Israel Attacks ‘Iranian Arms Supply Line’ Near Damascus

An Israeli F-15  fighter jet takes off during an air show at the graduation ceremony of Israeli air force pilots at the Hatzerim base in the Negev desert, near the southern Israeli city of Beersheva on December 26, 2013. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ
An Israeli F-15 fighter jet takes off during an air show at the graduation ceremony of Israeli air force pilots at the Hatzerim base in the Negev desert, near the southern Israeli city of Beersheva on December 26, 2013. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ
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Israel Attacks ‘Iranian Arms Supply Line’ Near Damascus

An Israeli F-15  fighter jet takes off during an air show at the graduation ceremony of Israeli air force pilots at the Hatzerim base in the Negev desert, near the southern Israeli city of Beersheva on December 26, 2013. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ
An Israeli F-15 fighter jet takes off during an air show at the graduation ceremony of Israeli air force pilots at the Hatzerim base in the Negev desert, near the southern Israeli city of Beersheva on December 26, 2013. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ

The Israeli army has carried out air strikes and fired rockets at an army base in Al-Qutayfah, northeast of the Syrian capital of Damascus, targeting the “Iranian arms supply line.”

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Israeli air strikes targeted early Tuesday positions for regime forces in Al-Qutayfah area and Lebanon’s “Hezbollah” weapons depot, igniting "successive explosions and fires, and causing material damage.”

Israel had earlier pledged to prevent using the Syrian territories for building Iranian bases or transfer advanced arms to “Hezbollah.”

The Syrian Army later said in a statement broadcast on state television that "at approximately 2:40 am, the Israeli Air Force fired a number of missiles over Syrian territory at Al Qutayfah, in the suburbs of the capital, Damascus. Our air defense systems responded and hit one of the planes."

Asked about the airstrikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his country “has a long-standing policy to prevent the transfer of game-changing weapons to Hezbollah in Syrian territory.”

Ehile Syrian media outlets were busy reporting about the airstrike, head of Mossad Yossi Cohen said at a Treasury committee meeting Tuesday that his country's intelligence agency has “eyes, ears and even more” trained on developments in Iran.

Separately, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that a US Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft was detected cruising between Tartus and Hmeimim during a UAV attack on the Russian military facilities in Syria, which was carried out by terrorists.

A source from the Defense Ministry was quoted as saying that “in a strange coincidence, a US Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft was cruising for more than four hours over the Mediterranean Sea at an altitude of 7,000 meters during a UAV attack on the Russian military facilities in Syria.”

The Pentagon responded to the Russian reports.

“Any suggestion that US or coalition forces played a role in an attack on a Russian base is without any basis in fact and is utterly irresponsible,” Marine Maj Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman was quoted as saying.



Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
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Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)

A Syrian doctor who had practiced in Germany was sentenced to life in prison by a German court on Monday for crimes against humanity and war crimes after he was found guilty of torturing dissidents in Syria.

The 40-year-old, identified only as Alaa M. in accordance with German privacy laws, was found guilty of killing two people and torturing another eight during his time working in Syria as a doctor at a military hospital and detention center in Homs in 2011 and 2012.

The court said his crimes were part of a systematic attack against people protesting against then-President Bashar al-Assad that precipitated the country's civil war.

Assad was toppled in December. His government denied it tortured prisoners.

Alaa M. arrived in Germany in 2015, after fleeing to Germany among a large influx of Syrian refugees, and became one of roughly 10,000 Syrian medics who helped ease acute staff shortages in the country's healthcare system.

He was arrested in June 2020, and was handed a life sentence without parole, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt said in a statement.

The defendant had pleaded not guilty, saying he was the target of a conspiracy.

German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

They have targeted several former Syrian officials in similar cases in recent years.

The plaintiffs were supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

ECCHR lawyer Patrick Kroker called Monday's ruling "a further step towards a comprehensive reckoning with Assad's crimes".

Judges found that the doctor caused "considerable physical suffering" as a result of the torture inflicted on his victims, which included serious beatings, mistreating wounds and inflicting serious injury to the genitals of two prisoners, one of whom was a teenage boy.

Two patients died after he gave them lethal medication, the court statement said.

Monday's ruling can be appealed.