Israel Launches Missiles Targeting Vicinity of Syria’s Damascus, 1 Soldier Injured

Israeli’s military staged airstrikes near Damascus, wounding one soldier and causing material damage. (AFP file photo)
Israeli’s military staged airstrikes near Damascus, wounding one soldier and causing material damage. (AFP file photo)
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Israel Launches Missiles Targeting Vicinity of Syria’s Damascus, 1 Soldier Injured

Israeli’s military staged airstrikes near Damascus, wounding one soldier and causing material damage. (AFP file photo)
Israeli’s military staged airstrikes near Damascus, wounding one soldier and causing material damage. (AFP file photo)

Israeli’s military staged airstrikes near Syria's capital late Monday wounding one soldier and causing material damage, Syrian state media reported.

State TV quoted an unnamed military official as saying that Israeli fired missiles from the direction of Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights targeting some military positions near Damascus. It gave no further details.

An Israeli air attack Aug. 7 on suburbs of Damascus reportedly killed four soldiers.

Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in its northern neighbor, has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges them.

Israel has also targeted the international airports in Damascus and the northern Syrian city of Aleppo several times over the past few years, often putting it out of commission.



Blinken: US Will Continue to Press Israel to Do More to Spare Humanitarian Sites in Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards his plane at the Chopin Airport in Warsaw on September 12, 2024. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards his plane at the Chopin Airport in Warsaw on September 12, 2024. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein / POOL / AFP)
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Blinken: US Will Continue to Press Israel to Do More to Spare Humanitarian Sites in Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards his plane at the Chopin Airport in Warsaw on September 12, 2024. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards his plane at the Chopin Airport in Warsaw on September 12, 2024. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein / POOL / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday the United States will continue to urge Israel to do more to spare humanitarian sites in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli airstrike on a UN school complex sheltering displaced Palestinians killed six UN staffers.

When asked at a news conference in the Polish capital about Israel’s bombing of the school complex in central Gaza the day before, Blinken told reporters that “we need to see humanitarian sites protected.”

“That’s something we continue to raise with Israel,” he said.

Wednesday's strike on the UN-supported al-Jaouni Preparatory Boys School in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, killed at least 14 people, including two children and a woman, hospital officials said. Among those killed were six staffers from the UN Palestinian refugee agency, known as UNRWA, the main UN relief agency in Gaza.

UNRWA described the strike as the deadliest single incident for its staff members. Among those killed at the school, it said, were the manager of the shelter and others working to help the thousands of displaced people taking refuge there, including teachers.

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said at least 220 UNRWA staffers have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s military offensive began in response to Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Blinken blamed Hamas for continuing to hide its fighters among civilians and said the bombing “underscores the urgency" of reaching a cease-fire in the embattled territory.