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Two Pro-Hezbollah Members Killed in Israeli Strikes Near Damascus

Smoke billows above buildings after an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Damascus on November 22, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows above buildings after an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Damascus on November 22, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
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Two Pro-Hezbollah Members Killed in Israeli Strikes Near Damascus

Smoke billows above buildings after an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Damascus on November 22, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows above buildings after an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Damascus on November 22, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

Two pro-Hezbollah Syrian fighters have been killed in Israeli air strikes near Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.
The air attack targeted positions of the Iran-backed party in Damascus.
“Two Syrian fighters loyal to Hezbollah have been killed and seven other fighters working with the party were wounded overnight in Israeli air strikes on positions near Sayyida Zeinab” in the southeast of the capital, observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France-Presse.
Successive violent explosions sounded in Damascus in parallel with anti-aircraft missiles fired by the Syrian regime at the Israeli missiles.
The bombing is the second this week, said the Observatory. On November 26 Israel bombed an Air Defense Forces base in the al-Mazzeh area and Damascus International Airport, putting the airport out of service and wounding an officer and two other personnel.
According to the Observatory, Israel has targeted Syrian territory 56 times since the beginning of this year, 41 of which were air strikes and 15 ground strikes.
The missile strikes destroyed 115 targets including weapons and ammunition depots, positions and vehicles. It also killed 102 military personnel, wounded 120 others in addition to civilians.

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Türkiye Says It Believes Kurdish Fighters Will Be Forced Out of All Syrian Territory

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Says It Believes Kurdish Fighters Will Be Forced Out of All Syrian Territory

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)

Türkiye believes Syria's new rulers, including the Syrian National Army (SNA) armed group which Ankara backs, will drive Kurdish YPG fighters from all territory they occupy in northeastern Syria, Defense Minister Yasar Guler said on Sunday.

Türkiye regards the Syrian YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for 40 years and are deemed terrorists by Ankara, Washington, and the European Union.

The YPG spearheads an alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is backed by the United States and controls territory in northeastern Syria. Since the fall of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, Türkiye and Syrian groups it backs have fought against the SDF, seizing the city of Manbij.

"We believe that the new leadership in Syria and the Syrian National Army, which is an important part of its army, along with the Syrian people, will free all territories occupied by terrorist organizations," Guler said during a visit to Turkish troops on the Syrian border with military commanders.

"We will also take every necessary measure with the same determination until all terrorist elements beyond our borders are cleared," he said in a video released by his ministry.

Ankara has demanded the Syrian Kurdish fighters disband, and has called on Washington to withdraw its support. The US military acknowledged last week it has 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria, twice as many as it had said previously.

On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Türkiye would do "whatever it takes" to ensure its security if Syria's new administration was unable to address its concerns.