ISIS still conducts large-scale attacks like the one in Russia last month that killed about 130 people. In Syria, where the group originated, it continues to be active. One strategy to contain ISIS has been to hold thousands of people in detention camps in northeastern Syria.
In Israel, most Jewish men are drafted into three years of military service soon after they graduate from high school. Jewish women serve two-year stints. The ultra-Orthodox community has been exempt. But this is beginning to change. Israel’s Supreme Court just ruled that religious seminaries called yeshivas are being cut off from government funding because they don’t send students into the military.
Russia has detained four suspected shooters in the Crocus City Hall mass shooting. The suspects are all from Tajikistan. Now, there are reports in cities across Russia that people from Central Asia are experiencing a rise in harassment, mistreatment and xenophobic behavior.
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed seven aid workers from the relief group World Central Kitchen (WCK) overnight. Among the dead were three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian. The World’s host Carolyn Beeler speaks to Sean Carroll, the CEO of ANERA, which works closely with WCK, about the incident.
About 900 American forces stationed in Northeast Syria have been attacked by militia forces in neighboring Iraq. The Americans act as a deterrence against ISIS and Turkey, both of which consider the Kurds in northeast Syria as their enemy. The residents in this area are on edge about the recent militia attacks and the possibility of a US withdrawal.