Israeli Military Strikes Gaza After Border Violence

Tire smoke lit by Palestinian demonstrators (AP)
Tire smoke lit by Palestinian demonstrators (AP)
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Israeli Military Strikes Gaza After Border Violence

Tire smoke lit by Palestinian demonstrators (AP)
Tire smoke lit by Palestinian demonstrators (AP)

The Israeli military said it launched an air strike on Gaza Friday, following violence at a border rally in which health officials said multiple Palestinians were wounded.

The strike was the first since early July, when Israel responded to rocket fire from Gaza launched after its deadliest Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank in years.

The army said it hit "a military post belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the northern Gaza Strip."

A military spokesman said the air strike hit an area where Palestinians had gathered earlier Friday, near the permanently closed Karni crossing.

A security source in the Palestinian territory told AFP that Israel "bombed a resistance observation post east of Gaza City," requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak publicly to the media.

There were no immediate reports of injuries resulting from the air strike.

Earlier Friday, an AFP journalist at the protest saw Palestinians throwing rocks and explosives towards Israeli forces, across the frontier, and two demonstrators with gunshot wounds.

Plumes of black smoke filled the area after Palestinians set tyres ablaze.

Twelve Gazans were wounded at various rallies along the border, the territory's health ministry said.

The Israeli military said "several explosive devices and grenades" were hurled at soldiers, none of whom were hurt.

The air strike comes after an explosion killed at least five Gazans during a border rally on Wednesday.

A bomb which may have been a hand grenade detonated while being carried by a protester, a witness told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Militant Hamas group seized control of Gaza in 2007 and Israel has since imposed a crippling blockade.

There have been multiple wars fought between Gaza-based militants and Israel in recent years.

At least 34 Palestinians and one Israeli were killed in five days of cross-border exchanges in May.



Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday said that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after the overthrow of President Bashar sl-Assad as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country.

Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's nearly 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising against his family's decades-long rule. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in an address on Sunday that the “young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall.

“What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," Khamenei said. “God willing, he will overcome them.”

He accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government in order to seize resources, saying: “Now they feel victory, the Americans, the Zionist regime and those who accompanied them.”

Iran and its armed proxies in the region have suffered a series of major setbacks over the past year, with Israel battering Hamas in Gaza and landing heavy blows on Hezbollah before they agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon last month.

Khamenei denied that such groups were proxies of Iran, saying they fought because of their own beliefs and that Tehran did not depend on them. “If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force,” he said.