Israel Joins Russia in Attacking ISIS in Golan

A picture taken on July 25, 2018, from the Tal Saki hill in the Golan Heights shows smoke rising above buildings across the border in Syria during airstrikes backing a Syrian-regime-led offensive in the southern province of Quneitra. (AFP/JALAA MAREY)
A picture taken on July 25, 2018, from the Tal Saki hill in the Golan Heights shows smoke rising above buildings across the border in Syria during airstrikes backing a Syrian-regime-led offensive in the southern province of Quneitra. (AFP/JALAA MAREY)
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Israel Joins Russia in Attacking ISIS in Golan

A picture taken on July 25, 2018, from the Tal Saki hill in the Golan Heights shows smoke rising above buildings across the border in Syria during airstrikes backing a Syrian-regime-led offensive in the southern province of Quneitra. (AFP/JALAA MAREY)
A picture taken on July 25, 2018, from the Tal Saki hill in the Golan Heights shows smoke rising above buildings across the border in Syria during airstrikes backing a Syrian-regime-led offensive in the southern province of Quneitra. (AFP/JALAA MAREY)

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Thursday that dozens of ISIS members were killed and their rocket launchers destroyed in an Israeli strike on their bases in the Golan Heights a day earlier.

This is the first time Moscow reveals details about a military operation conducted by the Israeli army on Syrian territories.

“A precision strike by jets and Israeli artillery destroyed ISIS terrorists and their rocket launchers,” the Russian ministry said.

The announcement came following reports of Russian resentment after Israel shot down a Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet, which Damascus had said was conducting military operations against ISIS positions in the province of Quneitra.

Meanwhile, political and security leaders in Lebanon mobilized to hold talks with a visiting Russian diplomatic and military delegation in charge of following up the issue of the Syrian refugees.

The Russian delegation, headed by the Special Presidential Envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev, arrived in Beirut on Thursday.

The first outcome of his visit was the establishment of a specialized tripartite committee representing Lebanon, Syria and Russia to coordinate a plan for the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland through Syrian regime guarantees.

Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s General Security, in addition to others would most likely represent Lebanon in the committee while Syria would be represented by head of the country’s National Security Agency Ali Mamlouk.

After meeting the Russian delegation at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, President Michel Aoun said Lebanon was ready to provide the necessary assistance to implement the Russian proposal for the return of the displaced Syrians.

For his part, Lavrentiev said that the Russian delegation discussed with the Lebanese officials the situation in the region, particularly in Syria, and its impact on the neighboring countries including Lebanon.

He said the Syrian regime was not able to provide much financial help to returnees and urged foreign donors to provide assistance, adding that the issue should not be politicized.

Lavrentiev described the delegation's talks with the Lebanese officials as "constructive and fruitful," noting that the total number of all Syrian refugees around the world is around 6.5 million, according to UN statistics.

The same delegation also met with PM-designate Saad Hariri and discussions focused on the proposals regarding the upcoming plan for the return of the displaced Syrians.

Meanwhile, head of the Syrian regime Bashar Assad told Russian media on Thursday that his regime's next priority would be retaking Idlib province.

Assad told the Tass news agency that rescue workers from the White Helmets group would be killed if they did not turn themselves in.

"Either they can lay down their arms as part of an amnesty ongoing for four or five years, or they will be liquidated like any other terrorist," he said.



Israel Halts Aid, Official Says, as Gazan Clans Deny Hamas is Stealing It

Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Halts Aid, Official Says, as Gazan Clans Deny Hamas is Stealing It

Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)

Israel has halted aid supplies to Gaza for two days to prevent them being seized by Hamas, an official said on Thursday after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks whom clan leaders said were protecting aid, not diverting it to the militants.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz, said late on Wednesday that he had ordered the military to present a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from taking control of aid.

The decision was made after Netanyahu and Katz cited new information indicating that Hamas was seizing aid intended for civilians in northern Gaza. The statement did not disclose the information but a video circulating on Wednesday showed dozens of masked men, some armed with rifles but most carrying sticks, riding on aid trucks

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that aid deliveries had been temporarily suspended for two days to allow the military time to develop a new plan.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli prime minister's office, the defense ministry or the Israeli military.

The Higher Commission for Tribal Affairs, which represents influential clans in the territory, said that trucks had been protected as part of an aid security process managed "solely through tribal efforts". The commission said that no Palestinian faction, a reference to Hamas, had taken part in the process.

Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza for more than two decades but now controls only parts of the territory after nearly two years of war with Israel, denied any involvement.

Throughout the war, numerous clans, civil society groups and factions - including Hamas' secular political rival Fatah - have stepped in to help provide security for the aid convoys.

Clans made up of extended families connected through blood and marriage have long been a fundamental part of Gazan society.

ACUTE SHORTAGE

Amjad al-Shawa, director of an umbrella body for Palestinian non-governmental organisations, said the aid protected by clans on Wednesday was being distributed to vulnerable families.

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza's two million inhabitants.

Aid trucks and warehouses storing supplies have often been looted, frequently by desperate and starving Palestinians. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies.

"The clans came ... to form a stance to prevent the aggressors and the thieves from stealing the food that belongs to our people," Abu Salman Al Moghani, a representative of Gazan clans, said, referring to Wednesday's operation.

The Wednesday video was shared on X by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who claimed that Hamas had taken control of aid allowed into Gaza by the Israeli government. Bennett is widely seen as the most viable challenger to Netanyahu at the next election.

Netanyahu has also faced pressure from within his right-wing coalition, with some hardline members threatening to quit over ceasefire negotiations and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The war began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

In response, Israel launched a military campaign that has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to local health authorities in Gaza.

At least 103 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire over the past 24 hours, local health authorities said, including some shot near an aid distribution point, the latest in a series of such incidents. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Twenty hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, while Hamas is also holding the bodies of 30 who have died.