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Hezbollah Launches Drone Attack on Northern Israel

An Israeli shelling hits an area in Lebanon next to the Israeli-Lebanese border at the Galilee region as seen from the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP)
An Israeli shelling hits an area in Lebanon next to the Israeli-Lebanese border at the Galilee region as seen from the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP)
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Hezbollah Launches Drone Attack on Northern Israel

An Israeli shelling hits an area in Lebanon next to the Israeli-Lebanese border at the Galilee region as seen from the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP)
An Israeli shelling hits an area in Lebanon next to the Israeli-Lebanese border at the Galilee region as seen from the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP)

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack early Monday on northern Israel that the Israeli military said wounded two troops and set off a fire.

The violence came as fears of an all-out regional war mount following the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran.

Hezbollah said in a statement it targeted a military base in northern Israel in response to “attacks and assassinations” carried out by Israel in several villages in south Lebanon.

The attack did not appear to be part of a more intense retaliation expected in response to the killing of Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut’s southern suburbs last week.

The Israeli military said fire services were working to put out a fire that was ignited as a result of the attack in Ayelet HaShahar in the upper Galilee.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Monday an Israeli drone strike near a cemetery in a southern village killed two people, including a paramedic.
The agency did not give further details about the morning strike in the village of Meissa al-Jabal. It said one of the dead was a member of the Islamic Risala Scout Association paramedic group. The group identified the member killed as Mohammed Fawzi Hamadi.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, but they have previously kept the conflict at a low level that had not escalated into full-on war.
Last week’s assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital, Tehran, and Shukur in Beirut raised tensions in the region. Israel has been bracing for a retaliation from Iran and its allied militias.

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Erdogan Says Türkiye Can ‘Crush’ All Terrorists in Syria

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference during the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 19, 2024. (AFP)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference during the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 19, 2024. (AFP)
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Erdogan Says Türkiye Can ‘Crush’ All Terrorists in Syria

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference during the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 19, 2024. (AFP)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference during the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 19, 2024. (AFP)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Wednesday that Türkiye had the power and ability to "crush" all terrorists in Syria, including ISIS and Kurdish militants, while urging all countries to "take their hands off" Syria.

Since last month's fall of Bashar al-Assad, Türkiye has said repeatedly it was time for the Kurdish YPG militia to disband. Ankara considers the group, which spearheads the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as a terrorist organization.

Ankara has said the new Syrian administration must be given an opportunity to address the YPG presence, but also threatened to mount a new cross-border operation against the militia based in northeast Syria if its demands are not met.

Speaking in parliament, Erdogan said the YPG was the biggest problem in Syria now, and added that the group would not be able to escape its inevitable end unless it lays down its arms.

"Regarding fabricated excuses like ISIS, these have no convincing side anymore," Erdogan said, referring to the US position that the YPG was a key partner against ISIS in Syria and that it plays a vital role guarding prison camps where the extremist militants are kept.

"If there is really a fear of the ISIS threat in Syria and the region, the biggest power that has the will and power to resolve this issue is Türkiye," he said.

"Everyone should take their hands off Syria and we, along with our Syrian siblings, will crush the heads of ISIS, the YPG and other terrorist organizations in a short time."

Türkiye has repeatedly asked its NATO ally the United States to halt support for the SDF, and has said the new administration in Syria had offered to take over the management of the prisons. 

Later on Wednesday , Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara is ready to provide support to the new Syrian administration for the management of ISIS camps in the country.

"As we have always said, we are also ready to provide the necessary assistance to the new administration in the management of ISIS camps and prisons," Fidan said.

Speaking in Ankara following his meeting with his Syrian counterpart Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, Fidan also said diplomatic efforts will continue to ensure the removal of sanctions against Syria.