IRGC Fired Rockets From Syria but Fell Short: Israel Army

Israel's Iron Dome defense system is designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells | AFP
Israel's Iron Dome defense system is designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells | AFP
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IRGC Fired Rockets From Syria but Fell Short: Israel Army

Israel's Iron Dome defense system is designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells | AFP
Israel's Iron Dome defense system is designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells | AFP

Iranian-backed Shiite militias fired rockets at Israel from Syria on Monday but they fell short, the Israeli military said.

“A number of rockets were launched by Shi’ite militias operating under the command of the Iranian Quds Force from Syrian territory near Damascus,” the military said, referring to the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

“All failed to hit Israeli territory.”

The statement came after overnight airstrikes in Syria hit positions of pro-Iranian forces in eastern Syria overnight, killing 18 fighters, according to a war monitor.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights did not immediately identify who carried out the strikes.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in neighboring Syria against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets, but rarely acknowledges them.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Israel was behind the latest strikes.

Israel has vowed to prevent Iran, its main enemy, from entrenching itself militarily in Syria.

Iran, its allied militias and Russia have backed Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in the country's devastating eight-year civil war.



Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday said that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after the overthrow of President Bashar sl-Assad as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country.

Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's nearly 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising against his family's decades-long rule. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in an address on Sunday that the “young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall.

“What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," Khamenei said. “God willing, he will overcome them.”

He accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government in order to seize resources, saying: “Now they feel victory, the Americans, the Zionist regime and those who accompanied them.”

Iran and its armed proxies in the region have suffered a series of major setbacks over the past year, with Israel battering Hamas in Gaza and landing heavy blows on Hezbollah before they agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon last month.

Khamenei denied that such groups were proxies of Iran, saying they fought because of their own beliefs and that Tehran did not depend on them. “If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force,” he said.