Israeli Air Force Strikes Assad Regime as Truce Nears in Syria

The Israel Air Force hit artillery positions held by troops loyal to Syria’s Assad regime on Saturday in response to mortar fire into Israel hours earlier. It was the third such incident in a week and comes ahead of a cease-fire between several of the major combatants in Syria scheduled to begin Monday evening after having been negotiated by US and Russian diplomats over the weekend.

The Israeli Police force has launched an initiative to recruit Arab citizens in an effort to improve relations with communities which have long been plagued by endemic crime and related problems which they complain the government has largely ignored. “We believe that this is an important issue that inevitably will generate better police services that are more accessible to different populations in Israeli society,” a police spokesman said.

Israel got its first medal at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio on Sunday when Rower Moran Samuel collected a Bronze in the arms-shoulders women’s single sculls final. It wasn’t all good news for Israel in Rio however, as the Algerian national goalball team chose to not show up for a scheduled match with Israel’s squad for a scheduled match on Saturday. Israel received an automatic 10-0 victory and 3 points in the standings and players and coaches vowed not to let it distract them ahead of their next competition.

In yet another blow to the international effort to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel, French harpsichordist and conductor Christophe Rousset will lead his musical ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, to Israel next month to help launch Israel’s inaugural two-day Baroque Opera Festival at the Crusader fortress in Acre. Israeli vocal artists will participate in the performance as well.