War

For over a week, huge nocturnal protest gatherings have spread across France, rising in number and which must by now, be starting to panic the government. Among those gathered are parents with babies, students, workers, artists and pensioners….. Common Dreams report: A police crackdown will not deter France’s burgeoning Nuit Debout (or ‘Up All Night’) movement that has swept across the country in recent weeks as the unifying call for change sparked protests in over 50 cities this weekend.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted for the first time that Israel has launched airstrikes inside Syria. He said that Israel has carried out “dozens” of attacks in Syria to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining weapons.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has vowed that the Syrian cities of Aleppo, Raqqa, Homs and Damascus will “one day be liberated” from the control of the Syrian government. Hurriyet Daily News reports: “One day, God willing, Aleppo, Raqqa, Homs and Damascus will be free,” Davutoglu said on April 11 in a speech in Turkey’s southeastern province of Şanlıurfa. Aleppo, Homs and Damascus are all under the control of the Bashar al-Assad regime, while Raqqa is held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Micah Zenko poses eight questions for the presidential candidates on foreign policy to test how realistic and substantive their positions are. Here is the first one:

Bernie Sanders has called for a more “balanced” US Middle East policy, describing Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip in 2014 as “disproportionate.” In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, the US Democratic presidential candidate said :“Was Israel’s response disproportionate? I think it was” adding “I think that we will not succeed to ever bring peace into that region unless we also treat the Palestinians with dignity and respect, and that is my view” Press TV reports: In early July 2014, Israel waged a war on the Gaza Strip.