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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)
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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.

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Arab World

Kurdish-Led Forces Push Back Turkish-Backed Syrian Opposition Faction in Tense Offensive

This aerial view shows the area in the south of Syria's northern city of Manbij on December 21, 2024. (AFP)
This aerial view shows the area in the south of Syria's northern city of Manbij on December 21, 2024. (AFP)
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Kurdish-Led Forces Push Back Turkish-Backed Syrian Opposition Faction in Tense Offensive

This aerial view shows the area in the south of Syria's northern city of Manbij on December 21, 2024. (AFP)
This aerial view shows the area in the south of Syria's northern city of Manbij on December 21, 2024. (AFP)

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Tuesday they have launched a counter-offensive against the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army to take back areas near Syria’s northern border with Türkiye.

The SDF is Washington’s critical ally in Syria, targeting sleeper cells of the extremist ISIS group scattered across the country's east.

Since the fall of the totalitarian rule of Bashar Assad earlier this month, clashes have intensified between the US-backed group and the SNA, which captured the key city of Manbij and the areas surrounding it.

The intense weekslong clashes come at a time when Syria, battered by over a decade of war and economic misery, negotiates its political future following half a century under the Assad dynasty’s rule.

Ruken Jamal, spokesperson of the Women’s Protection Unit, or YPJ, under the SDF, told The Associated Press that their fighters are just over seven miles (11 kilometers) away from the center of Manbij in their ongoing counter-offensive.

She accused Ankara of trying to weaken the group’s influence in negotiations over Syria’s political future through the SNA,

“Syria is now in a new phase, and discussions are underway about the future of the country,” Jamal said. “Türkiye is trying, through its attacks, to distract us with battles and exclude us from the negotiations in Damascus.”

A Britain-based opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says since the SNA’s offensive in northern Syria against the Kurds started earlier this month, dozens from both sides have been killed.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on Tuesday with Turkish Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, according to Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder. He said they discussed the ongoing situation in Syria, and Austin emphasized that close and continuous coordination is crucial to a successful effort to counter ISIS in the country. They also discussed the importance of setting the conditions to enable a more secure and stable Syria.

Ankara sees the SDF as an affiliate of its sworn enemy, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which it classifies as a terrorist organization. Turkish-backed armed groups alongside Turkish jets for years have attacked positions where the SDF are largely present across northern Syria, in a bid to create a buffer zone free from the group along the large shared border.

While the SNA was involved in the lightning insurgency — led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — that toppled Assad, it has continued its push against the SDF, seen as Syria’s second key actor for its political future.

On Monday, the SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami said the group's forces pushed back the Turkish-backed opposition fighters from areas near the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates, a key source of hydroelectric power. He said the SDF also destroyed a tank belonging to the opposition southeast of Manbij.

The British-based war monitor said on Tuesday that the Kurdish-led group, following overnight fighting, has reclaimed four villages in the areas near the strategic dam.

Turkish jets also pounded the strategic border town of Kobani in recent days.

During Syria’s uprising-turned-conflict, the Kurds carved out an enclave of autonomous rule across northeastern Syria, never fully allying entirely with Assad in Damascus nor the opposition trying to overthrow him.

Even with the Assad family out of the picture, it appears that Ankara’s position won’t change, with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s landmark visit to Syria maintaining a strong position on the Kurdish-led group in his meeting with de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa of HTS.

“It has turned the region into a cauldron of terror with PKK members and far-left groups who have come from Türkiye, Iraq, Iran and Europe," Fidan said in a news conference after the meeting. “The international community is turning a blind eye to this lawlessness because of the wardenship it provides (against ISIS).”

With the ongoing fighting, SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi has expressed concern about a strong ISIS resurgence due to the power vacuum in Syria and the ongoing fighting, which has left the Kurdish-led group unable to carry out its attacks and raids on the extremist group’s scattered sleeper cells.

Tens of thousands of children, family members, and supporters of ISIS militants are still held in large detention centers in northeastern Syria, in areas under SDF control.