Israel Responds to New Rocket Fire, Strikes Several Targets in Gaza

A member of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas inspects the scene of an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip October 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A member of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas inspects the scene of an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip October 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Israel Responds to New Rocket Fire, Strikes Several Targets in Gaza

A member of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas inspects the scene of an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip October 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A member of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas inspects the scene of an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip October 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Israel said its military struck targets in Gaza that include a weapons manufacturing site, after six rockets were fired from the territory early Friday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage on either side.

In recent weeks, Israel and Hamas have traded fire on a number of occasions and Hamas has launched a wave of incendiary balloons across the frontier that have torched wide swathes of farmland.

Hamas is pressing Israel to ease its blockade on Gaza and allow large-scale development projects, while Egypt is trying to shore up an informal cease-fire.

Those efforts have grown more urgent in recent days as authorities in Gaza have detected the first cases of local transmission of the coronavirus, The Associated Press reported.

Hamas has imposed a lockdown in the coastal territory bordering Israel and Egypt, which is home to 2 million Palestinians.

Bassem Naim, a Hamas official, warned of further escalation, saying the "catastrophic conditions the Gaza Strip is experiencing are unprecedented."

He said the situation could lead to an "explosion in which things get out of control."



Syria Arrests Assad-era Officer Accused of 'War Crimes'

Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
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Syria Arrests Assad-era Officer Accused of 'War Crimes'

Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)

Syrian authorities said Tuesday they had arrested a former officer in the feared security apparatus of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, the latest such announcement as the new government pursues ex-officials accused of atrocities.

The interior ministry announced in a statement that security forces in the coastal province of Latakia had arrested the "criminal brigadier-general Sultan al-Tinawi", saying he was a key officer in the air force intelligence, one of the Assad family's most trusted security agencies.

The statement accused Tinawi of involvement in "committing war crimes against civilians, including a massacre" in the Damascus countryside in 2016.

It said he was responsible for "coordinating between the leadership of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and a number of sectarian groups in Syria".

Tinawi has been referred to the public prosecution for further investigation, the statement said.

A security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that Tinawi held senior administrative positions in the air force intelligence when Jamil Hassan was head of the notorious agency.

Hassan has been sentenced in absentia in France for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, while the United States has accused him of "war crimes", including overseeing barrel bomb attacks on Syrian people that killed thousands of civilians.

Tinawi had been "head of the information branch of the air force intelligence" before Assad's ouster late last year, the security source told AFP, describing the branch as "one of the most powerful and secret security agencies in the country".

Since taking power in December, Syria's new authorities have announced a number of arrests of Assad-era security officials.

Assad fled to Moscow with only a handful of confidants, abandoning senior officials and security officers, some of whom have reportedly fled to neighboring countries or taken refuge in the coastal heartland of Assad's Alawite minority community.