Failed Rocket Strike Launched on US-led Coalition Forces Base in Syria

FILE - A US military vehicle drives south of the northeastern city of Qamishli, on Oct. 26. 2019 likely heading to the oil-rich Deir el-Zour area where there are oil fields, or possibly to another base nearby, as it passes by a poster showing Syrian President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
FILE - A US military vehicle drives south of the northeastern city of Qamishli, on Oct. 26. 2019 likely heading to the oil-rich Deir el-Zour area where there are oil fields, or possibly to another base nearby, as it passes by a poster showing Syrian President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
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Failed Rocket Strike Launched on US-led Coalition Forces Base in Syria

FILE - A US military vehicle drives south of the northeastern city of Qamishli, on Oct. 26. 2019 likely heading to the oil-rich Deir el-Zour area where there are oil fields, or possibly to another base nearby, as it passes by a poster showing Syrian President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
FILE - A US military vehicle drives south of the northeastern city of Qamishli, on Oct. 26. 2019 likely heading to the oil-rich Deir el-Zour area where there are oil fields, or possibly to another base nearby, as it passes by a poster showing Syrian President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

A failed rocket strike was launched at a base housing US-led coalition forces at Rumalyn, Syria, marking the first time since Feb. 4 that Iranian-backed militias have attacked a US facility in Iraq or Syria, a US defense official said. No personnel were injured in the attack.
Iraqi authorities said early Monday that they were searching for “outlaw elements” who launched an estimated five missiles across the border from Iraq into Syria late Sunday night targeting the base. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Also on Monday, a US official said American forces had shot down two drones near al-Assad Air Base in Iraq. The circumstances are under investigation, The Associated Press said.
Israel’s defense minister on Monday visited members of an infantry battalion that could soon be blocked from receiving American aid because of human rights violations.
Yoav Gallant on Monday told members of Netzah Yehuda battalion stationed on the Gaza border that they have the full backing of the Israeli state and its military.
The decision by the US may come this week and would mark the first time the country has imposed sanctions on a unit inside the Israeli military and would further strain relations between the two allies, which have grown increasingly tense during the Israel-Hamas war.
The conflict, now in its seventh month, has sparked regional unrest pitting Israel and the US against Iran and allied militant groups across the Middle East. Israel and Iran traded fire directly this month, raising fears of all-out war.
The war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which Hamas and other militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says Hamas is still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, at least two-thirds of them children and women. It has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and left a swath of destruction. Around 80% of the territory’s population have fled to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave.
The US House of Representatives approved a $26 billion aid package on Saturday that includes around $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, which experts say is on the brink of famine, as well as billions for Israel. The US Senate could pass the package as soon as Tuesday, and President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.

 



Lebanon Raises Israel-Hezbollah War Death Toll to 2,454

This picture shows the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 21, 2026. (AFP)
This picture shows the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 21, 2026. (AFP)
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Lebanon Raises Israel-Hezbollah War Death Toll to 2,454

This picture shows the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 21, 2026. (AFP)
This picture shows the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 21, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanon on Tuesday raised the toll from six weeks of war between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,454 dead as a fragile 10-day ceasefire holds.

The government's disaster risk management unit in a statement also said 7,658 people had been wounded in the conflict, which began on March 2, days after the broader Middle East war erupted.

Authorities and rescuers in Lebanon have been continuing to recover and identify bodies in areas that were subjected to heavy Israeli strikes.


Macron to Reaffirm Commitment to Lebanese Ceasefire and Sovereignty in Paris Talks

France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during an award ceremony to honor the police officers who intervened to the Bataclan concert hall during the terrorist attacks on Nov. 13, 2015, at the Elysee Palace in Paris Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during an award ceremony to honor the police officers who intervened to the Bataclan concert hall during the terrorist attacks on Nov. 13, 2015, at the Elysee Palace in Paris Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP)
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Macron to Reaffirm Commitment to Lebanese Ceasefire and Sovereignty in Paris Talks

France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during an award ceremony to honor the police officers who intervened to the Bataclan concert hall during the terrorist attacks on Nov. 13, 2015, at the Elysee Palace in Paris Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during an award ceremony to honor the police officers who intervened to the Bataclan concert hall during the terrorist attacks on Nov. 13, 2015, at the Elysee Palace in Paris Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron is to reaffirm France’s full commitment to the ceasefire in Lebanon and support for the country’s territorial integrity at a meeting Tuesday in Paris with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Macron’s office said.

Pakistan is preparing for a new round of talks between the US and Iran as the ceasefire is set to expire Wednesday, while Lebanon and Israel are set to hold a new meeting in Washington later this week.

Macron and Salam "will also address humanitarian support for displaced populations and the continuation of the economic and financial reforms essential to strengthening Lebanon’s sovereignty, its reconstruction and the restoration of its prosperity,” Macron's office said.

The meeting at the Elysee presidential palace comes after the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, came under attack from small arms fire Saturday, leaving one French peacekeeper dead and three others wounded, two of them seriously.

Both Macron and the UNIFIL force blamed Hezbollah, but the Iran-backed group denied involvement.

Macron has called on Lebanese authorities to “shed full light on the incident” and to “identify and prosecute those responsible without delay.” UNIFIL soldiers “must under no circumstances be targeted,” Macron’s office said.

Earlier Tuesday, Salam made a stop in Luxembourg for a meeting of EU foreign ministers that was to address the situation in the Middle East.

On March 2, two days after the US and Israel launched their war on Iran, Hezbollah entered the fray by firing missiles across the border. Israel responded with an intense bombing campaign and ground invasion.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun offered direct negotiations with Israel — the first in decades — in exchange for a cessation of hostilities, an offer that was initially rebuffed.

That changed after the announcement of a truce between Iran and the United States and talks between the two brokered by Pakistan.

Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades last week in Washington following more than a month of war between Israel and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Iran continued to insist that its own ceasefire agreement must extend to Lebanon and said it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz otherwise.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was announced by the US on Thursday. The US portrayed the deal as the result of the Israel-Lebanon talks.

Hezbollah, which was opposed to Lebanon holding direct talks with Israel and was not part of those negotiations, insisted that the ceasefire was a result of Iranian pressure and not of the Israel-Lebanon meeting.


Two Palestinians Killed in West Bank Village Attacked by Israeli Settlers, Witnesses Say

A worker walks past a Palestinian flag installed along a street in Turmus Ayya village, north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on April 19, 2026. (AFP)
A worker walks past a Palestinian flag installed along a street in Turmus Ayya village, north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on April 19, 2026. (AFP)
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Two Palestinians Killed in West Bank Village Attacked by Israeli Settlers, Witnesses Say

A worker walks past a Palestinian flag installed along a street in Turmus Ayya village, north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on April 19, 2026. (AFP)
A worker walks past a Palestinian flag installed along a street in Turmus Ayya village, north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on April 19, 2026. (AFP)

Two Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday after Israeli settlers and soldiers opened fire, witnesses said, while in Gaza health officials said two Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said two Palestinians were killed and four others were wounded by Israeli settler gunfire in al-Mughayyir village near Ramallah. The Palestinian health ministry said the two killed were aged 14 and 32. 

Amin Abu Ulaya, head of the local council, told Reuters that settlers and soldiers had entered the village and opened fire at a school, first against the students and later others who arrived at the scene. 

The Israeli military said forces were deployed to the al-Mughayyir area after reports that stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle carrying civilians and a reserve soldier, who exited the car and opened fire at "suspects" in ‌the area. 

Upon arrival, ‌soldiers worked to disperse what the military described as a violent confrontation. 

The military said ‌it ⁠was aware of ⁠claims that two Palestinians were killed and others were wounded, adding that the incident was under review. 

"This led to the killing of a student and another person," said Abu Ulaya, describing scenes of panic in the village as parents raced to the school in search of their children. 

The shooting in al-Mughayyir, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) north of Ramallah, is the latest in what human rights groups have described as a surge in violence against Palestinians waged by Israeli settlers and soldiers. 

Kathem Al-Haj-Ahmed, 57, an al-Mughayyir resident, said the settlers arrived first, attacking the village school. Palestinians in the West Bank are frequently subjected to unprovoked attacks perpetrated ⁠by Israeli Jewish settlers. 

"This is our reality in al-Mughayyer village; they aim to displace ‌us, and both the army and the settlers are exchanging roles among ‌them," he told Reuters. 

Some Israeli officials have condemned "Jewish rioters" in the West Bank while also saying that a fringe minority was behind ‌the violence. Other officials have backed the settlers and called for expanding the settlements. 

Israeli settlements in the West Bank ‌are deemed illegal by the United Nations and most countries. Palestinians hope the West Bank will be part of a future independent state. 

The expansion of West Bank settlements has surged under the current right-wing Israeli government, with some 700,000 Jewish settlers now living there, among some 2.7 million Palestinians. 

TWO PALESTINIANS KILLED IN GAZA 

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, health officials said on Tuesday that Israeli forces killed at ‌least two Palestinians. 

Medics said a woman in northern Gaza's Beit Lahiya area was killed by gunfire from an Israeli naval boat. The Israeli military said they were ⁠not aware of the incident. 

In ⁠another incident, a man was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the eastern side of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. 

An Israeli military spokesperson said the military had struck "terrorists" in the Khan Younis area and that more information would be released later. Three other Palestinians were also killed in the Khan Younis area overnight. 

On Tuesday, mourners arrived at hospitals in Gaza City and Khan Younis to pay farewell to those killed overnight, whose bodies were wrapped in white shrouds. Women wept and men performed prayers before the burials. 

The deaths were the latest violence to overshadow a US-brokered ceasefire deal signed last October after two years of full-blown war between Israel and the Hamas group. Progress has stalled on parts of the deal, which include the disarmament of Hamas and an Israeli army pullout. 

The ceasefire left Israeli troops in control of more than half of Gaza. Hamas controls a narrow coastal strip. 

More than 750 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire deal took effect, according to local medics, while Israel says militants have killed four of its soldiers. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for ceasefire violations. 

Israel says it aims to thwart attacks by Hamas and other armed factions.