Drone Strike Hits Assad’s Ancestral Town

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (AP)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (AP)
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Drone Strike Hits Assad’s Ancestral Town

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (AP)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (AP)

A drone attack targeted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ancestral town of Qardaha on Friday with two projectiles, killing one person and lightly injuring another, Syrian state news agency Sana reported.

The strike came a day after Sana reported a drone attack on Salhab, another opposition-held town in northwest Syria, that killed a woman and a child.

The strikes on Qardaha and Salhab, which are around 35 kilometers apart, come amid a flare up in fighting in the northwest with shelling between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters on some front lines.

They came only days after the conclusion of Astana meetings attended by MPs and FMs of Syria, Russia, Iran, and Türkiye.

Arab News Agency (ANA) quoted Abdel Qader Azouz, advisor to the Syrian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, as saying that the Astana talks represent a test to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s wish to reach a settlement in Syria that leads to Turkish forces’ withdrawal and solutions to the pending issues between both countries.

Azouz affirmed on Wednesday Syria’s keenness on having normal ties with Türkiye given its geographical, strategic, and political weight.

He expressed hope that ties return to normal and disputes are resolved peacefully, saying these demands go in line with the UN principles in abstaining from using force.



Israel Army Chief Says Will Use 'All Tools' to Find West Bank Attackers

Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli army Eyal Zamir attends the official state opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day in Israel, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, 23 April 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli army Eyal Zamir attends the official state opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day in Israel, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, 23 April 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
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Israel Army Chief Says Will Use 'All Tools' to Find West Bank Attackers

Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli army Eyal Zamir attends the official state opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day in Israel, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, 23 April 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli army Eyal Zamir attends the official state opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day in Israel, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, 23 April 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN

Israel's military will use "all the tools" at its disposal to find the perpetrators of a West Bank attack that left a pregnant Israeli woman dead, army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said Thursday.

"We will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable," Zamir said as he visited the scene of the attack on the woman's vehicle in the north of the occupied West Bank.

"After struggling to save the life of the woman who was critically injured in the shooting attack in Samaria and arrived during resuscitation, the medical teams were forced to pronounce her dead," Beilinson Hospital said in a statement, using the biblical name to refer to the West Bank.

It added that the baby was delivered via caesarean section and transferred to another hospital.