FRONTLINE VOICES with Rebecca Myles
Featured: Dr. Thaer Ahmed, Chicago ER doc who volunteered at Nasser Hospital in Gaza, Khan Yunis.
Bill Hartung, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Part II – A deep dive into Pentagon spending of over $4 trillion, with over half of that going to private contractors.
HEADLINES
SYRIA
The Israeli Army has launched air attacks on the Syrian Defense Ministry and near the presidential palaces in Damascus, continuing strikes on Syrian forces in Suwayda.
The strikes follow Israeli threats to escalate if Syrian forces aren’t withdrawn from southern Syria amid Druze-security forces clashes.
Israel had already destroyed Syria’s military capabilities when the Assad regime fell, leaving Syria unable to respond.
SANA reports casualties in the Damascus attacks.
The Turkish Foreign Minister condemned the attacks as an effort to sabotage Syria’s peace process.
Israel claims the strikes are a message to President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government and could signal deeper incursions into Syria.
GAZA
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 51 people have been killed, including 21 aid seekers at a U.S. and Israeli-backed GHF distribution site, mostly from a stampede.
UNRWA says 1 in 10 children in Gaza are malnourished as Israel’s siege causes a man-made starvation crisis. More on Gaza after the headlines.
DOI TO PROBE WHAT NYC KNEW ABOUT 9/11 WTC DUST
The NYC Council passed Resolution 560, directing the Department of Investigation to examine what NYC knew about Ground Zero toxins and when. A report is due in two years — the first DOI probe ordered directly by the Council.
The resolution was led by Council Member Gale Brewer and Speaker Adrienne Adams.
Benjamin Chevat, Executive Director of 9/11 Health Watch, criticized the City’s resistance to document disclosure and welcomed the investigation.
19-YEAR-OLD DETAINED BY ICE
NYC public school student Derlis Snaider Chusin Toaquiza, 19, detained last month in Texas, is set for release after a judge granted bond. He was arrested while seeking asylum.
Dylan Lopez Contreras, another student from Ellis Prep in the Bronx, remains detained in Pennsylvania.
FEDERAL PRISONS PRESSED
Rep. Dan Goldman addressed ICE’s use of Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center for detentions.
17 immigration court judges were recently fired, according to their union. Firings spanned 10 states and occurred without cause.
Union President Matt Biggs called the firings “outrageous” amid a backlog of 3.5 million cases, saying, “Stop firing and start hiring.”
ESWATINI UPDATE
DHS confirmed deporting five violent criminals from countries that refused them — Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen, and Laos — to Eswatini. Crimes included murder and child rape.
The move alarmed rights groups. SWALIMO and others criticized the secrecy and warned of setting a precedent of exporting U.S. deportees to vulnerable nations. The Trump administration plans to expand this strategy across Africa.
