Reuters World News - The war between wars in Damascus

Episode Date: February 23, 2023

Missile strike in Syria a warning from Israel. Biden and Putin shore up alliances in Cold War-like stagecraft. Sea turtles the winner as poachers turn protectors in the Philippines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we reveal the target of a rocket strike on Damascus, an Iranian officials meeting to advance missile capabilities. Our reporter takes you inside Israel's campaign against the alliance between Syria's Bashar al-Assad and Tehran. This was a message, the timing was a message by Israel that it would act any time. And on the beaches of the Philippines, we speak to the poachers who have turned into the protectors of sea turtles. It's Thursday, February 23rd. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. I'm Kim Vennel in London. Convierre your passion in a business with Shopify and bathe records of ventas with the form of

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with Shopify.com. First, the headlines. The commitment of the United States to NATO, I've said it to you many times, I'll say it again, is absolutely clear. Article 5 is a sacred commitment the United States has made. We will defend literally every inch of NATO,

every inch of NATO. Joe Biden, ending, his tour of Europe by doubling down on America's vow to defend NATO's most vulnerable members. The president made his pledge in Warsaw, seated at a table with the leaders of NATO's eastern flank. You're the front lines of our collective defense, and you know better than anyone what's at stake in this conflict, not just for Ukraine, but for the freedom of democracies throughout Europe and around the world. It was the last stop on Biden's trip, marking the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine. As Biden rallied his NATO allies, President Vladimir Putin

spoke of boosting Russia's nuclear forces and warmly welcomed China's top diplomat to Moscow. The dueling stagecraft and efforts of both men to reaffirm alliances reminiscent of the Cold War, Putin and China's foreign minister Wang Yi, restated the country's commitments to each other, and Putin hinted that a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping, was next on the cards. After that, Putin headed to a Moscow stadium where tens of thousands turned out to a concert to show their support.

Fighting is intensifying along the Israel-Gaza frontier where the Israeli army and Palestinian militants are trading air strikes and rocket fire. Israel says six rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip overnight. Israeli fighter jets later struck a weapons manufacturing site belonging to Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza. These exchanges come after Israeli troops raided a house in Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Eleven Palestinians were killed in that raid, including four civilians,

one of them a 14-year-old boy. More than 100 people were wounded. The Israeli military said they were trying to detain militants suspected of planning imminent attacks. Two Islamic Jihad commanders were killed, along with another gun. Footage released by the military shows soldiers using heavy shoulder-fired rocket launches, causing the roof of the house to partially collapse. Mexico's president, Manuel Lopez Obrador, speaking as lawmakers,

approve a controversial overhaul of the country's electoral agency. Obrador argues the move saves the country $150 million a year and reduces the influence of economic interest in politics. Critics say it will weaken democracy ahead of a presidential election next year. They plan to challenge the changes at the Supreme Court. Obredor has previously blamed the agency for his defeat in the 2006 presidential election. When they heard I was coming, they all came. They weren't going to come.

They were to leave you abandoned, and now they're not. Donald Trump, in a store in East Palestine, Ohio, the town reeling from a rowing from a recent toxic rail crash. The former president claims the Biden administration's been slow to react to the disaster. Residents want more support from officials, and there are concerns about the safety of water and the impact on farming. U.S. and Ohio environmental regulators say testing shows the water and air are safe. U.S. Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, will travel to the site today to meet with community members and attend a briefing on the accident investigation. 49 miners are missing after a coal mine collapsed in China. At least four workers died in the

incident, which happened in the Inner Mongolia region. Emergency teams, including 300 fire rescue personnel, are at the scene. A second landslide has hampered efforts to find survivors. The Fed released the minutes of its last meeting highlighting a clear consensus among policymakers that rates will be going higher. Our resident Fed expert, Howard Schneider, poured over the document, so you don't have to. Howard. Okay, what do we learn from this document

when we learn that the consensus behind slower rate hikes is very, very strong. We also learn that the consensus behind continuing rate hikes is also very, very strong. In fact, the Fed says inflation is now the key factor shaping policy, and that's going to continue. Now, remember, this document released yesterday is three weeks old,

and the data since then have moved pretty, decisively in a direction towards inflation being stickier and expected. What does that mean? When the Fed meets it in four weeks, it probably means they're going to mark up their policy projections and put a couple more interest rate hikes on the table. To the Middle East, where new reporting by Reuters' correspondence reveals Iranian officials who are meeting in Damascus to develop drone or missile capabilities were the target of a weekend rocket attack. Syria blames the strike on Israel, accusing it of capitalizing on the catastrophic aftermath of the recent earthquake. A Syrian engineer and an Iranian official were killed in the attack.

The strike is part of an Israeli campaign to weaken Iran's military firepower in Syria. Tehran is using its alliance with Syria's president Bashar al-Assad to develop an arsenal within striking distance of Israel. Sulewin al-Haldi, Reuters chief correspondent in Syria and Jordan with this report. The timing was a message by Israel that it would act any time, even if there was a catastrophe. As long as the Israeli Defence Establishment felt that Iran continued to entrench it and expand its presence in Syria. The Israeli Defence Establishment has long called this ongoing conflict a war between wars. Reuters was able to report that the strike destroyed an underground,

secret military installation, where Syrian and Iranian technical experts were working on advancing drone and missile capabilities. Israel has also had recent months intensified strikes on Syrian airports and air bases to disrupt Iran's increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to its allies in Syria and Lebanon, including Hezbollah. Now, let your cares wash away and join me on the beach. That's the sound of a sea turtle, making its way safely into the waves. These turtles in the Philippines have reached the ocean with help from an unlikely ally, former poachers. Reuters photojournalist Aloisa Lopez went to La Union to follow the story of the locals swapping poaching for protecting.

Hi, Aloisa. Hi, Kim. So tell us about this guy, Jesse, a poacher turned protection. What's his story? So Jesse Kabagbag, who's now 40, grew up actually eating and hunting turtle eggs and meet with his family. His father taught him out to poach

as early as nine years old. They come from family of fishermen. His father would wake him up every day before dawn to help him with fishing. And when their catch is not enough, they would turn to tracking turtles into sand and dig their freshly laid eggs. The elders also told them

that the eggs were actually cured for asthma. And sometimes after digging a nest, his father would ask him to eat one still warm straight from the nest, still sandy. And... Oh, God, okay. He would eat it and, yeah, he told me he was really slimy. So what led Jesse to go from poaching turtles to conservation? It all started in 2009. Coastal underwater research management actions.

It's a marine conservation program in La Eugnion that started by this family who had a house by the beach. From doing a lot of research and talking to locals, they also found out that fishermen, mostly poached them for, like I said, for sustenance. So from there, they invited poachers to deposit the turtle eggs to do their hatchery instead of selling them. So, for example, they would sell it for six pesos each. They would now get 20 pesos each, which is more than $1.00. double what they would earn from selling the eggs. What really touched me was how Jesse learned to love, not just protecting turtles, but love the environment around him.

When we were talking to him, he said that he was really guilty when he found out that turtles were endangered and that what they had been doing all this time around. And now he understands that protecting turtles also protects his life. livelihood, which is fishing, that they're part of the ecosystem, that protecting one species, he also protects another. And he's so proud to be part of it, to be a protector now. Hey, thank you so much, Eloisa Lopez, a photojournalist with Reuters. That's it for this edition of Reuters World News. We'll be back on Friday with a special episode to mark the anniversary of the war in Ukraine. In the meantime, you can find more trusted news

at Reuters.com.