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Lebanon: Israel Strikes Hezbollah Positions in Tayr Harfa, Maroun al-Ras

Smoke plumes erupt during Israeli bombardment on the village of Alma al-Shaab in south Lebanon on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke plumes erupt during Israeli bombardment on the village of Alma al-Shaab in south Lebanon on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
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Lebanon: Israel Strikes Hezbollah Positions in Tayr Harfa, Maroun al-Ras

Smoke plumes erupt during Israeli bombardment on the village of Alma al-Shaab in south Lebanon on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke plumes erupt during Israeli bombardment on the village of Alma al-Shaab in south Lebanon on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)

Israel carried out airstrikes on the town of Tayr Harfa and the outskirts of the town of Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon, the Arab World News Agency said on Sunday.
Later, the Israeli army said its warplanes had targeted Hezbollah positions in Maroun al-Ras, Tayr Harfa and Yarin, hitting several military infrastructure sites.
Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah since the outbreak of the Gaza war on October 7.
On Saturday, Hezbollah said it bombed the Meron settlement in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel and the surrounding settlements with dozens of Katyusha rockets.
The Israeli army stated that at least 26 rockets were launched from Lebanon and fell in uninhabited areas. It added that the attack did not result in any casualties or damages, according to the Times of Israel newspaper.

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Austin Tice's Mother in Damascus, Hopes to Find Son

Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 
Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 
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Austin Tice's Mother in Damascus, Hopes to Find Son

Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 
Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, arrived in Damascus on Saturday to step up the search for her son and said she hopes she can take him home with her, according to Reuters.

Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was one of the first US journalists to make it into Syria after the outbreak of the civil war.

His mother, Debra Tice, drove into the Syrian capital from Lebanon with Nizar Zakka, the head of Hostage Aid Worldwide, an organization which is searching for Austin and believes he is still in Syria.

“It'd be lovely to put my arms around Austin while I'm here. It'd be the best,” Debra Tice told Reuters in the Syrian capital, which she last visited in 2015 to meet with Syrian authorities about her son, before they stopped granting her visas.

The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December by the Syrian opposition has allowed her to visit again from her home in Texas.

“I feel very strongly that Austin's here, and I think he knows I'm here... I'm here,” she said.

Debra Tice and Zakka are hoping to meet with Syria's new authorities, including the head of its new administration Ahmed al-Sharaa, to push for information about Austin.

They are also optimistic that US President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday, will take up the cause.

Her son, now 43, was taken captive in August 2012, while travelling through the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

Reuters was first to report in December that in 2013 Tice, a former US Marine, managed to slip out of his cell and was seen moving between houses in the streets of Damascus' upscale Mazzeh neighborhood.

He was recaptured soon after his escape, likely by forces who answered directly to Assad, current and former US officials said.

Debra Tice came to Syria in 2012 and 2015 to meet with Syrian authorities, who never confirmed that Tice was in their custody, both she and Zakka said.

She criticized outgoing US President Joe Biden's administration, saying they did not negotiate hard enough for her son's release, even in recent months.

“We certainly felt like President Biden was very well positioned to do everything possible to bring Austin home, right? I mean, this was the end of his career,” she said. “This would be a wonderful thing for him to do. So we had an expectation. He pardoned his own son, right? So, where's my son?”

Debra Tice said her “mind was just spinning” as she drove across the Lebanese border into Syria and teared up as she spoke about the tens of thousands whose loved ones were held in Assad's notorious prison system and whose fate remains unknown.

“I have a lot in common with a lot of Syrian mothers and families, and just thinking about how this is affecting them - do they have the same hope that I do, that they're going to open a door, that they're going to see their loved one?”