John Lyons

Jan 19, 2025 | abc.net.au | Riley Stuart |John Lyons |Lauren Day |Matthew Doran |Eric Tlozek |Tessa Flemming

Hello, I'm Tessa Flemming and I'll be joining you this evening as we await an expected ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. But first, some information from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was speaking some time ago. He says Israel will retain the right to resume war in Gaza with US backing should the second stage of the ceasefire prove pointless. "If we must return to fighting we will do that in new, forceful ways," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

Jan 15, 2025 | abc.net.au | John Lyons

A ceasefire — but a Band-Aid also. Donald Trump says on social media this is an "EPIC" ceasefire deal. So big that he put epic in capital letters. It is nothing of the sort. In the short-term, the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war is of course welcome. The remaining 98 hostages, taken by Hamas in the October 7 atrocities, will be returned to their families. Tragically, many of these are believed to have died while in Gaza.

Dec 29, 2024 | abc.net.au | John Lyons

Few years recently have seen such dramatic changes as 2024 — changes which will resonate well into the future. Even up until the final weeks of the year hugely consequential change came at pace. The geopolitical plates of the Middle East shifted with the unexpected end of the 54-year dictatorship of the Assad family in Syria.

Dec 11, 2024 | abc.net.au | John Lyons

As Syrians expressed obvious relief at the end of 54 years of one of the most brutal dictatorships of modern times, their neighbour Israel reacted in a very different way: a campaign of saturation bombing, launching an estimated 480 strikes in 48 hours. At the same time, Israeli soldiers moved into Syria to seize a significant swathe of land, extending what had been a buffer zone between the two countries.

Dec 8, 2024 | abc.net.au | John Lyons

The world is watching anxiously as the sun sets on Bashar al-Assad's brutal rule of Syria. So what happens next?