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Syrian Former Defense Minister Passes Away

Syrian Former Defense Minister Ali Habib pictured while Chief of General Staff of the Syrian Army [Getty]
Syrian Former Defense Minister Ali Habib pictured while Chief of General Staff of the Syrian Army [Getty]
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Syrian Former Defense Minister Passes Away

Syrian Former Defense Minister Ali Habib pictured while Chief of General Staff of the Syrian Army [Getty]
Syrian Former Defense Minister Ali Habib pictured while Chief of General Staff of the Syrian Army [Getty]

Syrian Former Defense Minister Ali Habib passed away Friday morning at the Al Assad University Hospital in Damascus at the age of 81.

His body was returned to his hometown near the city of Tartus, the official statement said.

Born in 1939, Habib graduated from the military academy in 1962.

During the 2nd Gulf War, he served as Chief of General Staff of Syrian armed forces 1990-1991. Then in 1993, he became the commander of the Special Forces.

Prior to his retirement, Mahmoud served as the Chief-of-Staff of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) from 2004 to 2009 and Syrian Minister of Defense from 2009 to 2011. Rumors say that he tried to resist the decision to use the army to crush Syrian protesters.

His name was proposed several times as a prominent figure in shaping the political transition in the country.

Notably, Habib commanded the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanese Bekaa against Israeli forces in 1982.

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Israel Army Chief Says Will Use 'All Tools' to Find West Bank Attackers

Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli army Eyal Zamir attends the official state opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day in Israel, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, 23 April 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli army Eyal Zamir attends the official state opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day in Israel, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, 23 April 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
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Israel Army Chief Says Will Use 'All Tools' to Find West Bank Attackers

Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli army Eyal Zamir attends the official state opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day in Israel, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, 23 April 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli army Eyal Zamir attends the official state opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day in Israel, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, 23 April 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN

Israel's military will use "all the tools" at its disposal to find the perpetrators of a West Bank attack that left a pregnant Israeli woman dead, army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said Thursday.

"We will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable," Zamir said as he visited the scene of the attack on the woman's vehicle in the north of the occupied West Bank.

"After struggling to save the life of the woman who was critically injured in the shooting attack in Samaria and arrived during resuscitation, the medical teams were forced to pronounce her dead," Beilinson Hospital said in a statement, using the biblical name to refer to the West Bank.

It added that the baby was delivered via caesarean section and transferred to another hospital.