Hezbollah Launches ‘Squadrons of Drones’ at Israel

Mourners carry the coffin of a Hamas official Samer Al-Hajj, who was killed on Friday by an Israeli drone strike, during his funeral procession at Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Mourners carry the coffin of a Hamas official Samer Al-Hajj, who was killed on Friday by an Israeli drone strike, during his funeral procession at Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
TT

Hezbollah Launches ‘Squadrons of Drones’ at Israel

Mourners carry the coffin of a Hamas official Samer Al-Hajj, who was killed on Friday by an Israeli drone strike, during his funeral procession at Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Mourners carry the coffin of a Hamas official Samer Al-Hajj, who was killed on Friday by an Israeli drone strike, during his funeral procession at Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Hezbollah group said it launched on Saturday explosive-laden drones at a north Israel army base following the killing of a Hamas commander in south Lebanon a day earlier.
Hezbollah fighters launched “squadrons of explosive-laden drones” at the Michve Alon base near the Galilee town of Safed “in response to the attack and assassination carried out by the Israeli enemy in the city of Sidon” on Friday, the group said in a statement.
Hezbollah’s media office said it was “the first time” the group had targeted that base.
On Friday, an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south Lebanon city of Sidon killed a Hamas commander, the Palestinian militant group and the Israeli military said.
Hamas said in a statement that Samer Al-Hajj was killed “in a Zionist strike in the city of Sidon.”
The Israeli military said that its aircraft struck the Sidon area and “eliminated” Hajj, whom it identified as “a senior commander” for Hamas in Lebanon.
It was the first strike of its kind in Sidon since Hamas launched its October 7 attack on Israel, triggering war in Gaza and prompting its Lebanese ally Hezbollah to begin trading near-daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army in a bid to tie down its troops.



Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
TT

Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, al-Sharaa said that his administration would not allow for arms outside the control of the state.

An official source told Reuters on Saturday that Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, had been named as defense minister in the interim government.
Sharaa did not mention the appointment of a new defense minister on Sunday.
Sharaa discussed the form military institutions would take during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former opposition factions and officers who defected from Assad's army.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Jumblatt expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.