Human Rights Watch (HRW) on July 16 criticized attacks launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels on two commercial cargo ships in the Red Sea between July 6 and July 9. HRW characterized the attacks as violations of the laws of war amounting to war crimes and called for their immediate cessation. "It is critical for concerned governments to recognize war crimes, regardless of which party is responsible," said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen researcher at HRW. "The Houthis should end all attacks on ships not taking part in the conflict and immediately release the crew members in their custody."

The Israeli military on July 27 intercepted a civilian vessel, detaining 21 international activists and journalists who were aiming to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. In a statement, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an international grassroots network of human rights and civil society organizations, declared that its vessel Handala was "violently intercepted" by Israeli forces, seizing all cargo, including essential food, medical supplies and baby formula.

The investigation by the Syrian transition government into the March violence against the Alawites in Latakia province has been submitted—but the full findings have not been made public, and it apparently exonerates the government of involvement. Meanwhile southern Suwayda province has seen a perhaps even deadlier eruption of violence—this time pitting Druze against Bedouin, with the role of the government similarly the source of much contestation (and fodder for Internet partisans). And a Damascus protest against the violence and for co-existence was attacked by goons. Amid all this, Israel is militarily intervening, the government looks to Turkey for military aid, and both the US and Russia still have forces on the ground—treating the country as a Great Power chessboard. In Episode 288 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg argues that the Syrian Revolution is poised on a razor's edge, ready to descend into ethno-sectarian war and authoritarianism unless political space can be kept open for the secular-democratic civil resistance that began the revolution 14 years ago.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned a deadly Israeli artillery strike that damaged Gaza's historic Holy Family Catholic Church, calling the attack "unacceptable" and reiterating calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages. The strike, which occurred on July 17, killed three civilians and injured several others, including parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli, according to the Vatican.

At a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels July 15, the bloc opted not to take punitive action against Israel over widespread evidence of war crimes and atrocities committed in Gaza. For weeks, the EU had been discussing a range of potential actions, including: suspending its free trade agreement with Israel, an arms embargo, banning the import of products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and ending visa-free travel for Israeli citizens. Instead of taking any of these measures—which advocates argue are necessary to avoid complicity in serious violations of international law—EU ministers pointed to an aid deal for Gaza struck on July 10 as justification for inaction. The details of that deal remain vague, and it has so far shown little on-the-ground impact. Amnesty International assailed the apparent quid pro quo as a "cruel and unlawful betrayal" of the Gazans.

Three days of clashes between Bedouin tribes and local fighters in the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda in southern Syria left some 300 dead before a ceasefire was brokered by the government July 16. Amid the fighting, Israeli warplanes bombed Syrian government tanks as they advanced on Suwayda, and also struck military targets around Damascus—including the defense ministry building. Some 1,000 Israeli Druze also amassed on the Purple Line, separating Israeli-controlled and Syrian-controlled territory in the Golan Heights, saying they were prepared to cross over to protect their bretheren in Suwayda. IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Amal As'ad, a prominent member of Israel's Druze community, accused Syrian transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa of seeking to "eliminate the Druze," and criticized Israel for seeking peace with Damascus even amid the attacks. (ToI, ToI, Al Jazeera, DW, TNA)

The two most senior church leaders in the Holy Land on July 14 toured the Christian Palestinian town of Taybeh in the West Bank, which has been the scene of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers in recent weeks. In a joint statement, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, called the settler attacks a threat to Christian heritage, and demanded an investigation into the failure of Israeli authorities to respond to the ongoing assaults. Taybeh, the biblical Ephraim, has three churches—Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Melkite—whose pastors have issued an joint appeal calling on Israeli authorities to prevent further settler violence. They charged that the violence—including arson attacks that have threatened the Byzantine-era Church of Al-Khader (St. George)—has often taken place in the presence of passive Israeli soldiers. The settlers have also damaged the olive groves that are Taybeh's primary source of income, and are preventing farmers from accessing and working their lands. (VaticanNews, ToI, Al Jazeera)

Amid starvation and horrifically escalating atrocities in Gaza, Israel announces plans to build a giant concentration camp on the ruins of Rafah, an evident preparation for forced "transfer" of the Palestinian population from the Strip entirely—an idea Trump enthusiastically embraces. On the West Bank, amid growing settler attacks, more Palestinian land is enclosed behind separation walls built to protect Israeli settlements. Amid all this, Benjamin Netanyahu (wanted for war crimes by the ICC) meets with Trump in Washington to openly discuss the "transfer" plan—and announces that he has nominated the American president for the Nobel Peace Prize. In Episode 286 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg argues that Trump could in fact get get the Nobel prize while facilitating genocide in Gaza and instating a mass detention state in the US—a fitting inauguration of the fascist world order.