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Israel Targets Pro-Regime Groups in Syria’s Aleppo

Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
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Israel Targets Pro-Regime Groups in Syria’s Aleppo

Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

Syrian air defenses shot down Israeli missile over the northern province of Aleppo on Monday, state media reported, in an attack that a war monitor said targeted positions of pro-regime groups.

"At around 23:37 on Monday... the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack towards southeast Aleppo, targeting positions in the Al-Safira area," Syrian state news agency SANA cited a military source as saying.

"Our air defenses intercepted the missiles... shooting down most of them," it added, saying the extent of damage was still being assessed.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles landed near the Scientific Studies Research Center in Al-Safira, destroying bases and a weapons depot used by pro-Iran groups.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, it said.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out raids in Syria, mostly targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces as well as Syrian government troops.

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Lebanese President Says Disarmament Decision Has Been Taken

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the Maronite Patriarchate on Easter morning (Lebanese Presidency)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the Maronite Patriarchate on Easter morning (Lebanese Presidency)
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Lebanese President Says Disarmament Decision Has Been Taken

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the Maronite Patriarchate on Easter morning (Lebanese Presidency)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the Maronite Patriarchate on Easter morning (Lebanese Presidency)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun affirmed on Sunday that the decision to confine all arms to the state has already been made, but he emphasized that its enforcement hinges on the “right conditions” to determine the timing and method.
Aoun’s statement came two days after Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem firmly rejected any possibility of disarmament. “We will not allow anyone to disarm Hezbollah or the resistance,” Qassem had said in a televised address.
He warned that Hezbollah has “other options,” though he stopped short of specifying them.
Qassem also claimed that Hezbollah has successfully thwarted Israel’s objectives in southern Lebanon, and revealed that “positive messages” had been exchanged with President Aoun regarding the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

Aoun
Following an Easter Mass and a closed-door meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, Aoun reiterated his stance on confining weapons to the state, emphasizing that the matter “should not be debated through media or social platforms, but rather approached with national responsibility and without provocation”.
He added that the nation’s best interest must always come first, reaffirming that his call, as mentioned in his inaugural address, for exclusive state control over arms was not mere words.
“When I spoke of the state’s exclusive right to arms in my oath of office, it wasn’t just words. I said it because I firmly believe that the Lebanese people do not want war and can no longer bear its consequences or even the language of war,” he said.
In addressing the challenges facing this matter and how to reconcile between external pressures on Lebanon and internal calls for a more gradual approach, Aoun said: “We must address the matter responsibly and with composure because it is a sensitive and fundamental matter for preserving civil peace”.
President Joseph Aoun reiterated his call for internal dialogue as the only viable path to resolve contentious national issues, including the question of Hezbollah’s arms. He warned against confrontation, which he said could lead Lebanon toward destruction.
Patriarch Al-Rahi
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, during his Easter Mass sermon, voiced strong support for Aoun’s position on state sovereignty and the monopoly of arms.
Rahi endorsed Aoun’s message that "only the state can protect us—a strong, sovereign, and just state, born from the will of the Lebanese people and committed to their well-being, peace, and prosperity."