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Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2025-11-28 at 08:06
HEADLINES
Pope marks Nicaea anniversary in Turkey
Beit Jen airstrike wounds six Israeli soldiers
Israeli defense minister clashes with military chief
The time is now 3:01 AM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.
Pope Leo will meet Christian leaders from across the Middle East in Turkey on Friday as part of his first overseas trip as pontiff. The gathering marks the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, the council that produced the Nicene Creed still central to Christian faith today. Leo will travel to Iznik, near Istanbul, where he will be joined by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and other church leaders from Turkey, Egypt and Israel. The visit includes the pope’s first public addresses abroad and his engagement with people outside largely Catholic Italy, as he seeks to emphasize unity among denominations long divided by history. In his discussions with Turkish President Erdogan, the pope described Turkey as a crossroads of sensibilities and voiced hope that the country’s internal diversity can enrich the collective Christian witness. The pope’s program also includes a visit to Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, his first visit to a Muslim house of worship as pope, and a Catholic Mass in Istanbul. Peace and dialogue are expected to be central themes of the trip, with Lebanon likely to feature prominently as a country hosting a large Christian minority and facing spillover from the Gaza conflict that has affected the region. In Ankara, the pope spoke of a world deeply troubled by conflict, cautioning that a third world war would threaten all of humanity and describing the danger as a piecemeal struggle that requires a unified moral response.
In Syria, a counter-terrorism operation involving Israeli forces left six IDF soldiers wounded, three of them in serious condition, after terrorists opened fire on troops. The engagement prompted an airstrike at the target location in Beit Jen, a village southeast of Damascus, with reports from Syrian outlets indicating casualties among local forces and civilians. Investigators described the operation as a mission to arrest individuals associated with an Islamist group, with subsequent military activity and air operations aimed at the broader area as conditions on the ground remained volatile.
In domestic Israeli politics, a feud between the defense minister and the military chief has come into sharper relief, illustrating a pattern some observers say is common in Israeli governance: the military’s position can carry considerable weight in disputes with civilian leadership. The dynamic has prompted debate over civil-military relations and the balance of power inside the country’s security apparatus, particularly at a moment of heightened regional tension and ongoing security challenges.
Turning to broader regional discourse, a debate over the scope of Western solidarity with the Palestinian cause is ongoing, with opinion pieces arguing that a day of international solidarity has not fully recognized Jewish refugees expelled from Arab countries in the 20th century. The critique centers on the portrayal of history in international forums and calls for a more complete accounting of Jewish displacement alongside the Palestinian experience.
On the policy front in Washington, discussions continue about possible sanctions targeting the Muslim Brotherhood, with policy options under consideration while still weighing alliances in the region. Officials indicate that some partners in the region may be treated differently in any proposed package, reflecting the complexity of balancing counterterrorism aims with sustaining strategic partnerships in the Middle East.
In editorial context, questions have been raised about whether a Turkish defense platform, sometimes described as a domestic version of an Iron Dome, can provide security guarantees amid regional tensio
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