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July 17, 2025 
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Good morning. We’re covering Israeli airstrikes on Syria’s capital and Iran’s mass deportation of Afghans.
Plus, the many takes on Superman.
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| Debris in Damascus yesterday, after an Israeli missile strike. Khalil Ashawi/Reuters |
Israel bombarded the capital of Syria
Israel launched airstrikes on Damascus yesterday, damaging a compound housing the Defense Ministry and hitting an area near the presidential palace, according to the Israeli military and Syrian authorities.
The strikes followed days of deadly clashes involving Syrian government forces in the southern region of Sweida, the heartland of the country’s Druse minority, whom Israel has pledged to protect. Israel threatened to escalate attacks on Syrian government forces unless they withdrew from Sweida.
Shortly after the Israeli airstrikes, Syrian authorities announced that a cease-fire had been reached in Sweida with local leaders. Later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. had worked with all parties involved in the clashes to “bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight.”
However, the flurry of diplomacy appeared to do little to halt Israeli strikes. As night approached, additional Israeli attacks on military targets around Damascus were reported.
Context: Israel has two driving reasons for intervening in southern Syria. First, to prevent Iran-backed militias or hostile Islamist militants from entrenching themselves near the Israeli border. Second, to assuage the concerns of Israel’s own Druse minority, which has a close relationship with the Israeli government. Here’s what else to know.
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| The New York Times |
A close-up view of Iran’s mass deportation of Afghans
Nearly 20,000 Afghans have been crossing from Iran to Afghanistan every day, driven out by targeted crackdowns and xenophobia. Since January, more than 1.4 million have fled or been deported, according to the U.N. It’s one of the worst displacement crises of the past decade.
My colleagues Elian Peltier, Yaqoob Akbary and Jim Huylebroek traveled to the border between the two countries and spoke with many shocked and fearful Afghans, some of whom have never lived in Afghanistan or barely know it. At a relocation facility on the Afghan side of the border, some women defied Taliban-imposed restrictions by polishing their nails or smoking e-cigarettes in the open.
“Afghanistan is like a cage for women, and we’re coming back to that cage,” said Khurshid, 17, the youngest of three sisters returning to Afghanistan. Some of the world’s most severe restrictions on women and girls await.
Watch Elian explain in the video above why so many Afghans have been forced out of Iran.
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| Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times |
Is Trump preparing to fire the Fed chair?
During a meeting with House Republicans, President Trump showed off a draft of a letter firing the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, and asked them whether he should do it, according to two people briefed on the meeting.
For the past several days, Trump has been ratcheting up his angry remarks about Powell, whom he has attacked in recent weeks for not cutting interest rates. He has also called on Powell to resign. It’s unclear whether Trump will actually fire him, or if he even can. No president in modern history has tried to fire a Fed chair. Some in his administration have warned that doing so would be more disastrous than he appears to anticipate.
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| A hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, yesterday. Hatem Khaled/Reuters |
- Europe: Germany’s new government imposed border checks to demonstrate toughness on migration, though crossings started slowing years ago. Traffic nightmares have resulted.
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| The Club World Cup final match in New Jersey on Sunday. Vincent Alban/The New York Times |
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| The particle collider at CERN in Geneva. Maximilien Brice and Julien Marius Ordan/CERN |
The study of matter versus antimatter is key to understanding why the universe exists at all. Now, physicists have discovered that matter — the stuff that makes up galaxies, stars, planets and us — and antimatter, its evil-twin opposite, decay at different rates.
The finding could one day offer clues about why, 13.8 billion years after the Big Bang, you — made of matter, not antimatter — are around to read this on your phone or computer.
Lives lived: Martin Cruz Smith, the best-selling author of “Gorky Park,” died at 82.
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| Drake at the Wireless Festival in London. Emli Bendixen for The New York Times |
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| Warner Brothers Pictures; Ed Araquel/CW; Lorimer Productions, via Everett Collection |
Brooding or adorable: How do you like your Superman?
Superman, more so than a lot of his superpowered peers, is often a symbol rather than a fully drawn character. That means there’s more than one way to play arguably the most famous of all caped saviors.
The adorably dimpled version in James Gunn’s new film, played by David Corenswet, is burdened by the politics of his era and troubled by criticisms of his unilateral policing of international affairs. Read how actors have approached the role, starting with Christopher Reeve.
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