Israeli air strikes hit near Damascus: Syrian defense ministry

A F-35 fighter jet flies during a graduation ceremony for Israeli Air Force pilots at Hatzerim Airbase, in southern Israel, June 29, 2023. (REUTERS)
A F-35 fighter jet flies during a graduation ceremony for Israeli Air Force pilots at Hatzerim Airbase, in southern Israel, June 29, 2023. (REUTERS)
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Updated 02 December 2023
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Israeli air strikes hit near Damascus: Syrian defense ministry

Israeli air strikes hit near Damascus: Syrian defense ministry
  • Damascus and Aleppo airports were both put out of service following Israeli strikes on October 12 and 22

DAMASCUS: Israel carried out air strikes near Damascus on Saturday, the Syrian defense ministry said, with an AFP journalist in the Syrian capital reporting the loud sound of bombings.
“At approximately 1:35 am (1035 GMT) today, the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points near the city of Damascus,” the defense ministry said in a statement, reporting no casualties.
Syria state television had earlier reported an “Israeli aggression near the capital.”
Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its northern neighbor since Syria’s civil war began in 2011, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, as well as Syrian army positions.
But it has intensified attacks since its war with Hamas, a Hezbollah ally, began in October.
The Israeli army did not comment when asked by AFP about the latest strikes.
Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, told AFP that Israel struck “Hezbollah targets” in the Sayyida Zeinab area south of Damascus.
Ambulances had rushed to the scene of the bombing, said the chief of the British-based monitor, which runs a network inside Syria.
Israeli air strikes on November 26 rendered Damascus airport inoperable just hours after flights resumed following a similar attack the month before.
Damascus and Aleppo airports were both put out of service following Israeli strikes on October 12 and 22.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow arch-foe Iran, which backs Syrian President Bashar Assad, to expand its presence there.

 


Hashem Safieddine: possible successor to Hezbollah chief Nasrallah

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Hashem Safieddine: possible successor to Hezbollah chief Nasrallah

Hashem Safieddine: possible successor to Hezbollah chief Nasrallah
Safieddine bears a striking resemblance to his charismatic maternal cousin Nasrallah
Safieddine has strong ties with Iran after undertaking religious studies in the holy city of Qom.

BEIRUT: Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor to his slain cousin Hassan Nasrallah, is one of Hezbollah’s most prominent figures and has deep religious and family ties to the Shiite Muslim movement’s patron Iran.
Safieddine bears a striking resemblance to his charismatic maternal cousin Nasrallah but is several years his junior, aged in his late 50s or early 60s.
A source close to Hezbollah, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the grey-bearded, bespectacled Safieddine was the “most likely” candidate for party’s top job.
The United States and Saudi Arabia put Safieddine, who is a member of Hezbollah’s powerful decision-making Shoura Council, on their respective lists of designated “terrorists” in 2017.
The US Treasury described him as “a senior leader” in Hezbollah and “a key member” of its executive.
While Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem automatically takes over the Hezbollah leadership after Nasrallah’s death, the Shoura Council must meet to elect a new secretary-general.
Safieddine has strong ties with Iran after undertaking religious studies in the holy city of Qom.
His son is married to the daughter of General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm who was killed in a 2020 US strike in Iraq.
Safieddine has the title of Sayyed, his black turban marking him, like Nasrallah, as a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
Unlike Nasrallah, who lived in hiding for years, Safieddine has appeared openly at recent political and religious events.
Usually presenting a calm demeanour, he has upped the fiery rhetoric during the funerals of Hezbollah fighters killed in nearly a year of cross-border clashes with Israel.
Nasrallah said his forces were acting in support of Palestinian Hamas militants fighting Israel in Gaza.
Amal Saad, a Lebanese researcher on Hezbollah based at Cardiff University, said that for years people have been saying that Safieddine was “the most likely successor” to Nasrallah.
“The next leader has to be on the Shoura Council, which has a handful of members, and he has to be a religious figure,” she said.
Safieddine “has a lot of authority... he’s the strongest contender” she added.
Hezbollah was created at the initiative of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and gained its moniker as “the Resistance” by fighting Israeli troops who occupied southern Lebanon until 2000.
The movement was founded during the Lebanese civil war after Israel besieged the capital Beirut in 1982.
In July in a speech in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Safieddine alluded to how Hezbollah views its leadership succession.
“In our resistance... when any leader is martyred, another takes up the flag and goes on with new, certain, strong determination,” he said.


Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor to his slain cousin Hassan Nasrallah, is one of Hezbollah’s most prominent figures and has deep religious and family ties to the Shiite Muslim movement’s patron Iran. (X/@warintel4u)

Over 50,000 have fled Lebanon for Syria amid Israeli strikes: UN

Over 50,000 have fled Lebanon for Syria amid Israeli strikes: UN
Updated 28 September 2024
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Over 50,000 have fled Lebanon for Syria amid Israeli strikes: UN

Over 50,000 have fled Lebanon for Syria amid Israeli strikes: UN
  • Filippo Grandi said “well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon“
  • A UNHCR spokesman said the total number of displaced in Lebanon had reached 211,319

GENEVA: The UN refugee chief said Saturday that more than 50,000 people had fled to Syria amid escalating Israeli air strikes on Lebanon.
“More than 50,000 Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon have now crossed into Syria fleeing Israeli air strikes,” Filippo Grandi said on X.
He added that “well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon.”
A UNHCR spokesman said the total number of displaced in Lebanon had reached 211,319, including 118,000 just since Israel dramatically ramped up its air strikes on Monday.
The remainder had fled their homes since Hezbollah militants in Lebanon began low-intensity cross-border attacks a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has shifted the focus of its operation from Gaza to Lebanon, where heavy bombing has killed more than 700 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, as cross-border exchanges escalated over the past week.
Most of those Lebanese deaths came on Monday, the deadliest day of violence since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.
“Relief operations are underway, including by UNHCR, to help all those in need, in coordination with both governments,” Grandi said.


Israel army says Nasrallah’s death makes world safer

Israel army says Nasrallah’s death makes world safer
Updated 28 September 2024
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Israel army says Nasrallah’s death makes world safer

Israel army says Nasrallah’s death makes world safer
  • “Nasrallah was one of the greatest enemies of the State of Israel of all time... his elimination makes the world a safer place,” military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said
  • “We continue, even at this very moment, to strike, eliminate and kill the commanders of the Hezbollah organization “

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said on Saturday that its killing of one its “greatest enemies” Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah made the world safer, while vowing to go after other senior members of his Iran-backed group.
“Nasrallah was one of the greatest enemies of the State of Israel of all time... his elimination makes the world a safer place,” military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a televised briefing.
“We continue, even at this very moment, to strike, eliminate and kill the commanders of the Hezbollah organization, and we will continue to do so,” Hagari said of the Lebanese armed movement, an ally of Palestinian group Hamas.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in a statement directed to the people of Lebanon, said: “Our war is not with you.”
“To our enemies I say: We are strong and determined,” Gallant added.
With tensions soaring since the deadly Friday strike on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold that killed Nasrallah, Israeli authorities have announced new public safety regulations.
The military’s Home Front Command announced that gathering of more than 1,000 people would be banned in central Israel, far from the Lebanese border.
The change is likely to affect weekly demonstrations that have been taking place on Saturdays throughout the war in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub, and other locations.
The anti-government protests have sought to highlight the plight of hostages held in the Gaza Strip since Hamas’s October 7 attack that triggered the ongoing war, urging the Israeli government to agree a truce and hostage release deal.


Yemen’s Houthis mourn slain Hezbollah chief, say resistance will not be broken

Yemen’s Houthis mourn slain Hezbollah chief, say resistance will not be broken
Updated 28 September 2024
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Yemen’s Houthis mourn slain Hezbollah chief, say resistance will not be broken

Yemen’s Houthis mourn slain Hezbollah chief, say resistance will not be broken
  • “The resistance will not be broken,” the group said
  • Both Hezbollah and the Houthis are part of the Axis of Resistance

CAIRO: The Houthi movement in Yemen on Saturday mourned the death of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, its ally in an Iran-backed alliance opposing Israel, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.
“The resistance will not be broken, and the Jihadist spirit of the Mujahideen brothers in Lebanon and on all fronts of support will grow stronger and bigger,” the group said in a statement.
Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s killing after the Israeli military said it had eliminated him in an airstrike in Beirut on Friday.
Both Hezbollah and the Houthis are part of the Axis of Resistance, an alliance built up over years of Iranian support against Israel and US influence in the Middle East.
The Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships they say are affiliated to Israel, in the crucial shipping channels of the Red Sea, the Bab Al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November to show their support for Palestinians in the Gaza war.
The group, which controls northern Yemen, also fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly, some of which targeted central Israel for the first time.


Lebanese health minister says 11 killed, 108 injured on Friday

Lebanese health minister says 11 killed, 108 injured on Friday
Updated 28 September 2024
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Lebanese health minister says 11 killed, 108 injured on Friday

Lebanese health minister says 11 killed, 108 injured on Friday

Beirut: A new Israeli strike hit a building in Hezbollah’s south Beirut bastion Saturday, a Lebanese security official told AFP, after Israel earlier said it killed group leader Hassan Nasrallah during intense bombardment.
“A new Israeli strike targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs,” the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The strike hit the second and third floors of a building, the official said.
While Lebanese health minister said that 11 killed and 108 injured on Friday in Israeli strikes across Lebanon.
In addition to bombardment on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon’s south and east, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Saturday Israeli strikes outside the group’s traditional bastions, including in the Keserwan area north of Beirut.
Earlier Saturday, Israel’s military announced Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut the previous night, but there was no confirmation from the Lebanese armed group.
Hezbollah began firing into Israel one day after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
But Israel has in recent days shifted the focus of its operation from Gaza to Lebanon, where heavy bombing has killed hundreds and displaced around 118,000.
Continuing strikes on both sides of the border
On Saturday morning, the Israeli military carried out more than 140 airstrikes in southern Beirut and eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, including targeting a storage facility for anti-ship missiles in Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. Israel said the missiles were stored underground beneath civilian apartment buildings. Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles across northern and central Israel and deep into the Israel-occupied West Bank, damaging some buildings in the northern town of Safed.
In Beirut’s southern suburbs, smoke rose and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes. Shelters set up in the city center for displaced people were overflowing. Many families slept in public squares and beaches or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.
At least 720 people have been killed in Lebanon over the past week from Israeli airstrikes, according to the Health Ministry.