Several Killed in Israeli Airstrikes on Quds Force, Syrian Army Targets

AP file photo of an Israeli warplane
AP file photo of an Israeli warplane
TT

Several Killed in Israeli Airstrikes on Quds Force, Syrian Army Targets

AP file photo of an Israeli warplane
AP file photo of an Israeli warplane

Israel launched airstrikes on Syria Wednesday, killing three troops and hitting Iranian targets in what the Israeli army called a retaliatory attack after it found explosive devices along its northern border.

A Syrian war monitoring group said the strikes killed 10, including the three Syrian soldiers and at least five Iranians.

An Israeli military statement said its fighter jets hit "military targets belonging to the Iranian Quds force and the Syrian Armed Forces," in overnight strikes.

The targets included "storage facilities, headquarters and military compounds" as well as "Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries", according to an army statement.

Syrian state news agency SANA said the strikes killed three of its soldiers and injured another.

On Tuesday, Israel's military said it had discovered improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on its side of a border crossing point with Syria.

Israel and Syria have a border along the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six Day War.

According to the Israeli military statement, the IEDs "were placed by a Syrian squad led by Iranian forces."

Israel's army said it "holds the Syrian regime responsible for all the actions perpetrated from its territory and will continue to operate as necessary against the Iranian entrenchment in Syria."

The airstrikes came hours before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to land in Israel for talks including on Iran, in what is likely to be his last visit to the staunch American ally before President Donald Trump leaves office.

Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran has included sanctions and scrapping of the nuclear deal agreed between Tehran and world powers during Barack Obama's presidency.



Lebanon Hopes for Neighborly Relations in First Message to New Syria Government

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon Hopes for Neighborly Relations in First Message to New Syria Government

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Lebanon said on Thursday it was looking forward to having the best neighborly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus.

Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib passed the message to his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, in a phone call, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said on X.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major part propping up Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad through years of war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war with Israel - a redeployment which weakened Syrian government lines.

Under Assad, Hezbollah used Syria to bring in weapons and other military equipment from Iran, through Iraq and Syria and into Lebanon. But on Dec. 6, anti-Assad fighters seized the border with Iraq and cut off that route, and two days later, opposition factions captured the capital Damascus.

Syria's new de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is seeking to establish relations with Arab and Western leaders after toppling Assad.