justification for inaction. The details of that deal remain vague, and it has so far shown little on-the-ground impact. Amnesty International assailed the apparent quid pro quo as a “cruel and unlawful betrayal” of the Gazans. (Photo: Mohammed Zaanoun/TNH)

Iraq

Iraq: mysterious drone strikes on Kurdistan oil-fields

Three days of drone attacks on oil-fields in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region have brought operations at several facilities to a halt and slashed crude output. The targeted sites include fields at Zakho, operated by Norway’s DNO; the Sarsang field, operated by US-based HKN Energy; and the Ain Sifni field, operated by Hunt Oil, all in Dohuk governorate. Kurdistan authorities also said a drone was downed near Erbil airport, which hosts US troops. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Kurdish authorities blamed the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units, a paramilitary network aligned with the Baghdad government and backed by Iran. The attacks come amid renewed dispute between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over whether the KRG may enter into hydrocarbon contracts with foreign firms. In May, the central government filed a complaint against the KRG for signing gas contracts with two US companies, including HKN Energy, asserting that all oil and gas deals must go through Baghdad. (Map: UNHCR via ReliefWeb)

Syria

Syria: Israel intervenes amid Druze-Bedouin fighting

Days of clashes between Bedouin tribes and local fighters in the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda in southern Syria left some 300 dead before a ceasefire was brokered by the government. Amid the fighting, Israeli warplanes bombed Syrian government tanks as they advanced on Suwayda, and also struck military targets around Damascus. Some 1,000 Israeli Druze also amassed on the Purple Line, separating Israeli-controlled and Syrian-controlled territory in the Golan Heights, saying they were prepared to cross over to protect their brethren in Suwayda. IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Amal As’ad, a prominent member of Israel’s Druze community, accused Syrian transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa of seeking to “eliminate the Druze,” and criticized Israel for seeking peace with Damascus even amid the attacks. (Map: Google)

Palestine

West Bank: settler attacks on Christian village

The two most senior church leaders in the Holy Land toured the Christian Palestinian town of Taybeh in the West Bank, which has been the scene of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers in recent weeks. In a joint statement, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, called the settler attacks a threat to Christian heritage, and demanded an investigation into the failure of Israeli authorities to respond to the ongoing assaults. Taybeh, the biblical Ephraim, has three churches—Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Melkite—whose pastors have issued an joint appeal calling on Israeli authorities to prevent further settler violence. They charged that the violence—including arson attacks that have threatened the Byzantine-era Church of Al-Khader (St. George)—has often taken place in the presence of passive Israeli soldiers. The settlers have also damaged the olive groves that are Taybeh’s primary source of income, and are preventing farmers from accessing and working their lands. (Photo: VisitPalestine)