Turkey Rejects UAE Peace Agreement, Bids for Haifa Port

A general view of the deck of the US aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush, as it docks outside Haifa port, on July 3, 2017. (AFP Photo/AFP Photo and Pool/Ronen Zvulun)
A general view of the deck of the US aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush, as it docks outside Haifa port, on July 3, 2017. (AFP Photo/AFP Photo and Pool/Ronen Zvulun)
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Turkey Rejects UAE Peace Agreement, Bids for Haifa Port

A general view of the deck of the US aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush, as it docks outside Haifa port, on July 3, 2017. (AFP Photo/AFP Photo and Pool/Ronen Zvulun)
A general view of the deck of the US aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush, as it docks outside Haifa port, on July 3, 2017. (AFP Photo/AFP Photo and Pool/Ronen Zvulun)

A Turkish company is bidding to take over Israel’s Haifa port, competing with the United Arab Emirates on the move, sources in Tel Aviv said Friday.

The bid came at a time when Turkey has joined Qatar and Iran in their campaign against the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement that was signed in Washington on August 13 to normalize relations between the UAE and Israel.

The source said that the Yildirim Holding AS, which operates in partnership with an American company based in Istanbul, seeks to join a bid of at least $660 million for Israel’s largest seaport.

The decision came after reports that the Dubai based port operator, DPWorld, has announced it would partner with Israel’s DoverTower in a bid to take over Haifa port.

The port is being privatized with the Israeli government selling 100% of the shares in the Haifa Port Authority (HPC).

Israel decided to open the bid for selling the seaport, after the US has raised concerns about China’s interest in the port sale, and warned that Chinese “information and electronic surveillance systems jeopardize US information and cyber security.”

The Shanghai International Port Group has been interested in the port of Haifa although it has run into the opposition of Israeli longshoremen.

Washington threatened Israel that its American warships would boycott the Haifa port, which is considered a base for the US navy in the Mediterranean Sea. So the Israeli government withdrew from the agreement and began searching for a US company to buy the port or become a partner in the selling operation.



Israel Hits Rafah from the Air, Kills Dozens of Gunmen in Al-Shifa Hospital 

People search the rubble and debris of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment late the previous night in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 19, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
People search the rubble and debris of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment late the previous night in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 19, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Israel Hits Rafah from the Air, Kills Dozens of Gunmen in Al-Shifa Hospital 

People search the rubble and debris of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment late the previous night in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 19, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
People search the rubble and debris of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment late the previous night in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 19, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Israel killed 14 people in air strikes in Rafah on Tuesday in the refugee-clogged city on the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical officials said.

More than a million Palestinians displaced by the five-month-old Israeli assault elsewhere in the enclave have been sheltering in Rafah, which abuts Gaza's border with Egypt.

Israel says one-sixth of Hamas' combat strength - four battalions of the rifle- and rocket-wielding fighters - is in Rafah and must be crushed before the war can conclude. But the prospect of a spiraling civilian toll has raised alarm abroad.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the overnight strikes on several buildings in Rafah. Medics said the dead included three women and three children. The identities of the eight men killed were not immediately clear.

At least 31,819 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, the enclave's health ministry said. Israeli officials said their forces have killed around 14,000 Gaza combatants.

The Palestinians accused Israel of embarking on a "destruction" of Rafah.

"Israel has initiated its aggression without waiting for permission from anyone and without declaring it to avoid international reactions," the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said.

An Israeli air strike in Nusseirat, central Gaza, killed six people, Palestinian medics said. The military did not immediately comment but has previously said the area had two Hamas battalions which had yet to face a ground operation.

Another strike on a house in northern Gaza City killed 15 people, medics said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that but said a soldier was killed in fighting in the area, bringing its total combat losses in the war to 252.

Around 1,200 people were killed, and 253 kidnapped, by Hamas on Oct 7, according to Israeli tallies.

In Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, Shaban Abdel-Raouf, a father of five, hoped the Qatari-hosted talks between Israel and Hamas would yield a truce.

“We are looking forward to the good news from Qatar. Will it happen this time? Will they seal a deal? Over two million people in Gaza are praying they do,” Abdel-Raouf told Reuters via a messaging app.

Israeli forces killed more than 50 Palestinian gunmen and detained 180 suspected militants in a raid on Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, the army said on Tuesday.

The raid on Gaza's biggest hospital began before dawn on Monday, with the military accusing Hamas of using it to hide fighters and plan attacks. At least one soldier has been killed by Palestinian gunfire within the compound, the military said.


UN Rights Office: Israel's Restrictions to Gaza Aid May Amount to War Crime

Israeli soldiers on a tank on a position on the border with Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers on a tank on a position on the border with Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
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UN Rights Office: Israel's Restrictions to Gaza Aid May Amount to War Crime

Israeli soldiers on a tank on a position on the border with Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers on a tank on a position on the border with Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday that Israel's restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza could amount to a war crime.

"The extent of Israel's continued restrictions on entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime," said UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence.

Israel has denied obstructing the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

With the UN warning of imminent famine in Gaza, US President Joe Biden earlier this month ordered the US military to start airdrops of food into the enclave and has sent a temporary US port there to speed up delivery of maritime aid.

"In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine. We are in a state of famine... Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at a Brussels conference on aid for Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded that Borrell should "stop attacking Israel and recognize our right to self-defense against Hamas' crimes."


Optimism in Lebanon over Resumption of Investigations into Beirut Port Explosion

Aftermath of the blast at the port of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, on August 5, 2020. (Getty Images/AFP)
Aftermath of the blast at the port of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, on August 5, 2020. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Optimism in Lebanon over Resumption of Investigations into Beirut Port Explosion

Aftermath of the blast at the port of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, on August 5, 2020. (Getty Images/AFP)
Aftermath of the blast at the port of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, on August 5, 2020. (Getty Images/AFP)

Acting Cassation Public Prosecutor Judge Jamal Al-Hajjar is expected to discuss with Judge Tariq Bitar the resumption of the investigations into the 2020 Beirut Port blast, which have been halted for more than two years.

Visitors who met with Hajjar, who recently assumed his duties, reported that the judge has “a vision for resolving the legal obstacles that are hindering the work of the judicial investigator.”

Cooperation between the judicial investigator and the Cassation Public Prosecution had stopped since the beginning of February 2023, against the backdrop of the legal jurisprudence issued by Bitar, in which he stated that the judicial investigator “appointed to investigate a crime affecting state security cannot be dismissed.”

Following this decision, Bitar announced the resumption of his investigations, and issued a list of the names of other defendants, including former Cassation Public Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oweidat, and Cassation Public Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Al-Khoury, and set dates for their interrogation.

Oweidat quickly gave instructions to the judges and wrote to the Cassation Prosecutor’s office to stop dealing with Bitar permanently, and refrain from receiving any documents from him or carrying out his memos.

On Wednesday, Hajjar met with a delegation of the families of the victims of the port explosion, who expressed their fears of “attempts to silence the truth,” stressing that they were counting on his courage and how he ignores political pressure.

Sources who attended the meeting said the prosecutor promised the families of the victims that it is unacceptable for him to be the head of the Discriminatory Public Prosecution while the investigation remains frozen.

The sources added that Hajjar asked his visitors to be patient and trust his belief in their cause.

Hajjar met with Bitar days after he was appointed head of the Cassation Public Prosecution and assumed his duties. Informed sources said the meeting, which lasted over an hour, was “very positive”, signaling a new phase of cooperation between the general prosecution and judicial investigator.


Biden Summons Israeli Team in Bid to Avoid Rafah Assault 

Palestinians inspect the damage to a house after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians inspect the damage to a house after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP)
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Biden Summons Israeli Team in Bid to Avoid Rafah Assault 

Palestinians inspect the damage to a house after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians inspect the damage to a house after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP)

US President Joe Biden said Monday he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to send a team to Washington to discuss how to avoid an all-out assault in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The move is one of the clearest attempts yet by Biden to rein in the key US ally, amid fears that the already huge death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza could be drastically worsened by a full attack on Rafah.

The White House said separately that Israel had killed one of Hamas's top commanders in a strike in Gaza.

"I asked the Prime Minister to send a team to Washington to discuss ways to target Hamas without a major ground operation in Rafah," Biden said on X after speaking to Netanyahu for the first time in more than a month.

Biden also "reiterated the need for an immediate ceasefire as part of a deal to free hostages, lasting several weeks, so we can get hostages home and surge aid to civilians in Gaza."

Roughly 1.5 million people are sheltering in Rafah, most of them displaced by Israel's relentless assault on other parts of Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

The White House earlier said Biden had warned Netanyahu that an offensive on Rafah would be a "mistake", in their first call since February 15.

"A major ground operation there would be a mistake," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.

"It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza, and further isolate Israel internationally."

Netanyahu agreed to send a team of senior Israeli officials to Washington in coming days to discuss "alternative approaches that would target key elements of Hamas", he added.

Sullivan separately confirmed that Israel had killed Hamas's third-in-command, Marwan Issa, in an operation last week. Israel previously said he had been targeted in a Gaza airstrike but did not confirm his death.

'Threat to Israel'

Biden has supported Israel since the October 7 attacks, sending billions of dollars in military aid, but has become increasingly frustrated by Netanyahu's failure to curb civilian deaths or let in vital aid.

The US president also faces growing political pressure at home, with opposition among Arab-Americans and young voters posing a risk to his reelection chances in November.

Netanyahu said in a statement after the Biden call that he had reiterated "Israel's commitment to achieving all of the war's objectives."

He cited the objectives as eliminating Hamas, winning the release of all hostages held by the group and "ensuring that Gaza will never present a threat to Israel."

He also pointed to the provision of "essential humanitarian aid that helps achieve these aims."

Biden was caught on a hot mic just over a week ago saying he would have a "come-to-Jesus meeting" with Netanyahu.

He also praised a "good speech" last week by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for new elections in Israel.

With the UN warning of imminent famine in Gaza, Biden earlier this month ordered the US military to start airdrops of food into the enclave and has sent a temporary US port there to speed up delivery of maritime aid.

Israel began relentless bombardment in Gaza, alongside a ground offensive, after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack, which left about 1,160 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

The fighters also seized hostages, around 130 of whom Israel believes remain in Gaza, including 33 presumed dead.

Nearly 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.


Incoming Palestinian PM Lays Out Plans for Reform but Faces Major Obstacles

A Palestinian woman walks near a mural depicting Palestinian leader and Fatah founder Yasser Arafat painted on a section of the separation barrier between the West Bank and Israel, near the Israeli checkpoint of Qalandia, between the West Bank and Jerusalem, 15 March 2024.  EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
A Palestinian woman walks near a mural depicting Palestinian leader and Fatah founder Yasser Arafat painted on a section of the separation barrier between the West Bank and Israel, near the Israeli checkpoint of Qalandia, between the West Bank and Jerusalem, 15 March 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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Incoming Palestinian PM Lays Out Plans for Reform but Faces Major Obstacles

A Palestinian woman walks near a mural depicting Palestinian leader and Fatah founder Yasser Arafat painted on a section of the separation barrier between the West Bank and Israel, near the Israeli checkpoint of Qalandia, between the West Bank and Jerusalem, 15 March 2024.  EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
A Palestinian woman walks near a mural depicting Palestinian leader and Fatah founder Yasser Arafat painted on a section of the separation barrier between the West Bank and Israel, near the Israeli checkpoint of Qalandia, between the West Bank and Jerusalem, 15 March 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

The incoming Palestinian prime minister said on Tuesday that he will appoint a technocratic government and establish an independent trust fund to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction.
In a mission statement acquired by The Associated Press, Mohammad Mustafa laid out wide-ranging plans for the kind of revitalized Palestinian Authority called for by the United States as part of its postwar vision for resolving the conflict.
But the PA has no power in Gaza, from which Hamas drove its forces in 2007, and only limited authority in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out any return of the PA to Gaza and his government is staunchly opposed to Palestinian statehood.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas designated Mustafa as prime minister last week. The US-educated economist and longtime adviser to Abbas is an independent with no political base.
In the mission statement, Mustafa said he would appoint a “non-partisan, technocratic government that can gain both the trust of our people and the support of the international community.” He promised wide-ranging reforms of PA institutions and a “zero tolerance” policy toward corruption.
He said he would seek to reunify the territories and create an “independent, competent and transparent agency for Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction and an internationally managed trust fund to raise, manage and disburse the required funds."
The vision statement made no mention of Hamas, which won a landslide victory the last time Palestinians held national elections, in 2006, and which polls indicate still has significant support.
The 88-year-old Abbas, who is in overall control of the PA, has remained in power since his own mandate expired in 2009 and has refused to hold elections, citing Israeli restrictions. Polls consistently find that a large majority of Palestinians want him to resign.
Mustafa said the PA aims to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, but he did not give a timetable and said it would depend on “realities on the ground” in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war that the Palestinians want for their future state.
In 2021, Abbas blamed Israeli restrictions in annexed east Jerusalem for his decision to indefinitely delay elections in which his secular Fatah party was expected to suffer major losses.


31,819 Palestinians Killed in Israel's Gaza Offensive Since Oct. 7

Palestinians inspect the damage to a house after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Palestinians inspect the damage to a house after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
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31,819 Palestinians Killed in Israel's Gaza Offensive Since Oct. 7

Palestinians inspect the damage to a house after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Palestinians inspect the damage to a house after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

At least 31,819 Palestinians have been killed and 73,934 injured since Oct. 7 in Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip, the enclave's health ministry said on Tuesday.

Some 93 Palestinians were killed and 142 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

Meanwhile, a report on Monday said that famine is imminent in northern Gaza, where 70% of people are experiencing catastrophic hunger.

The report, by the international community’s authority on determining the severity of hunger crises, warned escalation of the war could push half of Gaza's total population to the brink of starvation.

It came as Israel faces mounting pressure from even its closest allies to streamline the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and to open more land crossings. Aid groups complain that deliveries by air and sea by the United States and other countries are too slow and too small.

The latest findings on hunger in Gaza came from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, an initiative first set up in 2004 during the famine in Somalia that now includes more than a dozen UN agencies, aid groups, governments and other bodies to determine the severity of food insecurity.


Tunisia Closes Crossing with Libya Amid Clashes on Libyan Side, State Radio Says 

Vehicles are seen at the Ras Jdir border crossing with Libya. (Libya’s Government of National Unity's Interior Ministry file photo)
Vehicles are seen at the Ras Jdir border crossing with Libya. (Libya’s Government of National Unity's Interior Ministry file photo)
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Tunisia Closes Crossing with Libya Amid Clashes on Libyan Side, State Radio Says 

Vehicles are seen at the Ras Jdir border crossing with Libya. (Libya’s Government of National Unity's Interior Ministry file photo)
Vehicles are seen at the Ras Jdir border crossing with Libya. (Libya’s Government of National Unity's Interior Ministry file photo)

Tunisia temporarily closed the Ras Jdir border crossing with Libya for security reasons amid armed clashes on the Libyan side, Tunisian state media said late on Monday.

Video footage has been circulated on social media showing a burning vehicle at Ras Jdir, accompanied by the sound of shooting and people running.

The interior ministry of the government of national unity in Tripoli was not immediately available for comment.

The ministry said on Sunday that it had deployed law enforcement to take control of the crossing to “combat smuggling and control security violations in order to maintain security and manage the movement of passengers between Libya and Tunisia”.

Tunisian Tataouine Radio said that Tunisia closed the crossing to preserve the safety of citizens going to Libya. Stranded people from the Libyan side were allowed to enter before the crossing closed.

Libya has had little peace since a 2011 uprising, and it split in 2014 between eastern and western factions, with rival administrations governing each area.


Egypt Stresses Rejection of External Interference that Hinders Solution to Sudanese Crisis

Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry meets US special envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello in Cairo. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry meets US special envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello in Cairo. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
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Egypt Stresses Rejection of External Interference that Hinders Solution to Sudanese Crisis

Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry meets US special envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello in Cairo. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry meets US special envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello in Cairo. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stressed the importance of dealing with the conflict in Sudan as a “purely Sudanese matter,” rejecting the interference of any external parties in the crisis that “hinders efforts to contain it.”

He made his remarks on Monday during a meeting with the US special envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, who is visiting Cairo as part of a regional tour aimed at discussing means to end the crisis in Sudan, according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Shoukry briefed the newly appointed envoy on Egyptian contacts with the various Sudanese parties, and the diplomatic efforts the country has made with international and regional powers and UN and international organizations on the need to stop the escalation, reach a sustainable ceasefire agreement, and preserve the cohesion of the state and Sudan’s social fabric.

Egypt has also urged the international community to provide immediate humanitarian and medical assistance to meet the needs of the Sudanese people, according to the foreign minister.

Shoukry stressed that any future political process must include all active national actors on the Sudanese internal scene, provided that it takes place within the framework of the principles of respecting Sudan’s sovereignty, the unity and integrity of its territory, non-interference in its internal affairs, preserving the state and its institutions, and preventing its disintegration.

The Foreign Ministry statement quoted the US envoy as highlighting the importance of Egypt’s influence in the region, and the centrality of its role in any future solution to the Sudanese crisis.

The two sides agreed to maintain consultation and coordination between their countries during the next stage.


US Military Says It Destroys Houthi Missiles and Drones

Newly recruited Houthi members take part in a parade amid tensions with the US-led coalition in the Red Sea, in Sanaa, Yemen, 09 March 2024. (EPA)
Newly recruited Houthi members take part in a parade amid tensions with the US-led coalition in the Red Sea, in Sanaa, Yemen, 09 March 2024. (EPA)
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US Military Says It Destroys Houthi Missiles and Drones

Newly recruited Houthi members take part in a parade amid tensions with the US-led coalition in the Red Sea, in Sanaa, Yemen, 09 March 2024. (EPA)
Newly recruited Houthi members take part in a parade amid tensions with the US-led coalition in the Red Sea, in Sanaa, Yemen, 09 March 2024. (EPA)

The US military said on Monday it destroyed seven anti-ship missiles, three drones and three weapons storage containers in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in self-defense.

"It was determined these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region," the US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on the social media site X.

"These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US Navy and merchant vessels," it stressed.

The Iran-backed Houthi militias have attacked ships since November, saying they want to force Israel to end its war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas.

The ships targeted by the Houthis, however, largely have had little or no connection to Israel, the US or other nations involved in the war. The militias have also fired missiles toward Israel, though they have largely fallen short or been intercepted.


Israeli Airstrikes Target Damascus Countryside, Syria Says 

Smoke rises from a past Israeli strike on the Damascus suburbs. (Reuters file photo)
Smoke rises from a past Israeli strike on the Damascus suburbs. (Reuters file photo)
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Israeli Airstrikes Target Damascus Countryside, Syria Says 

Smoke rises from a past Israeli strike on the Damascus suburbs. (Reuters file photo)
Smoke rises from a past Israeli strike on the Damascus suburbs. (Reuters file photo)

Israel early on Tuesday launched missiles at several military targets outside the Syrian capital Damascus resulting in some "material damage," Syria's defense ministry said.

Syrian air defenses intercepted Israeli "missiles and shot down some of them," the ministry added in a statement.

Iran has been a major backer of President Bashar al-Assad during Syria's nearly 12-year-old conflict. Its support for Damascus and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Tehran's extraterritorial military power.

Those strikes have ramped up in line with flaring regional tensions since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, with more than half a dozen Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers killed in suspected Israeli strikes on Syria since December.

As a result, the Guards have scaled back deployment of their senior officers in Syria and have planned to rely more on allied Shiite militia to preserve their sway there, Reuters reported in February.