عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

2 Soldiers Killed, Others Wounded in Israeli Strikes on Syria

An air strike is seen in the sky is seen in Damascus, Syria, in this handout released by SANA on February 24, 2020. (SANA via Reuters)
An air strike is seen in the sky is seen in Damascus, Syria, in this handout released by SANA on February 24, 2020. (SANA via Reuters)
TT
TT

2 Soldiers Killed, Others Wounded in Israeli Strikes on Syria

An air strike is seen in the sky is seen in Damascus, Syria, in this handout released by SANA on February 24, 2020. (SANA via Reuters)
An air strike is seen in the sky is seen in Damascus, Syria, in this handout released by SANA on February 24, 2020. (SANA via Reuters)

Two soldiers were killed and four wounded in Israeli strikes on southern, central and eastern Syria, said the Syrian army on Tuesday in what military defectors and intelligence sources said was a wave of raids that targeted Iranian bases.

The army said Israeli jets hit an army outpost in Salamiya and another in Sabura towns in Hama province only hours after missiles struck other military installations in Deir Ezzour province along the border with Iraq and in southern Syria near the border with Jordan.

Earlier an army statement said several attacks occurred simultaneously, one at a military outpost in Kabajib, east of Deir Ezzour and in the vicinity of the town of Sukhna in the nearby eastern desert. A third strike hit a military installation farther south in the town of Salkhad, near the southern city of Sweida.

The bases are in zones in eastern and southern Syria which Israel had hit in recent months and which are believed to have a strong presence of Iranian-backed militias, reported Reuters.

A senior Syrian military defector and a regional intelligence source said an Iranian arms depot near the city of Salamiya was set on fire after it was repeatedly bombed while a command center in the town of Sabura run by Iranian militias was also severely damaged.

The Israeli army declined to comment.

Regional intelligence sources say Israel’s strikes on Syria are part of a shadow war approved by Washington and part of the anti-Iran policy that has undermined in the last two years Iran’s extensive military power without triggering a major increase in hostilities.

Israel has acknowledged conducting many raids inside Syria since the start of the war in 2011. Israeli defense officials have said in recent weeks Israel would step up its campaign against Iran in Syria where, with the help of its proxy militias, Tehran has expanded its presence.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Nearly 30% of Syrians Want to Go Home, up from Almost Zero, UN Refugee Chief Says

This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's de factor leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) receiving United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi (L) in Damascus on January 25, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's de factor leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) receiving United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi (L) in Damascus on January 25, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
TT
TT

Nearly 30% of Syrians Want to Go Home, up from Almost Zero, UN Refugee Chief Says

This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's de factor leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) receiving United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi (L) in Damascus on January 25, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's de factor leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) receiving United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi (L) in Damascus on January 25, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

Almost 30% of the millions of Syrian refugees living in Middle Eastern countries want to return home in the next year, following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, up from almost none last year, the head of the UN's refugee agency said.

The shift is based on an assessment done by the UN in January, weeks after Assad was ousted by opposition factions, bringing an abrupt end to a 13-year civil war that had created one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times.

"We have seen the needle move, finally, after years of decline," Filippo Grandi told a small group of reporters in Damascus, after holding meetings with the Syria's new ruling administration.

The number of Syrians wishing to return "had reached almost zero. It's now nearly 30% in the space of a few weeks. There is a message there, which I think is very important, must be listened to and must be acted upon," he said.

Around 200,000 Syrian refugees have already returned since Assad fell, he said, in addition to around 300,000 who fled back to Syria from Lebanon during the Hezbollah-Israel war in September and October, most of whom are thought to have stayed.

Returning the roughly 6 million Syrians who fled abroad and the millions who became internally displaced has been a main aim of Syria's new administration.

But the civil war has left large parts of many major cities in ruins, services decrepit and the vast majority of the population living in poverty. Syria remains under a harsh Western sanctions regime that effectively cuts off its formal economy from the rest of the world.

To aid Syrians returning, many of whom often sell all their belongings to pay for the trip, UN agencies are providing some cash aid for transportation and will help with food and to reconstruct at least parts of broken homes, Grandi said.

More aid is needed from donors, Grandi said, and sanctions should be reconsidered. He did not comment directly on an announcement on Friday by the new US administration of a broad suspension of foreign aid programs.

"If sanctions are lifted, this will improve the conditions in the places where people return," he said.

The US earlier this month provided a six-month sanctions exemption for some sectors, including energy, but Syria's new leaders say much more relief is needed.

Grandi said refugees were responding to a political process that the new administration's leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has committed to, aimed at producing a governing authority by March 1 that better represents Syria's diversity.

"Refugees are listening to what he's saying, to what his people are saying, and that's why I think many people decided to go back," Grandi said. "But many more will come if these things continue to be positive."