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JERUSALEM – President-elect Trump could be the key factor in stopping the reported Turkish destruction of the pro-U.S. Syrian Kurdish community, Fox News senior strategic analyst and retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane told Fox News' Mark Levin on "Life, Liberty & Levin" on Saturday.

"Erdoğan is a real problem here. He has a corridor in northern Syria. He backed the radical leader who took over, al-Golani, in deposing Assad because he's been wanting Assad to go like we all did for years, but now what is he doing? Now he's attacking the Syrian Kurds, who we support, in eastern Syria."

Keane said, "Biden is not going to do anything about it, but President Trump has a huge opportunity, and I know for a fact that President Trump dealt with Erdoğan once before over the same issue. And it stopped as a result of a phone conversation that he had with President Erdoğan."

FALL OF SYRIA'S BASHAR ASSAD IS STRATEGIC BLOW TO IRAN AND RUSSIA, EXPERTS SAY

Keane said one of Trump’s first telephone conversations once in office will probably be with Erdoğan, "if he hasn't started talking to him already." 

He said the motivation of the Syrian Kurds in eastern Syria is not to seize Turkish territory but to ensure ISIS remains defeated and make sure "they do not rise again," adding that the U.S. "doesn't need to get involved in any consequential way in Syria other than to protect our own interests and make certain that ISIS doesn't rise again in eastern Syria which they have the potential to do."

While world leaders are largely focused on the collapse of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime, Turkey’s strongman ruler Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has mobilized forces loyal to his government to eradicate Kurdish combatants on his southern border to Syria that helped the U.S. defeat the terrorist movement ISIS. 

Alarm bells are ringing about the dire plight of the Syrian Kurds. 

"Turkey has become too aggressive. If they get a free rein in Syria, they may covertly commit an ethnic cleansing," warned Efrat Aviv, a professor in the Department of General History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and a leading expert on Turkey, in a statement to Fox News Digital.

In an apparent effort to modify his jihadi movement, Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of the U.S.-designated terrorist movement, Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which played a decisive role in toppling Assad’s regime, said, "The Kurds are part of the nation and have suffered great injustices, just as we have. With the regime's fall, the injustice they faced may also be lifted."

SYRIAN DICTATOR BASHAR ASSAD FLEES INTO EXILE AS ISLAMIST REBELS CONQUER COUNTRY 

Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was until recently known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Golani, is allied with Turkey. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the U.S. had made "direct contact" with HTS despite it being an outlawed terrorist entity.

Mazloum Abdi, the head of the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), on Saturday urged Kurdish parties in northeast Syria (Rojava) to generate a unified front.

"Today, Kurdish national unity in Syria has become a historic necessity in response to the challenges of this critical phase. We call on all Kurdish parties to set aside partisan interests and genuinely engage with public calls for dialogue and unity," Abdi wrote on X.

Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., posted on X, "In the past I have drafted sanctions targeting Turkey if they engage in military operations against the Kurdish forces who helped President Trump destroy ISIS. I stand ready to do this again in a bipartisan way.

"We should not allow the Kurdish forces – who helped us destroy ISIS on President Trump’s watch – to be threatened by Turkey or the radical Islamists who have taken over Syria."

The Dutch Parliament also intervened last week to protect the Syrian Kurds, urging its government to advocate for a cessation of Turkish attacks on Kurds. 

The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced on Sunday in response to the ongoing attacks by pro-Turkey forces, "We are facing significant threats and dangers, and we call on the Global Coalition and the entire world to unite with us to protect Kobani."

"The world now owes Kobani and its fighters, and it is time to stand with Kobani," the statement continued, "calling on the Global Coalition and freedom-loving individuals to unite and safeguard the region’s dignity and humanity."

TURKEY'S INVASION THREATS SHOULD BE TAKEN 'VERY SERIOUSLY': CYPRUS OFFICIAL

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was the former head of the country’s formidable intelligence service, MIT, said on Sunday in Jordan about his country’s view of the Kurdish political and military organizations, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and The People's Defense Units (YPG): "We are under threat from Iraq and Syria. Over the past decade, the PKK has sought to exploit the chaos in Syria, attempting to restructure itself within the SDF organization. We continue to combat PKK/YPG terrorism, targeting them wherever they are."

He added, "Our aim is to distinguish the Syrian Kurds from the terrorist organization PKK/YPG. We support the legitimate representatives of Syrian Kurds in their efforts to advocate for their rights in Damascus."

The YPG is the main U.S.-allied force that contributed to the defeat of ISIS. The U.S. classified the PKK as a foreign terrorist organization. The YPG falls under the rubric of the Syrian Kurdish organization, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.)

Turkey’s government has intensified its rhetoric against the Kurds. Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said on Sunday  "Our primary agenda is the dissolution of the PKK/YPG."

Incoming freshman Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, R-Ariz., whose parents are Syrian immigrants, told Fox News Digital, "As we evaluate Turkey’s recent airstrikes on Syrian Kurds and reports of Hamas operatives in Turkey, it’s clear that our alliances must be anchored in mutual respect and shared goals. For decades, Turkey has been a strategic partner, but hosting groups like Hamas without clear steps toward dismantling their operations undermines that relationship. Turkey must seize this opportunity to demonstrate it is committed to fighting terror, not enabling it."

When asked by Fox News Digital if the U.S. was contemplating sanctioning Turkey, a State Department spokesperson said, "As a general matter, we do not preview sanctions."

The State Department referred Fox News Digital on Friday to comments made earlier on Friday after Blinken's meeting with Fidan in Turkey. 

The statement said, in part, "Secretary Blinken emphasized the importance of U.S.-Turkish cooperation in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS mission in Syria."

The dramatic and historic scenes coming out of Syria this week are a reminder of the horrors that country has been through in the last several decades. We were there for some key moments in recent history:

The funeral of Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad. His "departure" was much more stately and calm than his son’s retreat this past week. For some 30 years, he had ruled Syria with an iron grip. Stabilizing a politically raucous country but in a brutal way. Stamping out Islamist rebels and those caught in the crossfire in the town of Hama (which today’s rebels breezed through on their liberating path), killing as many as 40,000 people there.   

SYRIAN DICTATOR BASHAR ASSAD FLEES INTO EXILE AS ISLAMIST REBELS CONQUER COUNTRY 

The state funeral (including in attendance then-Secretary of State Madeline Albright) we watched was well stage-managed right down to one mourner telling us, on cue, "All the people loved him." I noted in the on-camera close to my story, "His legacy will live on . . . for better or for worse." This week, it was for worse. His mausoleum and grave were destroyed and burned by rebels in his hometown.

Just eleven years later came the uprising. One more outbranching of the Arab Spring revolts in 2011 that had sprung up across the Mideast. Bashar Al-Assad in the crosshairs. His regime had gone from using police to put down peaceful protesters to using the military to bomb rebel hold-outs. Locking up and torturing the so-called enemy.

We went there in 2012, one of the only Western media teams there at the time. We saw the battered town of Homs, another town the current rebels made it through with little resistance. My on-camera line as we watched Syrian military air strikes and artillery blasts against the heart of that city: "You’re looking at a country at war with itself."  

We walked the battered streets where American journalist for the London Times Marie Colvin had been killed earlier that year. We dodged our own air strikes near a medical clinic. Was "shaken down" at a government militia checkpoint. Cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski’s camera was briefly taken away. And we saw deadly violence all around the region, one blast targeting a state TV station . . . another at a busy intersection in the heart of Damascus.

Questions about this tumult which we put to Bashar al-Assad himself in an exclusive interview we conducted for Fox News along with former Congressman Dennis Kucinich the following year. We spoke at the huge palace that has now been overrun by rebels and curious civilians (although we were told off-the record he stayed most of the time in an apartment in Damascus).   

FALL OF SYRIA'S BASHAR ASSAD IS STRATEGIC BLOW TO IRAN AND RUSSIA, EXPERTS SAY 

We were amazed at the mild-mannered demeanor of the man leading this bloodthirsty regime. He admitted to us publicly that he had chemical weapons but still claimed he hadn’t used them. (The regime was responsible for a chemical weapon attack the month before, which left over a thousand dead.)

He also claimed that the public grassroots protest, which had turned into a civil war, was now run "80-90% by Al-Qaeda." We disputed that figure and asked if the growing revolt was a self-fulfilling prophecy. The harder the government hit, the more bad guys were attracted. And we asked Assad whether he shared the disappointment of many that he might’ve made a better turn for Syria after his father’s passing. "I’m still a reformer," he dead-panned. As the rumble of rebel gunfire was heard beyond the palace’s thick walls.

One year later, we were on the Syria-Turkey border when the revolt truly did get out of hand. We watched as the relatively new, but very dangerous, ISIS terror group duked it out with local Kurdish militia on the ground and U.S. air strikes hitting targets in the critical town of Kobani. Big towering smoke from bomb blasts minute after minute. The eventual victory by the Kurds and the U.S. called a turning point in the fight against ISIS. By that time, the war had become a globalized conflict with ISIS - and yes, Al-Qaeda and other jihadi groups piled into Syria to grab as much of the country as they could get. The Assad regime was only saved (for a while) by Russia, Iran and its proxy militia Hezbollah doing most of the fighting. When the three allies were weakened and/or distracted by their own wars, the rebels pounced, liberated the country and toppled the Assad regime.

This week we got in touch with one of our important contacts in Syria during those times. He wrote, in an email, some pretty salient words: "It’s an extraordinary moment . . . so far so good." The people of Syria are exulting over the end of a dictatorship. They are returning to homes they had been forced out of by fighting. They search feverishly, sometimes with joy, or with desperation, in prisons where their fellow citizens were incarcerated and tortured. A half million people have been killed in the last 13 years. Millions are injured and displaced. The economy is a disaster.

But my friend also went on to write, "I am a bit cautious about what may come . . . and fill the vacuum." The HTS group which led this uprising had former ties with Al-Qaeda and is still on the U.S. terror list. Its leader, Ahmad al-Sharar, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, was a dyed-in-the-wool jihadist and has only in recent years transformed. He and the group, so far, have been talking a good line. Still, there are many factions, religious sects, and splinter groups who will all have to work together if a new free Syria is to be realized. A tall order. For the proud people of the country who we’ve come to know over the years, it is absolutely worth a try.

The head of a political party and a Christian coalition group in Lebanon is calling on the U.S. and its Western allies to step in and deploy deterrent forces to permanently dismantle Hezbollah.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Ibrahim Mrad, president of the Universal Syriac Union Party and secretary general of the Lebanese Christian Front, said now is the time for the U.S., the U.K. and Germany to send troops in coordination with the United Nations and, alongside the Lebanese army, finally dismantle the terrorist group propped up by Iran.

"If that [were] to be delayed, the Mullah could get, again, more power, and that will be, again, impossible [to dismantle Hezbollah]," Mrad said through a translator in reference to the leaders of the Islamic Republic, which is headed by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

ISRAEL WARNS IT WILL GO AFTER LEBANON DIRECTLY IF CEASE-FIRE WITH HEZBOLLAH COLLAPSES

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed early last month that Hezbollah had been "defeated" in Lebanon after just over a month of targeted hits focused on destroying the terrorist group’s strongholds in southern Lebanon and in the capital city of Beirut, chiefly in the Dahiyeh suburb.

A shaky 13-point cease-fire was then agreed to late last month between Israel and Hezbollah that largely ended the strikes, though intermittent attacks have since been levied by both sides.

But reports this month suggested that U.S. intelligence officials believe that Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has not made any move to dismantle its military operations in Lebanon — a key pillar of the agreement — and that it will likely look to rebuild its forces and stockpiles. 

U.S. intelligence reportedly showed that Hezbollah was continuing to recruit to its ranks even as it was taking heavy hits from Israel through November. It was also reported to be attempting to rearm itself through domestic production as well as smuggling efforts through Syria, though it is unclear how these efforts have been impacted by the deteriorating situation in the neighboring nation over the last week.

The Christian Front, led by Mrad, said during a meeting at its headquarters in Beirut’s Achrafieh neighborhood earlier this month that it does not believe the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah will hold. It is therefore urging the Lebanese members of Parliament to request the deployment of international forces amid "the anticipated failure of the cease-fire agreement."

EXCLUSIVE: A LOOK AT HEZBOLLAH'S PLAN TO TERRORIZE AND INVADE NORTHERN ISRAEL

Mrad explained to Fox News Digital that while, by his estimate, roughly 70% of the country does not back Hezbollah, the government and the army are not strong enough to completely dismantle the terrorist group or to prevent it from posing a future threat to Israel, a situation that risks a repeat of past failures. 

Previous international agreements under U.N. Resolution 1559, signed in 2004, and Resolution 1701, signed in 2006, called for the disarmament and dissolution of all militia groups and for the deployment of U.N. and Lebanese forces to the south of the country to stop Hezbollah from gaining a hold in the areas bordering Israel. Both resolutions failed to be realized.

"We know now, in this situation, the Lebanese army couldn't implement Resolution 1559 to force Hezbollah to [drop] their arms," Mrad told Fox News Digital through a translator. "That's why our demand for help is from the United Nations. They could come in and implement those two resolutions … [but] we want Americans and Germans and the British to be present in these forces."

Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the State Department for comment on whether the U.S. has been approached by Lebanon about a request to deploy U.S. troops. 

Concerns in Beirut that the cease-fire will fail coincided with threats levied this week by Israel’s defense minister that Jerusalem will no longer distinguish between Lebanon and Hezbollah should the terrorist group break the agreement. 

When asked about the warning issued by Katz last week, the Lebanese Christian leader said this approach would be a "mistake" that could turn the tide against Jerusalem.

"If they do that, then the Lebanese people will be against Israel. As I said before, most of the people are against Hezbollah now, not against Israel," he said.

"If they target [civilians], that will be a mistake," he added, noting he did not believe Jerusalem will actually begin pursuing non-Hezbollah targets.

Numerous major international figures died in 2024, ranging from Putin critic Alexei Navalny to Israel's top foes in the Middle East. 

Here are five of the biggest names to have lost their lives this year: 

Alexei Navalny — a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin — died at a penal colony in Siberia on Feb. 16. Russian officials at the time said Navalny reported feeling unwell following a walk before losing consciousness and dying.    

Navalny was being held at the IK-3 penal colony, also known as "Polar Wolf," in Kharp, which is considered one of the country's toughest prisons. The 47-year-old had been serving a prison term on charges he says were politically motivated. 

RUSSIA LISTS CAUSE OF NAVALNY'S DEATH AS WIDOW ALLEGES ‘PATHETIC’ COVER UP

Navalny previously was the victim of an alleged assassination attempt in 2020, when he suffered poisoning from a suspected Novichok nerve agent. 

In August, Navalny’s widow pushed back on a report from investigators claiming he died as a result of an irregular heartbeat and a combination of diseases, calling the findings a "rather pathetic attempt to hide what happened — a murder." 

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials died on May 19 after their helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of the country. 

Raisi, a 63-year-old nicknamed the "Butcher of Tehran," previously was sanctioned by the first Trump administration for his role in carrying out the massacre of 5,000 Iranian political prisoners in 1988 and for his role in the clerical regime’s slaughter of 1,500 Iranian demonstrators in 2019. 

An official investigation into the helicopter crash later revealed it was caused by challenging climatic and atmospheric conditions. 

Ismail Haniyeh, a 62-year-old who led the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ political bureau, was killed by an airstrike in Tehran on July 31 after attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president. 

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israel was quickly blamed after pledging to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the terrorist group's Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state. 

A LOOK AT HEZBOLLAH'S PLAN TO TERRORIZE AND INVADE NORTHERN ISRAEL

Haniyeh was detained by Israeli troops in 1989 for Hamas membership and spent three years in prison. In 1992, he was deported to Lebanon with a group of top Hamas officials and founders. He later returned to the Gaza Strip following the 1993 interim peace accords, which were signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. 

Since 2018, the U.S. had designated Haniyeh as a terrorist, saying he was closely linked to Hamas’ military wing. 

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Sept. 27. 

The 64-year-old was inside Hezbollah’s central headquarters. 

The IDF said Nasrallah founded Hezbollah in 1982 and "initiated, planned and executed thousands of terrorist attacks against the citizens of Israel, Jewish communities and people around the world." 

"Under his leadership, Lebanon became an armed base with advanced precision weapons of various ranges aimed at Israel and the entire region," it added. 

Yahya Sinwar died on Oct. 16 during an Israeli military operation inside the Gaza Strip. 

Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, is widely seen as being behind the massacre of Israeli civilians carried out by thousands of Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. 

The 61-year-old was referred to by Israel as "The Butcher of Khan Younis" for his violent and cruel torture methods against his enemies, both Israeli and Palestinian. 

The Israel Defense Forces had long targeted Sinwar, referring to him as a "dead man walking." For months, he remained hidden in the Gaza Strip during Israel's war with Hamas. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sinwar "ran away in fear from our soldiers" prior to being killed. 

Fox News' Landon Mion, Benjamin Weinthal, Morgan Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

South Korean lawmakers on Saturday voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration earlier this month. 

The National Assembly passed the motion in a 204-85 vote on Saturday.

Saturday’s vote means that Yoon's presidential powers and duties will be suspended after the copies of a document on the impeachment are delivered to him and to the Constitutional Court.

The court has up to 180 days to determine whether to dismiss Yoon as president or restore his powers. If he's thrown out of office, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. 

Observant officers in a New Zealand airport unwrapped $2 million worth of methamphetamine wrapped as Christmas presents that a Canadian woman attempted to conceal.

The woman, 29, arrived at Auckland International Airport in New Zealand on a flight from Vancouver on December 8 carrying the illicit drugs in her carry-on bag, according to a release from the New Zealand Customs Service. 

FLORIDA MAN WHO WAS HALF-NAKED, 'HIGH ON METH' BREAKS INTO HOME, GRABS CARPET CLEANER

Upon landing, officers questioned the woman and searched her carry-on duffle bag, where they discovered more than 22 pounds of methamphetamine concealed beneath brightly wrapped snowflake wrapping paper.

Officials say the Canadian national's bag contained the equivalent of more than $2 million U.S. dollars worth of the illicit drug. 

MORE THAN $31M OF METH CONCEALED IN SHIPMENT OF PEPPERS SEIZED AT TEXAS-MEXICO BORDER

Auckland Airport Manager Paul Williams called the incident a "classic attempt by transnational organized criminal groups" at exploiting the busy travel season.

BRITISH WOMAN BUSTED AT LOS ANGELES AIRPORT WITH METH-SOAKED T-SHIRTS: POLICE

"But a busy airport does not mean Customs is not focused on or paying attention to anyone who may pose a drug risk," Williams said in a statement. "The airport teams are made up of vigilant officers who are intently focused on catching those trying to bring harm to New Zealand."

The woman has since appeared in district court on charges of importation and possession for supply of a Class A controlled drug, officers noted.

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"More collaborative work is being done with our Canadian partners to disrupt criminal gangs and the importation of drugs, including through the passenger stream," Williams told Fox News Digital in an email. "As this is part of an ongoing investigation, Customs would not release further information for operational reasons."

Authorities said the woman has been taken into custody.

Scientists suspect the first complete specimen ever recorded of the world’s rarest whale died from head injuries, an expert said Friday.

The first dissection of a spade-toothed whale, a type of beaked whale, was completed last week after a painstaking examination at a research center near the New Zealand city of Dunedin, the local people who led the scientific team, Te Rūnanga Ōtākou, said in a statement issued by the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

WHALE CAUGHT ON CAMERA SURPRISING NEW YORK CITY RESIDENTS DURING SWIM NEAR BROOKLYN

A near-perfectly preserved 5-meter (16-foot) male was found washed up on a South Island beach in July. It was the first complete specimen ever recorded. There have only been seven known sightings and never of a living spade-toothed whale.

New Zealand conservation agency beaked whale expert Anton van Helden said the whale’s broken jaw and bruising to the head and neck led scientists to believe that head trauma may have caused its death.

"We don’t know, but we suspect there must have been some sort of trauma, but what caused that could be anyone’s guess," van Helden said in a statement.

All varieties of beaked whales have different stomach systems and researchers didn’t know how the spade-toothed type processed its food.

The scientific team found the specimen had nine stomach chambers containing remnants of squid and parasitic worms, the statement said.

Among the more interesting finds were tiny vestigial teeth in the upper jaw.

"These little teeth embedded in the gum tells us something about their evolutionary history. It’s remarkable to see this and it’s just another thing that we had no idea about," van Helden said.

"It’s a week I’ll never forget in my life, it’s certainly a highlight and it’s the start of the storytelling around this beautiful animal," van Helden added.

The dissection was also notable because scientists and curators worked together with local Māori people to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and customs into each step of the process.

Following the dissection, the local iwi, or tribe, will keep the jawbone and teeth of the whale before its skeleton is displayed in a museum. 3D printing will be used to replicate those parts retained by the iwi.

To Māori, whales are a taonga -– a precious treasure -– and the creature has been treated with the reverence afforded to an ancestor.

New Zealand is a whale-stranding hotspot, with more than 5,000 episodes recorded since 1840, according to the Department of Conservation.

The first spade-toothed whale bones were found in 1872 on New Zealand’s Pitt Island. Another discovery was made at an offshore island in the 1950s, and the bones of a third were found on Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island in 1986.

JERUSALEM — Just hours after meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and discussing the fight against the Islamic State in Syria, Turkey's foreign minister sent a shocking message to Washington by saying his country's goal is to eliminate the main fighting force of the Syrian Kurds, which defeated ISIS in tandem with the U.S..

According to Turkish media, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in a live broadcast on NTV that "the elimination of YPG is [Turkey's] strategic goal." He also noted the country's Kurds must be protected.

Asked about Fidan's comments, the State Department referred Fox News Digital to comments made earlier on Friday after Blinken's meeting with Fidan in Turkey. 

The statement said, in part, "Secretary Blinken emphasized the importance of U.S.-Turkish cooperation in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS mission in Syria."

SYRIAN DICTATOR BASHAR ASSAD FLEES INTO EXILE AS ISLAMIST REBELS CONQUER COUNTRY 

The U.S. has a long-standing military alliance with the Syrian Kurdish military organization, The People’s Defense Units (YPG), in Syria. The YPG is part of a broader organization known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and played a key role in dismantling the Islamic State in Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has seized on the collapse of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s rule to gobble up territory controlled by the pro-American Syrian Kurds, risking hard-won gains against the Islamist State terrorist movement.

Erdoğan's campaign to purge the SDF in northern Syria has created a dangerous security situation in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), according to Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the SDF’s commander in chief.

In an exclusive interview Thursday, Mazloum told Fox News' Jennifer Griffin, "We are still under constant attack from the Turkish military and the Turkish-supported opposition, which is called SNA. Eighty drone attacks a day we have from the Turkish military. There is intensive artillery shells. This situation has paralyzed our counterterror operation." 

Islamic State prisoners held in SDF-run detention camps could escape amid the military offensive launched by pro-Turkish forces against the SDF. The SDF has redirected much of its force capability and resources to blunt an aggressive Turkish-backed military offensive. 

In 2022, Fox News Digital reported that Erdoğan’s slated invasion of northern Syria could open the floodgates for the release of as many 10,000 Islamic State fighters.

The U.S. on Wednesday brokered a cease-fire between the pro-Turkey Syrian National Army (SNA), the Syrian opposition (TSO) and the SDF.

FALL OF SYRIA'S BASHAR ASSAD IS STRATEGIC BLOW TO IRAN AND RUSSIA, EXPERTS SAY

The U.S. has about 900 troops stationed in northeast Syria who coordinate with the SDF to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State after the new wave of Turkish attacks against the Syrian Kurds.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., warned the Turks on X, posting, "In the past I have drafted sanctions targeting Turkey if they engage in military operations against the Kurdish forces who helped President Trump destroy ISIS. I stand ready to do this again in a bipartisan way.

"We should not allow the Kurdish forces — who helped us destroy ISIS on President Trump’s watch — to be threatened by Turkey or the radical Islamists who have taken over Syria."

Fox News Digital attempted to contact various Turkish officials, including its embassy spokespeople in Washington and Tel Aviv and its United Nations mission in New York.

"We have time and again pointed out threats against our national security, posed by the PKK/YPG terrorist network in Syria and Iraq," Turkish diplomats previously told Fox News Digital about the Kurdish military forces PKK and YPG. PKK is an abbreviation for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an organization classified by the U.S. as a terrorist entity. 

Efrat Aviv, a professor in the Department of General History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and a leading expert on Turkey, told Fox News Digital, "Turkey's actions in Syria further complicate the situation and hinder international efforts to bring about a comprehensive resolution to the conflict. The withdrawal of Turkish forces from the region and the cessation of conflicts with the Kurds could contribute to improving regional stability and efforts to end ISIS terrorism.

TURKEY'S INVASION THREATS SHOULD BE TAKEN 'VERY SERIOUSLY': CYPRUS OFFICIAL

"Turkey's military actions in Syria jeopardize regional stability and undermine efforts to end ISIS terrorism. The Turkish strikes not only harm the Kurds, but also exacerbate the humanitarian situation in the region, causing significant population displacement."

Uzay Bulut, a Turkish-born political analyst, told Fox News Digital, "Erdoğan’s imperial ambition in Syria has not changed. Land grab and demographic change have always been Turkey's plan in Syria. Turkey's military campaigns against Syria have brought nothing but instability to the region and severe persecution of minorities.

"To prevent further abuses, massacres or forced displacements against Christians, Kurds and Yazidis and to stop the spread of jihadism in the region, the Trump administration should get involved diplomatically to protect religious and ethnic minorities, particularly defenseless Christians, in Syria." 

Syria's Christian population could be as low as 2.5%, down from 10% before the civil war started in 2011. Christian and other ethnic and religious minorities face persecution from the radical Islamist Sunni terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its extremist allies. 

"The ongoing jihadist assault against Syrian Kurds and Christians is led by the al Qaeda offshoot, HTS," Bulut said. "HTS forces are backed by the government of Turkey and have brutalized and displaced religious minority communities in Idlib since 2017. HTS aims to install Islamic rule in Syria."

The Trump transition team did not respond to Fox News Digital press queries.

When asked by Fox News Digital if the U.S. was contemplating sanctioning Turkey, a State Department spokesperson said, "As a general matter, we do not preview sanctions."

On his trip to the region Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Turkish counterpart, and the two discussed the latest developments in the area. 

A readout of their meeting noted in part that Blinken "reiterated calls for all actors in Syria to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Syrians, including members of minority groups, and to prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism."

An American who was released this week after being held in a Syrian prison for seven months has been flown out of the country on a U.S. military helicopter, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

Travis Timmerman, who was among thousands of prisoners freed by rebels who overthrew former President Bashar al-Assad over the weekend, said after his release that he had been on a Christian pilgrimage when he illegally crossed into the country seven months ago and was detained.  

He told The Associated Press that, along with another Syrian man, the "liberators" freed him with around 70 women, some of whom were also being held with their children. 

Timmerman said that he wasn’t treated badly while he was held in the infamous Syrian intelligence facility known as Palestine Branch. 

TRUMP'S PLEDGE AGAINST ‘FOREVER WARS’ COULD BE TESTED WITH SYRIA IN HANDS OF JIHADIST FACTIONS

But he told the Al-Arabiya TV network that he could hear other men being tortured in the prison every day. 

"It was OK. I was fed. I was watered," said Timmerman. "The one difficulty was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom when I wanted to. I was not beaten, and the guards treated me decently."

He was allowed out of his cell three times a day to go to the bathroom. 

After Assad’s overthrow, he said the rebels came to the prison and "knocked the door down (of his cell) with a hammer."

Timmerman was first seen in video that emerged online Thursday after rebels seized Damascus, the country’s capital. 

SYRIA'S LIBERATED POLITICAL PRISONS REVEAL GRIM REALITY OF BASHAR ASSAD'S REGIME OF TORTURE

In the video, a bearded Timmerman was lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men in the video said he was being treated well and would be safely returned home, The Associated Press reported.

Palestine Branch, also known as Branch 235, houses nearly a dozen buildings hidden behind high concrete walls, according to The New York Times. 

Human Rights Watch reported more than a decade ago that prisoners there were subjected to torture, including electrocutions and beatings. 

"The guards hung me by my wrists from the ceiling for eight days," a former prisoner told the organization in 2012. "After a few days of hanging, being denied sleep, it felt like my brain stopped working. I was imagining things. My feet got swollen on the third day. I felt pain that I have never felt in my entire life. It was excruciating. I screamed that I needed to go to a hospital, but the guards just laughed at me."

Many prisoners would also die of illnesses or starvation under the deplorable conditions. 

At another notorious Syrian prison known as Sednaya, The Free Press, in collaboration with the Center for Peace Communications, also discovered testimonies of torture and executions while investigating it after the fall of Assad’s regime this week. 

"They would call out names at dawn, strip the prisoners of their clothes, and take them away," a former inmate told The Free Press. "We knew from the sound of chains on the platforms that these were executions. Condemned prisoners wouldn’t be fed for three days prior. Once a month, they would search us. During one such search, an officer declared, ‘We’re not here to inspect; we’re here to kill.’"

Since the thousands of prisoners were released, loved ones have been searching for signs of those who went missing in the barbaric prisons. 

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"We slept on top of each other," one woman, who said she had been held at Palestine Branch for four and a half months in 2020 along with dozens of other women, told The New York Times. "They did not feed us, they beat us."

Fox News' Stephen Sorace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

Russia on Friday continued for the third year in a row with its primary winter strategy to pummel Ukraine’s power grid as freezing conditions settle ahead of the winter months in a "massive blow" to the country’s largest energy company. 

Moscow’s forces fired some 90 missiles, including cruise missiles, and 200 drones in one of the largest mass attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, targeting plants across Western Ukraine in the Lviv, Ternopil and the Ivano-Frankivsk regions, the Kyiv Independent reported.

The severity of the attack is not yet known, though at least half of the Ternopli region was reportedly without power and equipment was said to have been "damaged" by the DTEK civilian energy company.

NATO CHIEF URGES MEMBERS TO 'TURBOCHARGE' DEFENSE PRODUCTION AS HE PAINTS PICTURE OF A WORLD BOUND FOR WAR

"This year, this is already the twelfth mass attack on the Ukrainian energy industry and the ninth mass attack on the company's energy enterprises," the company said in a post on Telegram, noting that no casualties had been reported. "In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the DTEK thermal power plant has been fired upon more than 200 times."

The mass attacks came after reports this week suggested that Russia could be planning another attack using its latest ballistic missile, the Oreshnik missile — which it first fired last month — to hit Ukraine. 

The attack could apparently happen "as soon as this weekend," according to a U.S. National Security Council official in a Friday Financial Times report. 

Similarly, an official told Reuters earlier in the week, "We assess that the Oreshnik is not a game-changer on the battlefield, but rather just another attempt by Russia to terrorize Ukraine, which will fail."

The threat of another substantial attack comes amid concern that Russian forces are making incremental gains in Donetsk near the town of Pokrovsk, which has potentially given Moscow access to supply routes connecting the area to Zaporizhzhia, Estonian Intelligence reported on Friday.

VOTERS WANT MORE US INVOLVEMENT ON WORLD STAGE DESPITE ISOLATIONIST TALK, RONALD REAGAN INSTITUTE SURVEY FINDS

Though according to open-source data presented by Estonian Colonel Ants Kiviselg, head of the nation’s Defense Forces (EDE), Ukrainian forces have also successfully repelled attacks levied by Russian forces on the Dontesk town of Kurakhove, some 35 miles south of Pokrovsk, despite Russian attempts to encircle the town.

"Russian occupiers are throwing all available forces forward, attempting to break through the defenses of our troops," Ukrainian army chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a Facebook post late Wednesday. 

Pokrovsk remains a key defensive post for Ukraine in Donetsk, and its fall would not only compromise Kyiv’s access to supply routes, but its ability to continue to fend off Russia’s attempts to seize the entire region.

The increasing crunch Ukraine is feeling in Donetsk coincides with concerns over whether the U.S. will continue to aid Ukraine as the Trump administration is set to take office in late January. 

President-elect Trump has not said whether he will maintain the U.S.' ongoing level of support for Ukraine, and in an interview with Time magazine released Thursday, he criticized Kyiv’s use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) to hit targets in Russia. 

"Anything can happen. Anything can happen. It's a very volatile situation," Trump said of the war in Ukraine. "I think the most dangerous thing right now is what's happening, where [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy has decided, with the approval of, I assume, [President Biden], to start shooting missiles into Russia. I think that's a major escalation. I think it's a foolish decision."

Biden in November relinquished his long-held opposition to Ukraine using U.S.-supplied missiles to hit military targets in Russia after years of pleas by Kyiv to do so.

Zelenskyy, along with other U.S. security experts, have long argued Ukraine should be able to attack Russia amid its yearslong deadly invasion, and that hitting weapons depots and Russian military positions used to launch massive missile and drone campaigns that target Ukrainian civilians is critical in turning the tide of the war. 

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday named centrist ally François Bayrou as prime minister, after a historic parliamentary vote ousted the previous government last week.

Bayrou, 73, a crucial partner in Macron’s centrist alliance, has been a well-known figure in French politics for decades. His political experience is seen as key in efforts to restore stability as no single party holds a majority at the National Assembly.

Macron’s office said in a statement that Bayrou "has been charged with forming a new government."

SOCIAL MEDIA REACTS TO TRUMP 'DOMINATING WORLD LEADERS' WITH MACRON HANDSHAKE DURING MEETING IN FRANCE

Former Prime Minister Michel Barnier resigned last week following a no-confidence vote prompted by budget disputes in the National Assembly, leaving France without a functioning government.

Macron in an address to the nation vowed to remain in office until his term ends in 2027.

Macron’s centrist alliance does not have a majority in parliament and Bayrou's Cabinet will need to rely on moderate lawmakers from the left and the right to be able to stay in power. Some conservatives are expected to be part of the new government.

Macron’s strategy aims at preventing far-right leader Marine Le Pen from holding "make or break" power over the government. Le Pen helped oust Barnier by joining her National Rally party’s forces to the left to pass the no-confidence motion last week.

Bayrou's appointment is also in line with Macron’s efforts to build a non-aggression pact with the Socialists so that they commit not to vote against the government in any future confidence motion.

Bayrou leads the centrist Democratic Movement, known as MoDem, which he founded in 2007.

In 2017, he supported Macron’s first presidential bid and became a weighty partner in the French president’s centrist alliance.

At the time, he was appointed justice minister, but he quickly resigned from the government amid an investigation into the MoDem’s alleged embezzlement of European Parliament funds.

Bayrou this year was cleared in the case by a Paris court, which found eight other party officials guilty and sentenced the party to pay a fine.

Bayrou became well known to the French public when he was education minister from 1993 to 1997 in a conservative government.

He was three times a candidate for president, in 2002, 2007 and 2012.

The Israeli air force is apparently readying itself for a potential strike against Iran’s nuclear program as the incoming Trump administration is also reportedly mulling a "maximum pressure 2.0" campaign against Tehran as the situation in the Middle East rapidly evolves.

The fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime – a former ally of Iran – due in large part to the dismantling of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in extension Syria, has not only once again changed the political landscape in the Middle East, it has left Tehran increasingly isolated. 

Israeli reports on Thursday said the evolving reality in the region has prompted Israel to once again consider targeting Iran’s nuclear program, which Jerusalem and its international allies have deemed one of the greatest emerging threats at a time when tensions between the West and nations like Russia and Iran continue to deteriorate. 

JAKE SULLIVAN SAYS NETANYAHU 'READY TO DO A DEAL' AS HAMAS SAID TO CONCEDE TO ISRAEL CEASE-FIRE DEMANDS

Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on alleged plans to hit Iran’s nuclear program, though it is a step long viewed as taboo and one that Jerusalem already pursued earlier this year. 

The U.S., under the Biden administration, along with its international partners including the International Atomic Energy Agency, have urged Israel not to strike Iran’s nuclear installations. 

However, last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the IDF had hit and degraded part of Iran’s nuclear program during a retaliatory strike in late October, but he warned it was not enough to thwart Tehran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon.

In a similar sentiment, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in November that Iran was "more exposed than ever [for] strikes on its nuclear facilities."

"We have the opportunity to achieve our most important goal – to thwart and eliminate the existential threat to the State of Israel," he added.

ISRAEL'S UN AMBASSADOR INSISTS NATION IS 'NOT GETTING INVOLVED' IN SYRIAN REGIME CHANGE

It remains unclear to what extent Iran’s nuclear program has been impacted by the Israeli strikes, and the IAEA continues to assess that Iran is rapidly bolstering its stockpiles of near-weapons grade enriched uranium.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to once again take a hard-line approach when it comes to Tehran’s attempts to develop a nuclear weapon, and a report by the Wall Street Journal on Friday said his transition team was evaluating a "maximum pressure 2.0" campaign.

Trump has reportedly called on his team to devise options on how the U.S. could clamp down on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, including through the possible use of preventive airstrikes, though without pulling the U.S. military into a war with Tehran.

Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the Trump transition team for comment, though in an interview with the president-elect released on Thursday, Time magazine questioned the possibility of the U.S. going to war with Iran, to which Trump responded "anything can happen."

In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the main U.S. ally whose fighters are currently guarding 45,000 ISIS militants and their families at camps and prisons in Eastern Syria, said the Turkish military and its allied forces continue to attack his Kurdish forces, despite a U.S. brokered ceasefire deal Wednesday. 

"We are still under constant attack from the Turkish military and the Turkish-supported opposition which is called SNA," Gen. Mazloum told Fox. "Eighty drone attacks a day we have from the Turkish military. There is intensive artillery shells. This situation has paralyzed our counterterror operation." 

The attacks by the Turkish military on the SDF have increased since Bashar Al Assad’s fall on December 8. Gen. Mazloum warned that if his Kurdish fighters have to flee, ISIS would return.

SYRIA'S LIBERATED POLITICAL PRISONS REVEAL GRIM REALITY OF BASHAR ASSAD'S REGIME OF TORTURE

Gen. Mazloum said half of his fighters guarding the ISIS camps had to withdraw in recent days.

"All of the prisons still are under our control. However, the prisons and camps are in a critical situation because who is guarding them? They are leaving and having to protect their families," said Gen. Mazloum in an interview from his base in Eastern Syria. "I can give you one example like the Raqqa ISIS prison, which contains about 1,000 ISIS ex-fighters. The number of guards there have diminished by half which is putting them in a fragile position." 

A chilling warning from one of America’s staunchest allies. The U.S. has 900 troops in Eastern Syria, and they would likely have to withdraw if the allied Kurdish fighters retreat under attack from Turkey’s military, which views the Kurds as a terrorist threat.

"We don't want to see that happen. So we're in very close touch with our SDF partners to try to maintain that focus on counter-ISIS missions. And we are just as importantly in touch with our Turkish counterparts," said National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby during a White House press briefing Thursday.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is in Turkey today meeting with President Recep Erdogan to discuss how to bring stability to Syria.

Secretary Blinken "reiterated the importance of all actors in Syria respecting human rights, upholding international humanitarian law, and taking all feasible steps to protect civilians, including members of minority groups," State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement following the meeting with President Erdogan. "He emphasized the need to ensure the coalition can continue to execute its critical mission to defeat ISIS." 

CENTCOM Commander General Erik Kurilla met with Gen. Mazloum and the SDF in Syria on Tuesday, two days after the U.S. military carried out extensive airstrikes targeting dozens of ISIS positions in Eastern Syria. The operation struck over 75 targets – camps and operatives – using U.S. Air Force B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s, according to a statement released by U.S. Central Command.

"There should be no doubt – we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria," said Kurilla. "All organizations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way."

On Wednesday, the SDF announced a truce with Syria’s Turkey-backed rebels in northern Manbij following U.S. mediation "to ensure the safety and security of civilians," Gen. Mazloum said early on Wednesday.

US GROUP LOOKS FOR KIDNAPPED AMERICANS IN SYRIA AFTER FALL OF ASSAD REGIME

"The fighters of the Manbij Military Council, who have been resisting the attacks since November 27, will withdraw from the area as soon as possible," Gen. Mazloum added. 

And new indications suggest a ceasefire late Thursday has tentatively been agreed to in Aleppo and Deir Ezzor south of Raqqa along the Euphrates River.

Gen. Mazloum worries about what would happen if the U.S. pulled its forces out of Syria right now.

"We saw that the Russians – they have no further leverage in the country – same for the Iranians. So if now U.S. troops withdraw from Syria that will bring a vacuum."

ISRAEL'S UN AMBASSADOR INSISTS NATION IS 'NOT GETTING INVOLVED' IN SYRIAN REGIME CHANGE

He added the following warning: "We expect those Islamists, different factions to unite, to fight with ISIS and that will bring back tougher extremists, terrorist organizations back to the country."

The SDF Commander fears another bloody civil war could start if the new Syrian government in Damascus does not include different minority groups, like the Syrian Kurds.

"So any new government in Syria needs to be representative, needs to be inclusive and contain and include all different parties of Syria. So if not that takes us to a bloody civil war in the country and that will put us in huge stage of escalatory path that no one can predict the fate of that," Gen. Mazloum told Fox.

Facing the Turkish fighter jets, the SDF mistakenly shot down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone in Syria on Monday, the result of "friendly fire," a U.S. defense official told Fox News. "The U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters who are under attack from the Turkish military misidentified the drone as a threat," the official said.

Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu is "ready to do a deal" to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday. 

"I got the sense from the prime minister he is ready to do a deal," Sullivan told reporters during a Tel Aviv press conference, according to multiple reports. "The prime minister indicated he wants to get it done."

Biden’s national security adviser, who met with the Israeli prime minister on Thursday, was pressed on whether Netanyahu was stalling cease-fire negotiations with Hamas in a move to wait for the incoming Trump administration, to which Sullivan said, "No, I do not get that sense."

"We want to close this deal this month. I wouldn't be here today if I thought this is waiting until after Jan. 20," he said. 

NETANYAHU WANTS TO ESTABLISH ‘RELATIONS’ WITH SYRIA BUT SAYS ISRAEL WILL ATTACK IT IF BECOMES A THREAT

Sullivan’s comments came just two days after he met with the family members of American hostages who have been held captive by Hamas for more than 430 days following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel. 

Hope that a hostage deal could finally be on the horizon after more than a year since the last hostage release was agreed to in November 2023, resurfaced late last month after Jerusalem and Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire under a 13-point deal. 

A report this week by the Wall Street Journal further suggested that Hamas has conceded on two key Israeli demands and reportedly told mediators the terrorist network would allow Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers to remain in Gaza during a pause in the fighting.

The group also apparently agreed to drop its demands for a permanent end to Israel’s campaign and handed over a list of hostages, including Americans, who would be exchanged under a "cease-fire pact."

It remains unclear how many hostages Hamas would hand over or which of the seven Americans still in Gaza – three of whom are still believed to be alive – were on this list.

QATAR RETURNS TO HAMAS-ISRAEL NEGOTIATIONS AS TRUMP ENVOY LOOKS TO MAKE INROADS

Families of the hostages, both in the U.S. and in Israel, have been calling on Netanyahu for months to seek a truce and secure the release of the hostages. This plea became increasingly urgent after a cease-fire deal collapsed in late summer, and ultimately failed to secure the release of American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who, along with two other Israelis shortlisted for release, were killed alongside three other hostages by Hamas in August. 

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday issued a sweeping demand that Israel and Hamas reach a cease-fire agreement and that all hostages be freed from captivity. 

The resolution, which was adopted with 158 votes in favor of the 193-member body, called for an "immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire, to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages."

Though U.N. General Assembly resolutions are not binding, they are significant as they portray the international position regarding an issue. 

Nine countries voted against the resolution, including the U.S. and Israel, while 13 other nations abstained.

In an address to the assembly following the vote, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said, "The draft resolution on a cease-fire in Gaza risks sending a dangerous message to Hamas that there’s no need to negotiate or release the hostages."

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"Even as the Gaza resolution before us today does nothing to advance a realistic diplomatic solution, the United States will continue to pursue a diplomatic solution that brings peace, security, and freedom to Palestinian civilians in Gaza," he added, saying now is the time to put more pressure on Hamas.

Sullivan on Thursday reportedly said Hamas’ "posture at the negotiation table" had shifted since the cease-fire in Lebanon was agreed to last month, effectively showing the terrorist network it could no longer rely on assistance from Hezbollah. 

The White House national security adviser is expected to travel from Israel this week to Qatar and then to Egypt, where he will meet with top officials to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages. 

A devastating arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue is now being investigated as a possible terror attack, drawing worldwide attention to a stark increase in antisemitism in Australia.

Masked vandals set the Adass Israel Synagogue aflame on Dec. 6, in one of several incidents that have left the Jewish community seeking support from government leaders.

On Wednesday, Sky News Australia reported a car was destroyed after being set on fire in a Jewish community in Sydney. At least two, but possibly as many as seven, buildings in the area were vandalized, with one graffiti tag reading "kill Israiel" (sic). This rash of hate followed in the wake of a similar incident late last month, when vehicles and a restaurant in the same area were covered with graffiti. 

Following the attacks in Sydney, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told Sky News Australia, "Sydney, per capita, has the second-highest number of Holocaust survivors in the world," explaining that they came "to Australia specifically to be free from this kind of hate." 

JEWISH CHILDREN, TEENS VIOLENTLY ATTACKED IN LONDON: ‘STREETS ARE NO LONGER SAFE’

Worshiper Yumi Friedman told Avi Yemini of Rebel News that he was inside the synagogue when he heard banging on the door and saw glass flying. Friedman later said he smelled fire and burned his hand while attempting to open the synagogue door. 

Friedman said that responding police told Jewish worshipers to get on the ground and show their hands. "They came and arrested us," he said. "It took them a while to realize that we’re Jewish and we didn’t do this." 

Zionism is not a feature of the Haredi Judaism that worshipers at the Adass Israel Synagogue practice. Yemini asked members of the community why they believed the non-Zionist synagogue was targeted. "Jews are Jews," a man wearing a kippah replied. "They’re anti-Jews," another visibly Jewish man told Yemini. "Not anti-anything else."

Yemini filmed a protester outside the firebombed synagogue wearing a keffiyeh and a baseball cap featuring the Palestinian flag who held a sign stating "Nothing is more antisemitic than Zionism."

Numerous community members interviewed by Yemini said they felt unsupported by the local government. "People have been attacked here," one man reminded Victoria Police Detective Inspector Chris Murray, who was present to address the community. "Why don’t you put someone in here?"

"We’re doing our best," Murray responded.

Murray told crowds that police would "do everything" to "bring these individuals before the courts." Though they believed the attack was targeted, Murray said that "what we don’t know is why." 

Shane Patton, Victoria police chief commissioner, told reporters at a press conference that the firebombing is being investigated as "a likely terror attack."

CALLS FOR US TO DO MORE AS ANTISEMITIC ATTACKS SKYROCKET IN EUROPE: ‘ENORMOUSLY PAINFUL’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been lambasted for his response to the Melbourne attack, which a Sky News Australia host said was "four days too late." Yemini documented Albanese’s visit to the Adass Israel Synagogue. When the kippah-wearing prime minister failed to answer questions from assembled reporters, Yemini followed him to the car, telling Albanese that "yesterday was the first time you didn’t conflate antisemitism and Islamophobia." 

Though it has faced more intolerance, the Jewish population of Australia is around one-eighth the size of the Muslim population, and has been stagnant or declining while the percentage of Muslims has grown. In 2016, Jewish Australians made up 0.5% of the population, according to Monash University. Muslims made up 2.6% of the population in 2016, according to the University of South Australia. Today, Muslims account for 3.2% of the Australian population while 0.4% of the population is Jewish.

In the aftermath of recent attacks, Albanese stated that the Australian Federal Police will be conducting an operation that would "focus on threats, violence, and hatred" targeting the Jewish community. Reuters reported that Albanese has allocated $25 million (approximately U.S. $15 million) since 2022 to increase security for Jewish organizations. He has also worked to minimize hate speech and banned the Nazi salute.

Many Jewish Australians believe these efforts are not enough. Earlier this month, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) sent an open letter to Albanese, which it shared with Fox News Digital. The ECAJ explained that "the very character of this country as a free, democratic and multicultural society is in peril," citing the "fear and anxiety" experienced by Jewish Australians who question whether it is safe to display signs of their Judaism or publicly celebrate their faith and heritage.

Though the ECAJ expressed gratitude to Albanese for "swiftly condemning" the arson in Melbourne, they requested that he act in response to "what is now a national antisemitism crisis." Among their requests are an increase in security funding, support for antisemitism education in schools, enforcement of laws against harassment and intimidation, and support for higher government efforts to curtail antisemitism in universities. 

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Albanese’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about criticisms of the prime minister’s reaction to the Melbourne firebombing, his response to the ECAJ’s letter, and whether the country’s shift regarding a Palestinian state might have an impact on the state of antisemitic hate in Australia. 

As it has worldwide, antisemitism has risen dramatically in Australia since Oct. 7, according to an ECAJ report from November 2024. Reporting entities counted 2,062 antisemitic incidents in Australia between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024, compared with 495 incidents tallied during the prior 12 months. This represents a 316% increase in expressions of anti-Jewish hate, which began as early as Oct. 8, when the ECAJ reported that Sheikh Ibrahim Daoud told an audience in western Sydney that he was "elated," explaining, "it’s a day of pride, it’s a day of victory."

The ECAJ sent Fox News Digital a trove of photographs showing acts of hate directed against Jewish Australians. These included an incident from November 2023, when unknown individuals sprayed "Kill Jews" and "Jew lives here" on a residential unit in southeast Melbourne, and wrote "Jew-free zone" in a Brunswick window, as reported by the Jewish Independent.

The government responded to some major acts of antisemitism. In February, anti-Israel activists released a document featuring the "names and other personal details" of 600 Jewish musicians, writers, academics and artists in a WhatsApp group whose communications were also leaked. 

Seven months later, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced a proposed sentence of up to six years in prison for those who release individuals’ private details in order to cause harm. The punishment would increase to seven years if a victim was targeted because of their race, religion or sexual orientation, among other factors.

In recognition of the rising intolerance in Australia, on Dec. 9, the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a travel advisory warning Jews to "exercise extreme caution" if visiting the country. As Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center’s director of global social action, explained, authorities there have failed "to stand up against persistent demonization, harassment and violence against Jews and Jewish institutions in Australia."  

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday declared himself a "proud feminist" as he lamented Vice President Harris’ loss to President-elect Trump in the 2024 presidential election as just one recent example of a setback for women’s progress.

Trudeau delivered remarks in Ottawa at a gala for Equal Voice, an organization that works to improve gender representation in Canada’s politics. 

"We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult, march towards progress," Trudeau said. "And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president."

"Everywhere, women’s rights and women’s progress is under attack, overtly and subtly," Trudeau continued. "I want you to know that I am, and always will be, a proud feminist. You will always have an ally in me and in my government."

TRUMP SUGGESTS CANADA BECOME 51ST STATE AFTER TRUDEAU SAID TARIFF WOULD KILL ECONOMY: SOURCES

Trudeau’s remarks come as relations between the U.S. and Canada grow tense over immigration and the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S.

Trudeau jetted into Mar-a-Lago unannounced on Nov. 29, just days after Trump threatened to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products. Trump is threatening to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over failures by both nations to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs from those countries into the U.S. 

Both Trump and Trudeau called the meeting "very productive."

TRUMP BOASTS OF ‘VERY PRODUCTIVE MEETING’ WITH CANADIAN PM TRUDEAU AT MAR-A-LAGO

Sources later told Fox News that Trudeau had told Trump he cannot levy the tariff because it would kill the Canadian economy completely. Trump retorted by asking, so your country can't survive unless it's ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion? 

Trump then suggested to Trudeau that Canada become the 51st state, which caused the prime minister and others to laugh nervously, sources told Fox News.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Former Syrian President Bashar Assad's brutal regime of imprisonment and torture is on full display this week as victorious rebels dig through the dictator's now-liberated political prisons.

Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani vowed to dissolve the Assad regime's remnant security forces as well as close prisons that had been used to house political dissidents.

Thousands of Syrians stormed Assad's various prison facilities across the country as his regime fell in hopes of releasing their incarcerated friends and family members. Thousands were released alive, but others were found dead and still others remain missing.

U.S. prosecutors named two Syrian officials who they say ran a torture facility at Mezzeh air force base in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The U.S. alleges that their victims included political prisoners, peaceful protesters and a 26-year-old American woman who was later believed to have been executed.

TRUMP URGES US TO STAY OUT OF SYRIAN CIVIL WAR, BLAMING OBAMA FOR FAILURE AS ISLAMISTS CLOSE IN ON CAPITAL

The U.S. indictment names Jamil Hassan, director of the Syrian air force’s intelligence branch, who prosecutors say oversaw a prison and torture center at the Mezzeh air force base in the capital, Damascus, and Abdul Salam Mahmoud, who prosecutors say ran the prison.

The most notorious of Assad's prison facilities was Saydnaya Prison, however, which lies just outside Damascus.

ISLAMIST REBELS IN SYRIA CATCH ASSAD, PUTIN, IRAN REGIMES OFF GUARD GIVING US NEW MIDEAST HEADACHE

Syrian citizens have flocked to the prison in the days since Assad's fall on Sunday, breaking open cells and scouring what images reveal to be a labyrinthine prison. While dozens were freed on Sunday, virtually no one has been found since.

"Where is everyone? Where are everyone’s children? Where are they?" said Ghada Assad, breaking down in tears.

Syrians are continuing to search the facility, however, searching for hidden cells as well as documents that might shed light on their family members' fates.

ASSAD ARRIVES IN MOSCOW, IS GRANTED ASYLUM BY RUSSIA

"There is not a home, there is not a woman in Syria who didn’t lose a brother, a child or a husband," said Khairiya Ismail, 54, said of the prison and Assad's rule.

An estimated 150,000 people were detained or went missing in Syria since 2011. Tens of thousands of them are believed to have gone through Saydnaya, according to the Associated Press.

Amnesty International estimated that there were between 10,000 and 20,000 people being held in the prison as of 2017. The organization also claimed that there were routine mass executions.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte painted a grim picture of the world and called on Europe and Canada to ramp up their defense spending Thursday.

Rutte made the comments during an address to member countries at a Carnegie Europe conference in Brussels. He issued stark warnings about Russia's alleged ambitions beyond Ukraine as well as China's own growing aggression.

"I'll be honest, the security situation does not look good," Rutte began, calling it the worst in his lifetime. "From Brussels, it takes one day to drive to Ukraine. That's how close the Russian bombs are falling. It's how close the Iranian drones are flying, and not much further, the North Korean soldiers are fighting."

Rutte went on to argue that Putin poses a wider threat to Europe beyond Ukraine, saying he "wants to crush our freedom and way of life."

TRUMP TAPS FORMER ACTING AG MATTHEW WHITAKER AS NATO AMBASSADOR

"This all points in one clear direction: Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation – with Ukraine and with us," Rutte said. "It is time to shift to a wartime mindset."

TRUMP’S NATO COMMENTS TRIGGER FIERCE MEDIA AND EUROPEAN OPPOSITION: HOW SERIOUS IS HE?

Rutte's remarks come just weeks before President-elect Trump enters office after campaigning on an anti-war platform. Trump has, however, likewise urged NATO's other members to pay their fair share of the organization's defense budget.

Trump has also said he does not plan to abandon Ukraine. He said he will advocate for a peace agreement with Russia, but has not elaborated on what that would entail.

NATO members agreed to work toward spending 2% of their annual GDP on defense, following Russia's annexation of Crimea a decade ago.

Only six member nations met the 2% goal in 2021, but this year, NATO expects a record 23 of 32 member nations to hit the Western military alliance's spending goals, according to data released over the summer.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO leaders have emphasized that the 2% target should be considered a minimum.

Poland and Estonia both led the United States this year in the percentage of their GDP they spend on defense, according to NATO. The U.S. is estimated to spend 3.38% of its GDP on defense.

Rutte, who stepped into the NATO role on Oct. 1, was the Dutch prime minister during Trump's first term and had a reputation as a "Trump whisperer," Politico reported.

Fox News' Hannah Ray Lambert contributed to this report.

A U.S. nonprofit headquartered in Washington, D.C., is on the ground in Syria looking for kidnapped Americans in the aftermath of the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), told Fox News Digital in an interview from Damascus that he and six members of his team arrived in the capital Wednesday to look for Americans kidnapped or held captive by the ousted Assad regime, most notably, American freelance journalist Austin Tice and Syrian American psychotherapist Dr. Majd Kamalmaz.

"God willing, he's alive. God willing, we can find him and bring him home," Moustafa said of Tice. "Same for Majd, same for the other Americans whose names are not public."

Tice, who traveled to Syria as the country’s civil war was erupting, was kidnapped in 2012 while reporting in Daraya, a Damascus suburb. He was seen on a video released months after his capture wearing a black blindfold and being led away by a group of men shouting "Allahu Akbar." 

Tice has not been seen or heard from since. The Syrian government has always denied holding Tice or other Americans. 

Kamalmaz, a U.S. citizen who helped survivors of Hurricane Katrina and refugees from war-torn Syria and Kosovo recover from trauma and PTSD, was detained at a government checkpoint in Damascus while visiting a family member in February 2017. 

U.S. officials presented the Kamalmaz family with classified information earlier this year, saying they believe the humanitarian died in Syria’s notorious prison system. 

He likely died within a year or two of his detainment, his daughter Maryam told Fox News Digital in June, citing U.S. officials. The officials did not say how or where Dr. Kamalmaz died.

"We will not leave a stone unturned while I'm here in Damascus, and I hope to find them," said Moustafa. 

ASSAD ARRIVES IN MOSCOW, IS GRANTED ASYLUM BY RUSSIA

The SETF leader has several geolocations from sources and tips and has dispatched his team to specific locations in search of Tice. 

"Now that Damascus is free, we have no restrictions. We can go anywhere," he added. 

Moustafa praised Tice for his bravery and for traveling to Syria to report on the country’s brutal civil war and cover the plight of civilians in the early years of the outbreak.

"The very least that we can do is to look for him. And for a long time, we could only look for him through calling people, trying to find people that had been – that had come out of detention, seeing if they've seen him," he told Fox News Digital. 

Joel Rayburn, the former U.S. special envoy for Syria, told Fox News Digital earlier this year the ousted Assad regime viewed Tice and other detainees as "cards" to use as leverage and to get concessions.

"We know it's almost certain that they have them in their custody, or they've had them in their custody, or they know definitively what happened to those people, but they're absolutely not forthcoming," Rayburn said. 

The U.S. State Department is now offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Tice and has conveyed to the leading Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that finding the journalist remains a top priority. 

"In all of our communications with parties that we know talk to HTS, we have sent very clearly the message that, as they move through Syria liberating prisons, that our top priority is the return of Austin Tice," said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

A Syrian journalist who was imprisoned by the Assad regime claims he was detained in a Damascus jail in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood with Tice at the same time until as recently as 2022, according to a report from The Sunday Times. 

AUSTIN TICE: FAMILY OF JOURNALIST KIDNAPPED IN SYRIA 12 YEARS AGO SAY HE'S STILL ALIVE, CITING ‘VETTED’ SOURCE

Moustafa told Fox News Digital he was aware of the article and plans to go "straight there" in the coming days to find out more information.

"It is every Syrian's job to do everything they can to get Austin back to his mother and his father, to his country, to his home," he said.

An American freed in Syria on Thursday said he was on a Christian pilgrimage when he crossed into the country on foot seven months ago and was detained by the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Travis Timmerman was first seen in video that emerged online Thursday after rebels seized the capital Damascus and overthrew Assad over the weekend.

In the video, a bearded Timmerman was lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men in the video said he was being treated well and would be safely returned home, The Associated Press reported.

Some who viewed the video initially believed Timmerman was Austin Tice, an American journalist and Marine veteran who disappeared in Syria 12 years ago. Tice remains missing as of Thursday morning, though U.S. officials have said they believe he is still alive.

ISRAEL'S UN AMBASSADOR INSISTS NATION IS ‘NOT GETTING INVOLVED’ IN SYRIAN REGIME CHANGE

Timmerman later told the Al-Arabiya TV network during an interview that he was detained after illegally crossing into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle seven months ago.

He said the guards treated him well in detention but could hear others, who he believed were young men, being tortured daily.

"It was OK. I was fed. I was watered. The one difficulty was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom when I wanted to," he said, noting that guards only let him out three times a day.

"I was not beaten and the guards treated me decently," he added.

U.S. officials did not immediately comment on Timmerman.

HERE IS WHO IS VYING FOR POWER IN SYRIA AFTER THE FALL OF BASHAR AL-ASSAD

Meanwhile, the Biden administration sent the U.S. government’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, to Lebanon earlier this week in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Tice.

Tice was detained in Damascus in August 2012 while reporting on the uprising against the Assad regime, which marked the early stages of the Syrian civil war.

Tice was last seen in video that emerged weeks after his disappearance, showing him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, "Oh, Jesus."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.