Israel Drops Warning Leaflets over Syria’s Quneitra

Israeli soldiers during a military exercise in the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers during a military exercise in the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday. (AFP)
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Israel Drops Warning Leaflets over Syria’s Quneitra

Israeli soldiers during a military exercise in the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers during a military exercise in the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday. (AFP)

The Israeli army dropped warning leaflets over Syria’s Quneitra region overnight Tuesday, reported Israel’s Kan radio.

The leaflets were dropped in wake of an attack blamed on Israel that night, said Syrian opposition figures on Wednesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fires had broken out in a military position belonging to regime forces and Iranian militias west of the town of Khodr in Quneitra’s northern countryside after being struck by three rockets fired by Israel on Tuesday night.

The leaflets delivered warnings to the Syrian military against cooperating with the Lebanese Hezbollah party, specifically one its senior members, whom it identified as Hajj Jawad Hashem, who is active in Syria and had been named in previous leaflets.

“Carrying out dirty work for Hezbollah has become a priority for the Syrian army,” read the leaflet.

It added: “Hajj Hashem and his men roam positions in southern Syrian, including positions in Qars al-Naql and the 90th Brigade that were targeted the night before yesterday.”

“The members of the Syrian army have been turned into Hezbollah’s dummies without them even realizing it,” it read.

It warned that the members of the Syrian military are being closely watched and that they should be careful of their actions.

“Abetting Hajj Hashem will lead to your destruction,” it warned.

Syrian television on Tuesday reported that Israel had struck the border region of Quneitra near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Syrian opposition sources said the attack targeted military positions, including one affiliated with Hezbollah. The other belongs to the military’s 90th Brigade.



France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
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France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)

France said Tuesday it was expelling 12 Algerian diplomatic officials a day after Algeria announced the expulsion of the same number of French officials in escalating tensions between the two countries.

Algeria said Monday that its expulsion of 12 French officials was over the arrest of an Algerian consular official by French authorities in a kidnapping case, but relations between the two sides have been deteriorating since last summer. That's when France shifted its position to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara — a disputed territory claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which receives support from Algeria.

Tensions further peaked in November after Algeria arrested French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who is an outspoken critic of the Algerian regime. He has since been sentenced to five years in prison — a verdict he subsequently appealed.

In addition to what French officials called the "symmetrically" calibrated expulsion of 12 Algerian officials, France's ambassador to Algiers also was being recalled home for consultations, a statement from the French presidential palace said Tuesday.

It said Algerian authorities were responsible for "a brutal deterioration in our bilateral relations."

French counterterrorism prosecutors said three Algerian nationals in total were arrested last week and handed preliminary charges of "kidnapping or arbitrary detention … in connection with a terrorist undertaking."

The group is allegedly involved in the April 2024 kidnapping of an Algerian influencer, Amir Boukhors, or Amir DZ, a known critic of the Algerian government with 1.1 million followers on TikTok.

The latest surge in acrimony followed a brief easing of tensions about two weeks ago when French President Emmanuel Macron called Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune. French officials said they had agreed to revive bilateral relations.