Israel Strikes Syria After Projectiles Fired, Holds Sharaa Responsible 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israel Strikes Syria After Projectiles Fired, Holds Sharaa Responsible 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel has carried out its first airstrikes in Syria in nearly a month, saying it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel and holding interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible. 

Damascus said Israeli strikes caused "heavy human and material losses", reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party and stressing the need to end the presence of armed groups and establish state control in the south. 

Israel had not struck Syria since early May - a month marked by US President Donald Trump's meeting with Sharaa, the lifting of US sanctions, and direct Syrian-Israeli contacts to calm tensions, as reported by Reuters last week. 

Israel has bombed Syria frequently this year. Israel has also moved troops into areas of the southwest, where it has said it won't allow the new government's security forces to deploy. 

The projectiles Israel reported fired from Syria were the first since longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was toppled. The Israeli military said the two projectiles fell in open areas. 

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he held the Syrian president "directly responsible for any threat and fire toward the State of Israel". 

A Syrian Foreign Ministry statement said the accuracy of the reports of shelling towards Israel had not yet been verified. 

"We believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilize the region to achieve their own interests," the Syrian Foreign Ministry added, as reported by the state news agency. 

A Syrian official told Reuters such parties included "remnants of Assad-era militias linked to Iran, which have long been active in the Quneitra area" and have "a vested interest in provoking Israeli retaliation as a means of escalating tensions and undermining current stabilization efforts". 

Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets circulated a claim of responsibility from a little-known group named "Martyr Mohammed Deif Brigades," an apparent reference to Hamas' military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024. 

Reuters could not independently verify the statement. 

The Syrian state news agency and security sources reported Israeli strikes targeting sites in the Damascus countryside and Quneitra and Daraa provinces. 

Local residents contacted by Reuters said Israeli shelling targeted agricultural areas in the Wadi Yarmouk region. They described increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli incursions into villages, where residents have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops. 

An Israeli strike also hit a former Syrian army base near the city of Izraa, a Syrian source said. 

Israel has said its goals in Syria include protecting the Druze, a religious minority with followers in both countries. 

Israel, which has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Middle East war, bombed Syria frequently during the last decade of Assad's rule, targeting the sway of his Iranian allies. 

The newly-appointed US envoy to Syria said last week he believed peace between Syria and Israel was achievable. 

Around the same time that Israel reported the projectiles from Syria, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile from Yemen. 

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they targeted Israel's Jaffa with a ballistic missile. The group says it has been launching attacks against Israel in support of Palestinians during the Israeli war in Gaza. 



Yemen Foils Houthi Plot to Assassinate UN Envoy Grundberg

UN Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg in a previous briefing to the Security Council (AFP)
UN Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg in a previous briefing to the Security Council (AFP)
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Yemen Foils Houthi Plot to Assassinate UN Envoy Grundberg

UN Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg in a previous briefing to the Security Council (AFP)
UN Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg in a previous briefing to the Security Council (AFP)

The Yemeni government has revealed it recently thwarted a plot by the Houthi militia to assassinate UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg. The operation was reportedly planned by a Houthi cell described as one of the most dangerous assassination networks operating in liberated areas, according to Yemen’s official news agency (SABA).

Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, stated that the plot was intended to create chaos in government-controlled regions and cast doubt on the state’s ability to provide security.

Grundberg, a Swedish diplomat, has served as the UN’s Special Envoy to Yemen since August 2021, following the tenure of Martin Griffiths of the UK.

Speaking during a meeting in Aden with the head of the European delegation to Yemen and several EU ambassadors, Al-Alimi said that Yemeni intelligence had uncovered a Houthi cell responsible for the killing of a World Food Programme staff member in Taiz, as well as other attacks on activists, journalists, and civilians.

He claimed the same group was preparing to target Grundberg as part of a broader effort to destabilize liberated provinces.

Asharq Al-Awsat reached out to the UN Envoy’s office for comment on the alleged plot and whether any additional security measures had been taken, but received no response at the time of publication.

Al-Alimi also briefed European diplomats on Yemen’s worsening economic crisis, aggravated by Houthi attacks on oil infrastructure and shipping.

“This is not only a military war, but also an economic battle to protect millions of livelihoods,” he said.

Since Houthi strikes halted oil exports, Yemen has lost nearly 70% of its public revenue. The government is now working to make up for this through domestic sources.

He warned that the Houthis continue to wage economic war by printing unauthorized currency and deepening financial divisions.

“This is a calculated attempt to collapse the economy,” Al-Alimi said, describing the group as a transnational threat involved in assassinations, smuggling, and hostage-taking.

He urged the EU to designate the Houthis as a terrorist group and adopt firm measures to isolate them as an armed entity operating outside international law.