Horrified to see the state of Israeli hostages released from Hamas terrorist captivity. Hamas must be eliminated and have no future in Gaza.

I agree with Trump envoy @MorganOrtagus Hezbollah should have absolutely no role in the Lebanese government. I applaud 👏 President Trump for this strong position.

Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria was a strategic necessity in response to an immediate security threat, not an ideological war to prop up Assad. At the time, HTS was still operating as al-Nusra, explicitly driven by sectarian ideology with no regard for borders. Their objective was never limited to Syria—it was the expansion of an Islamic jihadist emirate under the banner of Sunni “salvation.” So this made Lebanon a natural target. The first major escalation came when al-Nusra fighters overran the Eastern Mountains, a high-altitude terrain dividing Lebanon and Syria. By seizing these positions, they secured supply routes and launch points for further incursions. The group's strategy was not just territorial but asymmetric. Before Joulani had even revealed his face, al-Nusra began deploying suicide bombers deep inside Lebanon. Civilian areas in Dahyeh were targeted with car bombs and explosive vests, striking markets, mosques, and public spaces to incite and pressure Hezbollah into overextending itself. At this stage, intervention was not a choice but a necessity. The first Hezbollah operation in Al-Qusayr was designed to dismantle al-Nusra’s bomb-making factories and sever their logistical reach. The conflict then expanded into the Aleppo countryside, where al-Nusra and ISIS had embedded themselves in terrain optimized for attritional warfare. So Hezbollah’s campaign was never about securing Assad’s rule—it was a series of targeted operations aimed at eliminating jihadist threats along Lebanon’s borders. Today, we know HTS presents itself as something different. With its rebranding, the group has abandoned the rhetoric of a borderless caliphate and now frames itself as a force of “geographical liberation.” But this is a shift in presentation and not function. The same actors who once pushed sectarian conquest under al-Nusra are now aligning themselves with Western-backed narratives of governance and military legitimacy. This is evident in how media outlets like Al-Hadath—long favorable to jihadist factions—are covering the latest escalation. On the Syrian side, HTS fighters in full military gear openly identify with the governing structure, while on the Lebanese side, local tribes—civilians with weapons—are framed as the aggressors. Meanwhile, the Lebanese army has deployed to the border, insisting it will secure the area and urging the tribes to stand down. But as history has proven, when HTS is left unchecked, the only force capable of stopping it is the one that did so before.

Sign of defiance: A day after Iran’s leader rejected negotiations with the Trump administration he accepts members of Hamas’s leadership council in Tehran. He told them: “US’s threats have no impact on Iranians”.

Grateful to be honored by these Syrian American patriots today. Raise your head up high, you are a free Syrian! ارفع راسك فوق انت سوري حر

Is Israel hiding thousands of soldier deaths in Gaza? While speaking at the Ministry of Defense Work Programs Conference on Sunday, 2 February, Israel's newly appointed Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, admitted that the number of Israeli soldiers killed and wounded in Gaza is significantly higher than what the army has officially reported. While the Israeli military claims that 844 soldiers have been killed and 5,696 wounded since the war began on 7 October 2023, Zamir stated that there are at least 5,942 registered "bereaved families"—a term used exclusively for families of fallen soldiers. He also revealed that over 15,000 soldiers have been absorbed into the rehabilitation system due to physical and psychological injuries, reinforcing suspicions that Israel has been deliberately underreporting its military casualties. This is not the first time such discrepancies have been exposed. Haaretz reported in December 2023 that while the Israeli army claimed only 1,593 soldiers were wounded between October and December, hospital records showed the actual number was 10,548. The newspaper also noted in 2024 that about 1,000 wounded soldiers were being admitted to rehabilitation centers every month.

The new Syrian Interior Ministry released a map omitting the Golan Heights (occupied by Israel since 1967) and the Alexandretta region annexed by Turkiye in 1939, diverging from previous maps used in Syria since its independence.