By Ammu Kannampilly, Jonathan Landay and Jessica Donati
(Reuters) -With 1,100 metric tons of emergency food rations nearing expiry in a U.S. government warehouse in Dubai after President Donald Trump's aid freeze, it took a warning of "wasted tax dollars" for a top U.S. official to eventually agree to a deal for the supplies to be used, sources told Reuters.
DAMASCUS/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel launched powerful airstrikes in Damascus on Wednesday, blowing up part of the defence ministry and hitting near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw.
The attacks marked a significant Israeli escalation against the Islamist-led administration of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa. They came despite his warming ties with the U.S. and his administration's evolving security contacts with Israel.
A protestor wearing a t-shirt reading "Israel out of the Tour" was arrested on Wednesday after running onto the final straight of the Tour de France 11th stage.
The protestor, who was also holding a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, got past security barriers and ran towards the finish line in Toulouse as Norway's Jonas Abrahamsen won a sprint finale.
The man was intercepted by a race staff member and arrested, the local prefecture said.
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey has conveyed its views regarding Israel's air strikes on Syria to Israeli authorities via its intelligence agency, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday, adding Ankara was also in close contact with regional powers and the U.S.
Turkey has condemned Israel's strikes against other regional countries, including Lebanon, Iran and Syria, while calling its military assault on Gaza a genocide. It has halted all trade and recalled its ambassador in Tel Aviv for consultations too.
In Syria's Druze-majority city of Sweida, residents said they have been living in terror since the arrival of government forces who have been carrying out what witnesses and a war monitor have called summary executions.
"A lot of my friends were killed, including a doctor who was going to hospital," said Osama, 32, by telephone on Wednesday, adding he was in the centre of the southern city.
"There were summary executions in the streets," he told AFP crying, declining to provide his surname.
A crush at an aid centre in southern Gaza killed at least 20 people on Wednesday, with the site's operator blaming "Hamas operatives" within the crowd and the Palestinian territory's civil defence agency attributing the panic to Israeli gunfire.
It was the first time that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), backed by the United States and Israel, acknowledged deaths at one of its distribution sites after weeks of chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Palestinians being killed nearby while waiting to collect rations.
