Syrian rebels in the last opposition-held enclave in northern Syria launched a large-scale military offensive against government forces on Wednesday, marking the first major territorial gains in years. The assault, led by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), overran at least ten areas in northwestern Aleppo province.

The rebel forces advanced nearly 10 k.m. (6 miles) from the outskirts of Aleppo city, reaching within a few kilometers of Nubl and Zahra, two Shi’ite towns with a strong militia presence from Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah. They also attacked Al-Nayrab airport, located east of Aleppo, where pro-Iranian militias maintain significant outposts, an army source reported.

This offensive marks the first substantial territorial advance since March 2020, when a ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey temporarily halted large-scale military action in Syria’s northwest. The ceasefire had previously frozen conflict lines in the region, which remains the last major stronghold of opposition forces in the country.

Rebel Gains

The rebels captured several towns in northwestern Aleppo, including Qabtan al-Jabal, Urma al-Sughra, Anjarah, Bala, Jamiyat al-Maari, al-Salloum, and Hawar. However, fierce clashes continue in other areas. Kfar Bissin and Al-Shaykh Aqil remain contested, with heavy resistance reported on the outskirts of Urma al-Sughra. The advance has stalled at Anadan, where Iranian-led units of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) have fortified positions in strategic hills northwest of Jamiat Nur. In Kafr Naha, the Assad regime retains control of the southern part of the city, resisting rebel incursions.

Notably, Abu Obeida, the military chief of HTS’s Northern Storm Brigade, was killed in intense fighting with soldiers from the SAA’s 46th Regiment in western Aleppo. His death marks a significant blow to the HTS offensive, which appears to be encountering increasing resistance.

Rebel Motivations

Rebel leaders have stated that the operation is a response to intensified airstrikes by Syrian and Russian forces in southern Idlib, which have targeted civilian areas in recent weeks. The campaign is also seen as a preemptive measure against a suspected Syrian army offensive, as government troops have been amassing near rebel frontlines.

In retaliation, the Syrian army has launched heavy bombardments on rebel-held areas, including Idlib city, Ariha, Sarmada, and other towns in southern Idlib province. Pro-government media claimed that dozens of HTS fighters were killed in these counterattacks.

The renewed violence has triggered a fresh wave of civilian displacement. Witnesses reported hundreds of families fleeing to safer areas near the Turkish border, seeking refuge from the escalating conflict.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, classified as a terrorist organisation by the United States, remains a dominant force in Syria’s northwest, competing with Turkey-backed rebel groups that control areas along the Turkish border. The group has long been a target of Syrian government and Russian forces.

The Bangladeshi government has described the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) as a “religious fundamentalist organisation” following a writ petition in the High Court seeking a ban on the group. This development comes against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the country, marked by widespread protests after the arrest of Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari and rising attacks on ISKCON and Hindu temples by radical Islamist groups.

Chinmoy Krishna Das, a prominent figure in the Hindu rights movement, recently gained prominence after leading large rallies in Chattogram and Rangpur. However, his arrest earlier this week for allegedly disrespecting the national flag has sparked anger among the Hindu community, which has faced over 200 violent incidents since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5. The government has maintained that Das was detained for sedition rather than his community leadership.

During a High Court hearing on Wednesday, a lawyer filed a petition demanding a ban on ISKCON, citing the death of Assistant Public Prosecutor Saiful Islam during clashes between security forces and Das’s supporters after his bail was denied. The court directed Attorney General Md. Asaduzzaman to present the government’s stance on ISKCON and provide an update on the law-and-order situation by Thursday.

Responding to the court’s inquiry, Asaduzzaman stated that ISKCON is not a political party but a religious fundamentalist organisation under government scrutiny. This characterization drew sharp criticism from ISKCON leaders, with Vice President Radha Raman Das calling the statement shocking. “We have served millions worldwide, including during floods in Bangladesh, yet we are being labeled a radical terrorist organisation,” Das said, urging international leaders to address the issue.

The arrest of Das has intensified protests from the Hindu community, already reeling from targeted attacks by extremist groups. India, too, expressed concern over the situation. “This incident follows multiple attacks on Hindus and other minorities by extremist elements in Bangladesh,” stated the Ministry of External Affairs.

In yet another horrific reminder of the rampant persecution of minorities in Pakistan, the body of Ganga, a 12 year old Hindu girl, was discovered discarded like refuse in a garbage dump in Karachi’s Saddar Lucky Star area. The girl had been brutally raped before her life was mercilessly taken, her lifeless body dumped without regard in the filth of a city that continues to fail its most vulnerable. Ganga, the daughter of Harichand, had traveled to Karachi from Sukkur with her mother, Mantri, just 20 days prior to care for a sick relative.

The heinous nature of this crime is a reflection of the widespread and institutionalized atrocities faced by Hindu, Christian, and other minority communities in Pakistan. Minorities are routinely subjected to abductions, forced conversions, and sexual violence, while the Paki establishment turns a blind eye or, worse, tacitly enables such barbarities through its inaction.

Karachi has long been a stage for these horrors, where minority girls are hunted with impunity. The justice system offers no respite, with victims and their families often finding themselves at the mercy of a corrupt and complicit establishment. Investigations into such crimes are either sluggish or nonexistent, allowing perpetrators to roam freely, emboldened by a culture of impunity. The country’s judiciary who bows to Islamist hardliners, remains silent, on rampant atrocities on the minority girls.

For years, Hindu families in Sindh, where Ganga’s family originally hails from, have lived in fear. Their daughters are snatched from their homes, forcibly converted under the guise of sham marriages, and silenced forever if they dare to resist. Ganga’s story adds to this grim tally, but her death also underscores the broader decay in Pakistan’s moral fabric, where the lives of non-Muslims are treated as collateral damage in a society consumed by Islamists.

A man opened fire on Sufi worshippers gathered at the Sayed Pacha Agha shrine in Afghanistan’s Nahrin district, killing ten people during a weekly ritual. The attack, which took place on 21 November evening, targeted individuals engaged in a Sufi chant, according to Abdul Matin Qani, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior.

Residents discovered the bodies the following morning during prayer hours, with one local said, “They had gathered for their ritual chant, and he shot them,” the resident said. This massacre underscores the persistent danger faced by Sufis in Afghanistan, where their practices are often deemed heretical by extremists and theocratic authorities.

Sufism, a mystical Islamic tradition emphasizing spirituality and love, has been repeatedly targeted in the war-torn country. Extremist groups, particularly the Islamic State Khorasan (ISKP), view Sufis as apostates deserving of death. This ideology has led to numerous atrocities, including an April 2022 attack on a Sufi mosque in Kunduz province that killed 33 people, many of them children, during Friday prayers.

While the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 initially led to a decrease in bombings, ISKP and other extremist factions continue to wage a campaign of terror. In September, IS-K claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 14 people in central Afghanistan who had gathered to welcome pilgrims returning from the holy city of Karbala in Iraq.

The Qur’an explicitly forbids the killing of fellow Muslims (4:92), yet extremist groups justify their attacks by branding Sufis as hypocrites or apostates, enabling them to perpetrate such massacres under the guise of jihad.

Afghanistan’s majority Muslim population remains deeply divided along sectarian lines, exacerbated by the Taliban regime’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, which often clashes with Sufi practices. The lack of security and protection for minority Muslim sects highlights the broader failure of the Taliban authorities to govern inclusively or protect their citizens from extremist violence.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, took effect at 0200 GMT on Wednesday, following an agreement brokered by the United States and France. U.S. President Joe Biden announced the truce after Israel’s security cabinet approved the deal in a 10-1 vote. The ceasefire is aimed at ending months of hostilities that erupted across the Israeli-Lebanese border in the wake of the Gaza war last year, leaving thousands dead.

Shortly after the ceasefire began, bursts of gunfire echoed across Beirut. While it was unclear whether the gunfire was celebratory or a warning for residents who had missed evacuation alerts from Israel’s military, displaced Lebanese families began their journey back to the south, devastated by months of Israeli airstrikes.

President Biden, addressing the nation from the White House, described the truce as “a permanent cessation of hostilities”, stating that Hezbollah and other militant groups would no longer be permitted to endanger Israel’s security. He outlined plans for Israel’s gradual withdrawal from southern Lebanon over 60 days, with Lebanese army forces assuming control of the border region to prevent Hezbollah from reestablishing its infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has refrained from formally commenting on the ceasefire. However, senior Hezbollah official Hassan Fadlallah stated on Lebanese television that the group supported extending the Lebanese state’s authority but would emerge from the conflict stronger. “Thousands will join the resistance,” he declared, dismissing Israeli efforts to disarm Hezbollah as a failure.

Biden Announces Ceasefire 

The deal also received backing from Iran, a key supporter of Hezbollah, as well as Hamas and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. French President Emmanuel Macron called the agreement the result of months of diplomacy involving Israeli and Lebanese officials in collaboration with the United States. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib expressed optimism, with Bou Habib confirming the deployment of 5,000 troops to oversee the transition.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while endorsing the ceasefire, warned of decisive retaliation should Hezbollah violate the agreement. He emphasized that the truce would enable Israel to redirect focus toward threats from Iran and replenish its military resources. Netanyahu claimed the conflict had left Hezbollah severely weakened, stating, “We have set it back decades, eliminated its top leaders, destroyed most of its rockets and missiles, and obliterated years of terror infrastructure near our border.”

In the hours leading up to the ceasefire, violence escalated as Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah’s financial systems in Beirut and surrounding areas, reportedly killing 18 people. Hezbollah retaliated with a barrage of rockets into Israel, while the Israeli air force intercepted several missile launches from Lebanese territory.

The ceasefire, however, has drawn criticism. Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir argued that the agreement failed to guarantee the safety of northern Israeli residents or adequately address the threat posed by Hezbollah. Lebanese officials, meanwhile, insisted on the return of displaced civilians to southern Lebanon as a key component of the truce.

Islamist Bangladeshi regime refuses to release Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Prabhu despite massive protests by Bangladeshi Hindus. The Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Court has rejected the bail application of Chinmoy Krishna Prabhu and continues to imprison the Hindu monk and leader. “Whatever happens to me, you don’t stop the movement,” Chinmoy Prabhu said to Bangladeshi Hindus from the court premises.

Bangladeshi Hindus have been protesting against the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Prabhu by the Dhaka Police’s Detective Branch on Monday at Dhaka Airport. Chinmoy Krishna Prabhu, known for his vocal protests against the rising atrocities on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, is the leader of Sammilita Sanatani Jote and a senior monk of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). His detention has intensified grievances over the growing persecution of Hindus under the radical Islamist Muhammad Yunus government, which has been marked by violence, forced conversions, and systemic attacks on the community.

Visuals from Dhaka, Chittagong, and other cities showed Hindus rallying against Chinmoy Krishna Prabhu’s arrest. Protesters blocked key roads in Dhaka’s Shahbagh area, chanting slogans and demanding his immediate release. In Chittagong, demonstrators held a flashlight vigil, underscoring their defiance. However, several protesters were injured after being attacked by unidentified assailants, further heightening tensions.

Chinmoy Krishna Prabhu was reportedly arrested for allegedly disrespecting the Bangladeshi flag during a rally in October. However, his supporters argue that the arrest is part of a broader crackdown on Hindu activists who dare to raise their voices against the escalating violence and religious oppression faced by the community.

Since the Islamist Muhammad Yunus government came to power in Bangladesh, reports of targeted violence against Hindus have surged. Temples have been desecrated, Hindu homes burned, and families displaced, while incidents of forced conversions and abductions of Hindu women have become alarmingly frequent. Human rights activists accuse the government of fostering an environment of impunity for perpetrators of such crimes.

Chinmoy Krishna Prabhu’s arrest follows a sedition case filed against him and others over the alleged hoisting of a saffron flag at a rally. His detention has sparked outrage within the Hindu community and beyond, symbolizing the government’s attempts to suppress minority voices demanding justice.