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Netanyahu Says Israel Preparing for Scenarios in Other Areas than Gaza

HANDOUT - 11 April 2024, Israel, Rehovot: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Tel Nof Airbase. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO/dpa
HANDOUT - 11 April 2024, Israel, Rehovot: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Tel Nof Airbase. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO/dpa
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Netanyahu Says Israel Preparing for Scenarios in Other Areas than Gaza

HANDOUT - 11 April 2024, Israel, Rehovot: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Tel Nof Airbase. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO/dpa
HANDOUT - 11 April 2024, Israel, Rehovot: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Tel Nof Airbase. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO/dpa

Israel is keeping up its war in Gaza but is also preparing for scenarios in other areas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
"Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively," he said in comments released by his office following a visit to the Tel Nof air force base in southern Israel.
Israel has been bracing for possible Iranian retaliation for the killing of a senior general and six other Iranian officers in an airstrike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on April 1. Israel has not said it was responsible but Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday Israel "must be punished and it shall be" for the attack.
Netanyahu made his comments as Israeli troops and warplanes started an operation in central Gaza overnight which the military said was aimed at destroying infrastructure of armed Palestinian groups.
Most Israeli troops have been pulled out of Gaza, in preparation for an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering, but fighting has continued in various areas of the enclave.
Israeli military strikes killed 63 Palestinians and wounded 45 others in the past 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
At least 33,545 Palestinians have now been killed since the Israeli offensive began, the ministry said, with most of the 2.3 million population displaced and much of the enclave laid to waste.

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Arab World

Syria's Sharaa Says Country Ready to Welcome UN Forces in Buffer Zone with Israel

This handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA, shows Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani in Damascus on January 16, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA, shows Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani in Damascus on January 16, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
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Syria's Sharaa Says Country Ready to Welcome UN Forces in Buffer Zone with Israel

This handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA, shows Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani in Damascus on January 16, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA, shows Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani in Damascus on January 16, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Thursday his country is ready to welcome UN forces into the UN established buffer zone with Israel.

"Israel's advance in the region was due to the presence of Iranian militias and Hezbollah. After the liberation of Damascus, I believe that they have no presence at all. There are pretexts that Israel is using today to advance into the Syrian regions, into the buffer zone," he said, answering a Reuters question.

Sharaa received in Damascus Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, who demanded that Israel "immediately withdraw" from its buffer zone with Syria.

The same day Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December, Israel announced its troops were crossing the armistice line and into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.

Israel occupied much of the Golan Heights from Syria in a war in 1967, later annexing the territory in a move largely unrecognized by the international community.

"The Israeli occupation's seizure of the buffer zone is a reckless... act and it must immediately withdraw," Sheikh Mohammed said at a press conference with Sharaa.

Sharaa said his authorities were counting on the support of Qatar to help stop Israel from making any further advances into Syrian territory.

Israel's army should return to "where it was before," he said, adding Qatar "supports this view and will use all means available to exert pressure on Israel".

On Wednesday, an Israeli air strike hit a target belonging to Syria's new authorities for the first time, killing three people, a war monitor and a medical source said.

Sheikh Mohammed also vowed to support the rehabilitation of Syria's infrastructure, devastated by nearly 14 years of civil war.

"We will provide the necessary technical support to make the needed infrastructure operational again and provide support to the electricity sector," said Sheikh Mohammed.

"The agreement includes supplying power with a capacity of 200 megawatts and gradually increasing production," he added.

Last week, Syria's national electricity company said Qatar and Türkiye would send power ships to increase supply after the United States eased some sanctions.

Qatar "extends its hand to our Syrian brothers for future partnerships," Sheikh Mohammed said, adding that essential needs include "continuing to provide public services to the Syrian people".

Last week, a diplomatic source said Qatar was weighing a plan to provide Syria with funds after Damascus decided to increase public sector salaries.

Earlier this month, ministers from Syria's transitional government including top diplomat Asaad al-Shaibani met with the Qatari prime minister in Doha.