[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A Target store in a Minneapolis suburb cordoned off a hallway with six changing rooms, seemingly to convert at least part of the space into a Muslim prayer area.
The store is located in Apple Valley, Minnesota, which is just south of the Twin Cities. A concerned customer took photographs of the repurposed area and sent them to Alpha News.
The pictures show retractable belts sectioning off both sides of the hallway, as well as a sign on one of the doors that said, 'RAMADAN MUBARAK,' a traditional Arabic greeting during the Muslim holy month.
The month of fasting took place from the evening of February 17 to sundown on March 18, meaning it ended about two and a half months ago. It is unclear why the sign was still up when the customer took the photos.
The sign also said, 'This room is being used for prayer. Please do not enter.' Whether the room was meant for customers or employees to pray is also unclear.
The Daily Mail reached out to Target about the many questions surrounding the sign, including how long it has been up, when it might be taken down and whether other stores have made similar accommodations for Muslim prayer.
According to the federal Civil Rights Act, businesses must provide 'reasonable accommodation' to employees' religious beliefs and practices, though there is no mandate to create spaces specifically dedicated to prayer or other religious needs.
Despite that lack of a legal mandate to create prayer spaces, it appears that the Apple Valley location is not the only Target store to have created an area dedicated to Muslim prayer.
#2
I stopped when they banned the Christmas Salvation Army.
My neighbor was Target's PR gal Carolyn Brooker. Target caved in to demands from a Minneapolis gay cruise planner. Heterophobes and Christaphobic crappoids to the core.
Mali 🇲🇱 | Le 03/06, le JNIM a diffusé une vidéo de l’attaque de Sévaré le 25 avril 2026.
🔵 Suite aux attaques coordonnées des rebelles touaregs du FLA et des terroristes du JNIM, ayant ciblé de nombreuses localités au Mali le 25 avril dernier, le JNIM a annoncé dès le… pic.twitter.com/jZS9aG72dv
Mali 🇲🇱 | On 06/03, the JNIM released a video of the Sévaré attack on April 25, 2026.
🔵 Following the coordinated attacks by Tuareg rebels from the FLA and JNIM terrorists, which targeted numerous localities in Mali on April 25, the JNIM announced the very next day the release of a series of videos showing footage of the simultaneous assaults and highlighting its operational capabilities.
🔶 The first video, released on May 27, 2026, is dedicated to the Battle of Kati, during which Defense Minister Sadio Camara was killed along with several members of his family.
🔶 This second video (📽️ excerpt in comments), with a runtime of 12 minutes, concerns the attack on Sévaré and its military base occupied by the Africa Corps.
In this sequence, several Russian paramilitaries are killed by mortar fire.
Other videos of the battles of Bamako, Kidal, Gao, and Bourem will be published soon, according to the terrorist group.
The Malian government has added 6 high-ranking figures to its wanted list, including JNIM leader Iyad Ag Ghali, Katiba Macina leader Hamadoun Kouffa, and individuals linked to the FLA.
Officials announced that a reward of up to 1.5 billion CFA francs will be offered to anyone… pic.twitter.com/rGf3mPokBl
The Malian government has added 6 high-ranking figures to its wanted list, including JNIM leader Iyad Ag Ghali, Katiba Macina leader Hamadoun Kouffa, and individuals linked to the FLA.
Officials announced that a reward of up to 1.5 billion CFA francs will be offered to anyone providing information leading to their capture.
[IsraelTimes] The new rules, based on recommendations by Lord John Mann, come in the wake of ‘shocking’ cases of intimidation and abuse within the health service
Britannia’s National Health Service will ban staff from wearing political badges, including pro-Paleostinian symbols, under new rules aimed at fighting antisemitism within the health system.
Health Secretary James Murray said Thursday that the NHS will accept the recommendation made in an independent review by Lord John Mann.
The guidance will be published "shortly," he said.
The announcement came shortly after a Jewish doctor in London told ITV news that colleagues had told him they would not treat patients who come from Israel even if their life was in danger. The UK’s Department of Health called the comments "shocking" and said that "it is unacceptable that people do not currently feel safe working in and using the health service," according to The Jewish Chronicle.
Mann was commissioned in October 2025 to lead a review into how the NHS and its regulatory system report and handle antisemitism and other forms of racism. The report was ordered "in the wake of a series of horrific attacks on the Jewish community across the country, including shocking examples of intimidation and abuse within the health service," the Department of Health and Social Care said in a blurb.
Between October 2023 and July 2025, 99 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the healthcare sector, according to a report published last year by the Antisemitism Policy Trust.
Mann’s review found that Jewish staff in parts of the NHS report "routine ostracism" and increasing discrimination from colleagues, leading some Jewish employees to consider leaving the health service.
It also identified concerns among Jewish patients, some of whom said they delayed or avoided seeking treatment due to fears of discrimination or a lack of cultural safety in healthcare settings.
Under the reforms, the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care will introduce mandatory antisemitism training for big shots, as well as updated equality, diversity and human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... training for around 1.5 million staff, with specific content on antisemitism and anti-Moslem hostility.
New national guidance will also be issued on uniform policy, the use of NHS-issued equipment, and how trusts should respond to racist behavior from both staff and the public.
It is not yet clear what symbols will be barred under the new law.
A new NHS Staff Standard focused on tackling racism will set minimum expectations for prevention, response and learning across organizations.
Speaking to journalists, Murray said that allowing staff members to display political symbols in medical settings risks undermining trust and deterring some patients from seeking care.
"When you have a situation where political views can be brought into the NHS, that can cause Jewish patients to think twice about whether to go to the NHS for their treatment," he told local media.
The government said it will work with regulators to align definitions and approaches to racism across the system. Ministers will report progress to Parliament by October 2026, with a full update within 12 months of publication.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomed the initiative, noting that it had long pushed for many of the measures included in the report.
"Our public services must set the standard for confronting anti-Jewish hatred and discrimination, and we must ensure the NHS, one of our proudest national institutions, is safe and welcoming for every staff member or service user, regardless of faith or ethnicity," Board of Deputies Vice President Karen Newman said in a statement.
The Jewish Leadership Council also applauded the report, calling it "an important moment in dealing with this crisis at the heart of a vital British institution." It warned, however, that regulators must take responsibility for fighting hatred alongside the NHS.
"We have seen doctors describe hospitals as cesspits of ’Jewish supremacy’ and praise Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... as ’legends,’ with the regulators and tribunals not taking substantive action," JLI said in a statement. "While the NHS must take responsibility for the actions of its employees, the regulators must also wake up to their role and accept the recommendations on them."
The Jewish Medical Association reacted warmly as well, noting Mann’s "thoughtful approach for embedding cultural awareness throughout the NHS and for ensuring accountability."
#1
UK will bar NHS workers from wearing political badges
That will help to cover up the problem. But now that the political is personal, it might be better to encourage everyone to wear their politics on their sleeve. From the patients point of view, there is less doubt about whether the person treating you is incompetent or simply trying to harm you.
Probably using Israeli tech to accomplish it, but let’s not think about that.
[IsraelTimes] Progressive US political commentator Cenk Uygur and leftist streamer Hasan Piker
…his nephew…
will address the Oxford Union on Saturday by livestream, after the UK banned them from entering the country.
The UK government did not explain its decision to ban the two commentators, except to say that “their presence in the UK may not be conducive to the public good.”
Arwa Elrayess, president of the Oxford Union, says: “This event will not be cancelled. The Union will ensure this discussion takes place. Free speech does not require a visa.”
“The Oxford Union was founded on one principle: that ideas are challenged through debate, not silenced by decree. We have never turned a speaker away because of their political beliefs, nor have we sought a permission slip from the state. We will not start now,” she says.
Uygur, host of “The Young Turks” news show on YouTube, frequently accuses Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip and commandeering US policy. The show — which has come to place Israel at the center of much of its coverage since 2023 — regularly shares debunked claims about Israeli attacks, and its hosts have amplified conspiracy theories linking the Jewish state to events including 9/11.
Piker, a streamer who is also Uygur’s nephew, is a self-identified socialist who has endorsed terror groups and regularly implies support for political violence. He has described Hamas as “a thousand times better than Israel.”
Elrayess, for her part, has also come under scrutiny for leaked messages in which she said of Hamas, “Any resistance group will inevitably be deemed a ‘terrorist’ organization by the West until they achieve their liberation (by which time, they’ll be lauded as heroes, as history has repeatedly proven).”
The Oxford student, a Palestinian who spent part of her childhood in Gaza and has lost family members in the recent war, has rejected calls to step down in the wake of the leaks.
She’s noted that the messages were sent in private, and that, in her role at the Oxford Union, she has actively facilitated the speech of people she disagrees with, such as anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson and a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces.
And no doubt other, similarly incendiary mind viruses.
[IsraelTimes] Instagram’s recommendation algorithm can easily direct users from mainstream self-improvement content to virulent antisemitic material and Nazi propaganda, according to a study published yesterday by the Combat Antisemitism Movement’s Antisemitism Research Center (ARC).
For the project, ARC used two neutral persona accounts following mainstream creators in the field of fitness and wellness, engaging in three daily sessions of 45 minutes online.
Without any active user intent, both accounts were rapidly served content promoting conspiracy theories and explicit hate speech. By the third day, 31% of the wellness account’s content and 18% of the fitness account’s content consisted of explicit antisemitism, ARC says. Over the three days, 32% of wellness videos and 24% of fitness videos contained coded or explicit antisemitism.
The study found certain “narrative bridges,” such as distrust of the food and medical industries, that led content to escalate from mainstream content to anti-establishment framing to conspiratorial content to coded antisemitic narratives and explicit antisemitism, the study found.
“You don’t have to search for antisemitic content to find it on Instagram,” said ARC Research Associate Oliver Marks. “When platforms optimize for engagement without sufficient safeguards, they can end up amplifying hate to vast audiences.”
You don’t have to search for antisemitic content to find it on Instagram.
In a new study, CAM’s Antisemitism Research Center found that Instagram’s algorithm can push ordinary wellness and fitness users from self improvement content to antisemitic conspiracies in just days, with…
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) June 3, 2026
[IsraelTimes] Federal authority figures show 12,000 people gained citizenship under restitution laws, though unclear how many were Jews; one in five people naturalized in 2025 was Syrian
The number of people naturalized in Germany through restitution laws that restore citizenship to individuals who were stripped of it by Nazi Germany, and to their descendants, rose by 61 percent to 12,000 last year, according to data released by the Federal Statistics Office on Wednesday.
The restitution laws enable Jewish descendants of Holocaust victims to gain German citizenship.
German authorities did not provide a breakdown of who gained citizenship under the system.
Overall, Germany granted citizenship to a record 332,500 people last year, a 14% increase, with Syrians making up the largest group for the fifth year in a row.
One in five people naturalized in 2025 was Syrian. However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... compared with 2024, the number of Syrians gaining German citizenship dropped by 21%.
Many Syrians who arrived as refugees during 2015 and 2016 became eligible for naturalization during 2024.
The office attributed the increase to June 2024 reforms that reduced residency requirements for naturalization from eight years to five, as well as allowed individuals to hold dual citizenship.
After Syrians, the largest groups to naturalize were Turks (10%, or 34,100 people) and Russians (6%, or 19,700 people).
Particularly strong year-over-year growth was also seen for Bosnians (126%, or 8,800 people), the United States (100%, or 6,600 people), and Albanians (97%, or 6,100 people).
There has been a significant increase in the number of Holocaust victim descendants applying for citizenship, according to a Euronews report last month. It cited the German Interior Ministry saying that 2,485 Israeli citizens were naturalized in 2021, but that jumped to 4,275 by 2024.
[Rudaw] People from Iran, Iraq, Syria and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... residing in Germany or seeking asylum there sent more than €1.68 billion (around $1.85 billion) in remittances to their countries last year, the German Federal Bank (Bundesbank) told Rudaw on Wednesday, adding that it cannot determine whether any of these funds originated from government-funded social welfare payments.
"According to financial records, we cannot provide information on how much of this money comes from social welfare benefits, nor can it be determined how this money is utilized in the countries of origin," the German bank said.
The bank noted that the highest amount of money was sent to Turkey, with €901 million (nearly $1 billion) in remittances directed to Kurdish-majority areas in the country’s southeast. This was followed by Syria, including the Kurdish-led northeast (Rojava), which received around €520 million (approximately $572 million).
Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch shot Ike through the elbow. Take that, Ike! he yelled...... Iraq and the Kurdistan Region received €141 million (around $155 million), while Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and its Kurdish-majority western areas (Rojhelat) received €121 million (around $133 million) in transfers from Germany, according to the bank.
Germany has historically maintained high acceptance rates for asylum seekers and war refugees, offering long-term residency and pathways to citizenship. Despite recent economic slowdowns, the country continues to face a significant structural labor shortage driven by an aging population.
Furthermore, the German government offers a wide range of support systems to asylum seekers and refugees, including financial allowances, housing assistance, free education for children, and access to healthcare.
More than one million Syrian refugees have been granted asylum in Germany, with the overwhelming majority arriving during the Syrian Civil War (2011 - 2024). The Ottoman Turkish diaspora - numbering more than 1.5 million - is a long-established community in Germany that began settling during the Gastarbeiter - ’guest worker’ era - in the 1960s.
Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch shot Ike through the elbow. Take that, Ike! he yelled...... the number of Iraqi refugees increased significantly after the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) captured large parts of the country in 2014, reaching more than 285,000 by 2025.
As for Iran, Germany has long been a top destination for Iranian secular dissidents and political refugees have left the country, especially since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with their community in Germany now exceeding 145,000 people.
[Rudaw] European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... politicians and member states have reached a provisional agreement on new migration rules aimed at speeding up the return of people with no legal right to remain in the bloc, including provisions allowing transfers to return hubs outside the EU.
The agreement complements the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which is scheduled to begin implementation on June 12, according to the EU Council.
Under the new framework, member states will be able to transfer migrants colonists and rejected asylum seekers to facilities in third countries through agreements with non-EU states. The legislation also seeks to strengthen cooperation among member states and establish more uniform return procedures across the bloc.
The deal follows months of discussions over broader EU migration reforms, including measures related to safe countries of origin and safe third countries. In January, EU institutions approved reforms aimed at making asylum procedures faster and more consistent across member states.
"We need an effective, modern and common return system," said Nicholas Ioannides, according to the European Council. He said the regulation would "speed up the return process and increase returns of persons who have no legal right to stay in the EU."
The European Commission proposed the legislation in March 2025 as part of efforts to complete the bloc's migration and asylum reform package. EU officials argue that existing return procedures are fragmented and ineffective, allowing many rejected asylum seekers to remain in member states.
Ioannides said the reforms would support "faster, more consistent asylum procedures" and strengthen the implementation of the EU migration pact.
The new rules have drawn criticism from rights groups, which argue that transferring migrants colonists to facilities outside the EU could raise legal and humanitarian concerns. Supporters, however, say the measures are necessary to improve enforcement of migration decisions and reduce pressure on national asylum systems.
The issue is closely watched in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, whose citizens have been among asylum applicants in several European countries over the past decade. Migration experts say stricter EU asylum and return procedures could affect future applicants from Iraq, particularly those whose claims are rejected.
According to the latest annual report by the European Union Agency for Asylum, Iraqis account for about 21 percent of repeat asylum applications in the EU, indicating a significant number of applicants reapplying after receiving a final decision on their cases.
Ioannides said the reforms would support "faster, more consistent asylum procedures" and contribute to the implementation of the EU migration pact.
The new return rules have drawn criticism from rights groups, which argue that transferring migrants colonists to facilities outside the EU could raise legal and humanitarian concerns. Supporters of the legislation, however, say the measures are necessary to improve enforcement of migration decisions and reduce pressure on national asylum systems.
The issue is closely watched in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, whose citizens have been among asylum applicants in several European countries over the past decade. Migration experts say any tightening of EU asylum and return procedures could affect future applicants from Iraq, particularly those whose claims are rejected.
According to an annual report of the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), Iraqis, including those from the Kurdistan region, account for around 21 percent of repeat asylum applications in the EU, indicating a significant number of cases where applicants reapply after a final decision.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump says a symbolic House vote approving a war powers resolution that would halt the US military action against Iran was “meaningless.”
Someone feels better afterward, so it has a small amount of meaning. Infinitesimal, actually, which is still ever so slightly greater than zero…
He expresses anger at Republicans for joining Democrats in supporting the measure, and hints that it will harm ongoing negotiations with Iran to end the war.
“Who would do such an unpatriotic thing. They know where the negotiations stand,” Trump says in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“The Democrats are fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome,” he adds. “They would rather have our Country fail than give me another, of many, victories. The four Republicans, that’s a whole other story – They’re GRANDSTANDERS! They should be ashamed of themselves.”
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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calls for the release of Sama Safi, a 20-year-old American citizen, who was among the Birzeit University students arrested by the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday.
“Israeli security forces came to her home at 3 a.m. in the morning, and just took her without explanation. She told them she was an American citizen. They didn’t care,” Van Hollen reports, in a video posted to X.
The IDF said at the time that the four women were suspected of “promoting terrorist activities and additional terrorism-related activities.”
Safi has a medical condition that needs treatment, Van Hollen reports he was told by the student’s mother.
The Democratic senator says Israel is holding Safi without charges, and has not told her family or the US Embassy where she is being held or why.
He calls on US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to ensure the American’s immediate release.
“We’ve seen this happen before. In fact, we’ve seen American citizens killed by violent Israeli settlers and by security forces without accountability,” he says.
No mention of the 43 Americans murdered by Hamas during the 10/7 invasion and another dozen kidnapped and tortured for two years thereafter, but whatevs…
“I am really sick and tired of the Israeli government — the Netanyahu government — taking American taxpayer dollars and then mistreating Americans,” the senator concludes.
[Rudaw] The US Department of War on Thursday and the UK Ministry of Defense late Wednesday identified two coalition service members who died in a training incident in Erbil earlier this week.
US Army Sgt. Devin A. Seibel, 26, and UK Lance Corporal James Freeman, 29, both lost their lives on May 31.
“The soldier was assigned to the Air Ambulance Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, Fort Carson, Colo. The incident is under investigation," the Department of War said, confirming that Seibel died in a “training-related incident.”
Meanwhile, the UK Ministry of Defense identified Freeman as the soldier who died in a “tragic accident” during a “routine military training activity.”
“Our thoughts are with Lance Corporal Freeman’s family, friends, and Regiment at this devastating time,” it added.
Shorsh Ismail, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Minister of Peshmerga Affairs, mourned the passing of the two service members in the US-led Global Coalition against Islamic State (ISIS).
”On behalf of the Ministry of Peshmerga and all the Peshmerga forces of Kurdistan, we extend our most sincere condolences and deepest sympathies to you, to the families of the two fallen soldiers and their loved ones, expressing our profound solidarity and heartfelt sharing of your grief in this immense loss,” he said.
Kurdistan Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani also expressed condolences.
“I extend my deepest condolences to the United States’ and the United Kingdom’s militaries on the passing of two American and British service members who lost their lives during a training mission in Erbil,” he said on Tuesday.
The circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear and authorities have yet to disclose further details. The US army said it has launched an investigation into the incident.
Erbil serves as one of the regional hubs for the US-led Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR). Operating under Operation SHADER, British Royal Air Force (RAF) and army personnel also use their presence in Erbil for regional military operations and surveillance.
Both countries have played a key role in the territorial defeat of ISIS, launching thousands of airstrikes against the group and training Peshmerga and Iraqi forces in frontline and urban combat techniques.
The UK also regularly sponsors selected Peshmerga officers to attend prestigious military academies, including the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, to undergo officer training and strengthen defense ties.
[Rudaw] Washington’s top envoy in Baghdad praised Iraqi authorities for their role in securing the detention of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) murderous Moslems transferred from Syria earlier this year, lauding Iraq’s efforts to repatriate the detainees to their countries of origin, the US embassy said in a statement on Tuesday.
The US Chargé d’Affaires, Joshua Harris, met with Iraqi Justice Minister Khalid Shwani a day earlier, the embassy said, to "discuss the shared interests of safeguarding Iraq’s illusory sovereignty, defeating terrorism, and bolstering regional stability."
Harris also "praised Iraq’s ongoing leadership in securely detaining ISIS terrorists, bringing them to justice, and ensuring countries rapidly repatriate their citizens from Iraq," the statement added.
Syrian government forces and affiliated gangs earlier this year launched a widescale offensive into territory previously held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in eastern Aleppo, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Hasaka provinces.
The SDF, which serves as the de facto military force in northeast Syria (Rojava) and is a key on-the-ground partner of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, played a central role in liberating these areas from the murderous Moslem group in 2019 and has since maintained control to prevent its resurgence.
During the Syrian government offensive, SDF units were forced to withdraw from several detention facilities holding thousands of ISIS prisoners, after the Kurdish-led forces had previously maintained security at more than 27 detention facilities and at least two large detention camps in Rojava.
A report by the Lead Inspector General for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) - the official name of the Washington-led coalition’s anti-ISIS campaign - said in late May that the rapid advance forced "SDF personnel guarding detention facilities holding ISIS detainees to redeploy to front lines, at times before government forces could take control."
"At least 150 ISIS fighters escaped detention facilities as a result of the Syrian government offensive and its aftermath," the report added.
Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues... the US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported earlier this year that between January 21 and February 12, more than 5,700 adult male ISIS fighters were relocated from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody.
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council later confirmed that Baghdad received approximately 5,704 ISIS detainees of 61 nationalities.
It detailed that the total included 3,543 Syrians, 467 Iraqis, 710 detainees from other Arab countries, and more than 980 individuals from Europe, Asia, the United States, and Australia.
Of note, most ISIS suspects in Iraq are tried under Article 4 of Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005, with the majority receiving either the death penalty or life imprisonment under provisions that criminalize anyone who "commits, incites, plans, finances, or assists" a terrorist group.
In February, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that an estimated 8,000 prisoners were on death row in Iraq.
It also urged countries whose citizens are held in Iraq on terrorism-related charges to take steps to expatriate their nationals.
🇮🇶 Iraq’s Sadrist militia, Saraya al-Salam, has begun disarming and integrating into the Iraqi Army in Samarra following an order from Muqtada al-Sadr to dissolve the force. Sadr also called on all Popular Mobilization Forces factions to hand their weapons over to state control. pic.twitter.com/OADYxqpVLT
🇮🇶 Iraq’s Sadrist militia, Saraya al-Salam, has begun disarming and integrating into the Iraqi Army in Samarra following an order from Muqtada al-Sadr to dissolve the force. Sadr also called on all Popular Mobilization Forces factions to hand their weapons over to state control.
[IsraelTimes] Amit vows court system and judges will not bow to violent intimidation; 62 suspects to face custody hearing, some said refusing to cooperate; GroPro cameras and drones seized.
[IsraelTimes] Eighteen suspects stopped during last night’s riots outside the home of High Court Justice Noam Sohlberg by ultra-Orthodox extremists opposed to the military draft have been freed to house arrest, police say.
Another 44 of the 62 suspects arrested outside Sohlberg’s house in the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut were ordered to remain in custody until the middle of next week, though five minors among them will be released tomorrow.
Haredi extremists protesting the arrest of draft dodgers descended on the judge’s home last night, breaking windows, smashing flower pots and vases on the front porch and causing damage to his car.
Many of the Haredi demonstrators tried to flee the scene on a bus but were stopped by police.
Police say that rioters derided officers as “Nazis” upon their arrival at the scene.
The incident was the latest riot by ultra-Orthodox extremists at the home of a top official, which is part of a planned campaign, according to Channel 12 news.
#3
I can see being anti-war as a general principle, but refusing to fight against people who are actively trying to kill you is not adaptive behaviour.
#4
^They are not pacifists Steve. They just refuse to serve in the military, or work. Their argument is that Halachic studies (mostly rote-memorization) are more important.
[IsraelTimes] Ibrahim Hilu said to have hidden remains of the 20-year-old IDF soldier, killed in 2014 war, until they were recovered by the IDF in January 2025
Hamas operative Ibrahim Hilu was charged Thursday in Israeli court for holding the body of slain soldier Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul in the Gaza Strip for over a decade on behalf of the terror group.
The 46-year-old Gaza resident was indicted in the Beersheba District Court on charges of aiding the enemy in war, membership in a terrorist organization and using a gun for terrorist aims.
Shaul, 20 at the time of his death, was killed in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood during the 2014 Gaza War when the armored personnel carrier he was traveling in came under fire from anti-tank missiles launched by Hamas. His body was dragged away from the scene by Hamas operatives and subsequently held in Gaza for over a decade.
State prosecutors allege that Hilu, a shopkeeper formerly active in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, was enlisted by his higher-ups to hold Shaul’s body in a large meat freezer in the basement of one of his businesses in Gaza City. He was instructed to distance himself from the terror group’s military activity so as to not call attention to himself, and according to the indictment, he later transferred Shaul’s body to a fridge with a lock.
Hilu held Shaul’s body until October 2023, when he fled south during the fighting in Gaza and relocated to a displaced persons camp in Deir al-Balah.
Israeli forces captured and interrogated Hilu, who provided information on the whereabouts of Shaul’s remains. He has been in Israeli custody since then.
Shortly before a ceasefire went into effect on January 18, 2025, a Palestinian informant working on Israeli orders extracted Shaul’s body from the fridge, wrapped it in a rug, and carried it for 1.5 kilometers (roughly one mile) to IDF forces awaiting him, according to a Ynet report.
Israeli forces engineered the recovery of Shaul’s remains in a clandestine operation the following day, just ahead of the ceasefire taking effect.
Shaul was one of two soldiers whose bodies had been held since the 2014 war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge. Hadar Goldin, 23 at the time of his death, was killed in Gaza during a humanitarian ceasefire.
Goldin’s remains were returned last November as part of a US-brokered hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas that saw the return of all the terror group’s hostages, living and dead, and ended most of the fighting in the Strip sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Same protest sector people and funders, different cause o’the day.
[IsraelTimes] Thousands are marching to the Knesset in Jerusalem under heavy security as part of the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride March.
The march’s route is different from that of past years and has taken a distinctly more political tone, with a large contingent of marchers calling to replace the current, right-wing government.
Participants sport pride memorabilia, waving gay and transgender flags while chanting “democracy” to the beat of drums.
Several at the front of the procession hold ballot boxes, marching with a banner that reads: “Choosing a liberal Israel.”
At Jerusalem's pride march, participants chant "democracy" while holding ballot boxes in a procession to the Knesset pic.twitter.com/pHb2zT3QaI
Thousands of police and Border Police officers have been deployed to secure the march route, which is completely sealed to outsiders amid worries about anti-LGBTQ violence.
Meanwhile, a small group of counterprotesters with the far-right Lehava group who have set up camp across the street chant, “Jerusalem is not Sodom.”
[Rudaw] More than 1,200 detainees linked to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been released by the Damascus government, exceeding initial estimates, the deputy governor of northeast Syria’s (Rojava) Hasaka province told Rudaw.
Ahmed al-Hilali further added that more than 9,000 members of the Kurdish Internal Security Forces (Asayish), including around 1,000 women, are scheduled for interviews as part of their integration into state forces.
"According to estimates provided by relevant SDF authorities, there were 1,070 detainees in Syrian custody. However,
a woman is only as old as she admits... after inspections of several prisons and detention centers, more than 1,200 SDF-affiliated detainees were released," Hilali told Rudaw’s Nalin Hassan on Tuesday.
He further noted the Syrian government’s commitment to "releasing those whose sole reason for detention was their membership in the SDF," while adding that the cases of individuals who have "pending charges against them" have not yet been settled.
The release of SDF detainees is part of wider efforts to implement the January 29 agreement between the SDF and the Syrian interim authorities, which was struck with significant mediation from the United States through its Special Envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, as well as Kurdish political figures from the Kurdistan Region.
The deal followed a sharp escalation in mid-January, after Syrian government forces and affiliated gangs seized territory previously held by SDF forces in eastern Aleppo, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Hasaka provinces.
The SDF, which serves as the de facto military force in Rojava and is a key on-the-ground partner of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS), played a central role in liberating these areas from the bully boy group in 2019 and had since maintained control over them in efforts to prevent its resurgence.
Under the January 29 agreement, a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire was established, alongside provisions for the integration of civil and military institutions in Rojava into the Syrian state.
Importantly, Hilali told Rudaw that "interviews with more than 9,000 members of the Kurdish Internal Security Forces (Asayish), including around 1,000 women, are set to be conducted soon as a prelude to their integration under the Directorate of Internal Security of Hasaka province," which operates under the Syrian interior ministry.
Following is the full transcript of the interview with Ahmed al-Hilali, deputy governor of Hasaka.
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] A new "captagon fever" is gradually sweeping the Middle East. Barely a week goes by without intelligence agencies in the region reporting the seizure of large quantities of the synthetic drug, with emphasis on the fact that smuggling volumes have recently increased by an average of three to four times.
Neighbors blame Syria, which in recent years has gained a reputation as a major supplier of dangerous pills and, it is claimed, continued to facilitate smuggling even after the change of government.
Official Damascus, in response, merely shrugs its shoulders, blaming activists from the Druze province of As-Suwayda for the creation of the drug empire. While not forgetting to point out that the scandal's threads reach all the way to the top, to the ethnic enclave's leadership.
FOCUS ON THE SHEIKHS
Initially, Captagon was prescribed in the Middle East primarily for narcolepsy and attention deficit disorder, as well as severe forms of depression. However, over time, it began to be prescribed "on an ad hoc basis." In some Arab republics (for example, Syria and Lebanon), this psychostimulant has become as much a luxury item for the gilded youth as expensive cars.
Despite its production and sale being officially banned worldwide back in 1986 (after it was added to the list of controlled psychotropic substances), its circulation in the Middle East has never ceased. On the contrary, the consistently high demand has generated a supply—a shadow supply.
Clandestine production volumes exceeded previous legal levels, and the focus of supply shifted to the Arabian Peninsula, where wealthy sheikhs and their cronies had already gotten a taste of the "medicine" by the late 2000s.
The drug had another side: it was quickly adopted by various radical and rebel groups. Over the past thirty years, there hasn't been a conflict in the Middle East in which at least one side hasn't used it. For this reason, it earned the telling name "fuel of jihad."
SYRIA'S NEW SCOURGE
Bashar al-Assad's opponents believed that the shadow drug flows were controlled from Damascus and brought in fabulous profits for the local treasury, allowing the regime to survive under international sanctions.
However, the change of power in Syria hasn't brought relief to the Middle East. Quite the contrary: by the end of 2025, traffic had jumped by an average of 120% (in some countries, the figure reached 325%), and by at least another 40% by the first quarter of 2026.
Not a week goes by without security forces in countries bordering Syria reporting record seizures of new quantities of banned pills. And Lebanon's security services currently hold the lead.
In late April 2026, they uncovered a clandestine factory in a cave complex near the city of Baalbek. They seized 329 kilograms of finished product, equivalent to two million tablets, as well as equipment imported from neighboring Syria.
Jordanian security services also reported seizing large quantities of pills. Over the past month, they seized over 700,000 pills, breaking their 2025 record of nearly half a million. Jordan, a major transit point from Syria to the Gulf, leads the world in interceptions of illegal shipments by a wide margin.
At least two dozen caravans were stopped in May alone. Since the beginning of 2026, Amman has prevented approximately 100 transits from Syria.
In response to its neighbors' complaints, Damascus complains of "arbitrariness on the ground." According to Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab, the new authorities defeated the "scourge of Syria" by the fall of 2025, destroying the last production lines in the part of the country they controlled.
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Assistance in the liquidation of underground factories in Damascus was allegedly provided by former high-ranking officers of the Assad regime, which was intended to emphasize the exceptional nature of the measures taken.
Meanwhile, the central government has been unable to do anything about the predominantly Druze-populated province of As-Suwayda. According to Khattab, local militias not only prevent Syrian security forces from accessing suspicious facilities, but also allegedly protect these industries themselves. Meanwhile, they are creating new ones, including in the provincial capital.
The Syrian Interior Ministry's position could be seen as an attempt to blame operational failures on an unfriendly faction, if not for one "but": Khattab's arguments are supported by reports from Lebanese and Jordanian security forces.
Moreover, the latter go even further and place responsibility personally on Hikmat Salman al-Hijri, the head of the Syrian Druze, who built his own drug empire in these parts.
NO COMPETITORS
The reason the Druze may have turned to the forbidden business is due to a sharp decline in their standard of living. Years of civil war and international sanctions forced Damascus to abandon investment in border provinces, leading to a gradual loss of jobs.
In addition, 2024–2025 were record-breaking drought years, sending the agriculturally dependent region into prolonged decline.
The new Syrian authorities failed to alleviate the economic and food crises in As-Suwayda. In some places, they even worsened them, fueling separatist sentiment on the outskirts. And after Damascus attempted to forcefully restrain the Druze in the summer of 2025, the rupture became irreversible.
More than forty Druze militias, some of which were formed from local gangs of quasi-criminal groups, joined forces to form a "national guard" and a "political council"—a military and civilian governing body. In effect, the rebellious province developed its own system, electing al-Hijri as its leader and spiritual authority.
However, the “state within a state” required a stable source of income to continue to exist and also to contain the onslaught of the central authorities.
Moreover, the Israelis, despite their increased presence, were in no hurry to fully subsidize the Druze. And here, the former "brigadiers" pointed out to al-Hijri a gold mine in the form of the production and transit of banned pills.
After clearing central and eastern Syria of underground factories, the Druze had virtually no serious competitors in the market, and their advantageous geographic location made it possible to maintain the shadow transit at the same volumes.
Over time, a group of advisers formed around al-Hijri, many of whom were previously involved in the international drug trade. According to Jordanian intelligence, these included well-known criminal figures Mohannad Mazhar, Fawaz Abu Sarhan, and Raji Falhouth.
And while Mazhar and Sarhan, with the consent of the head of As-Suwayda, were primarily involved in establishing supplies to the Gulf countries through Jordanian territory, Falhout was responsible for the Lebanese direction and oversaw the work of foreign underground enterprises.
The adventurers received military support from the commander of the "national guard," Sheikh Faris al-Ghutani. whose fighters accompanied couriers and component suppliers and also helped recapture arrested intermediaries from the Syrian police.
The new drug empire expanded rapidly: in less than a year, Druze "illicit drugs" flooded the black markets of Arabian monarchies, partially displacing previous analogues.
ROYAL REVENGE
Jordan suffered the greatest image losses among its neighbors from the new "captagon fever." This included losing its status as a "shield against drug traffickers" for the Arabian monarchies, which impacted the volume of trade, economic, and political cooperation with the Gulf.
Therefore, the Jordanian response to the Druze elite's shady schemes was unexpectedly harsh. Back in early May, Jordanian forces launched a series of dagger-like strikes against As-Suwayda. Despite their seemingly chaotic nature, they struck predetermined targets.
Among them, for example, was the villa of Fares Saimua, a confidant of al-Hijri and the organizer of the air bridge for drug trafficking to Jordan. Manufacturing and pressing plants, as well as warehouses containing finished products, were also attacked.
Jordanian intelligence estimates that the daring raid resulted in the Druze losing at least 30% of their unshipped stockpiles. Subsequently, the Jordanian Armed Forces carried out several more strikes against the Druze enclave, one of which occurred in the last week of May and allegedly destroyed several clandestine factories along with their personnel.
However, the Jordanians are not happy with this policy of shooting at sparrows with a cannon, since such a policy not only fails to reduce transit volumes, but also turns local Druze against the Jordanian authorities, encouraging them to collaborate even more closely with smugglers.
Therefore, the kingdom is trying to shift the burden onto Damascus. At the end of May, Jordanian intelligence agencies handed over to their Syrian counterparts dossiers on all the key leaders of the Druze scheme, as well as those close to them and potential intermediaries. In total, the dossiers cover more than a hundred people.
But even with ironclad evidence, arresting the dealers will be nearly impossible for the Syrians. A police operation in As-Suwayda will require the mobilization of significant forces and will undoubtedly provoke resistance from local militias. This could lead to a new round of tension in the Druze Mountains, something Damascus is not yet prepared for.
[ACLEDDATA] ACLED’s Middle East Research Manager Muaz Al Abdullah comments on deadly explosive remnants in Syria
by Muaz Al Abdullah
Middle East Research Manager
While Syria's security landscape has shifted since the fall of the Assad regime, the deadliest threat to civilians is no longer concentrated on active frontlines. Instead, it lies hidden beneath the ground. Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) continue to kill and injure civilians across the country.
Muaz Al Abdullah, Middle East Research Manager at ACLED, said:
“Since the fall of the Assad regime, ACLED records 1,489 incidents involving landmines and ERW, resulting in at least 1,304 reported fatalities. Between January and 29 May 2026 alone, these devices reportedly killed at least 243 people, underscoring their enduring human toll even as overall levels of violence have declined.
“The threat, however, appears to be gradually easing. ACLED records 314 landmine and ERW incidents between January and 29 May 2026, down from 673 during the same period in 2025. Reported fatalities also fell from 681 to 243 over the same timeframe. This decline coincides with ongoing clearance operations; according to the Syrian Defense Ministry, more than 110,000 mines and explosive remnants of war were dismantled across several provinces during the first three months of 2026 alone."
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
