Israeli Airstrike Kills Two in Syria’s Homs

Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria. (Reuters file photo)
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria. (Reuters file photo)
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Israeli Airstrike Kills Two in Syria’s Homs

Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria. (Reuters file photo)
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria. (Reuters file photo)

An Israeli airstrike on the T4 military airbase in the eastern countryside of Homs killed two foreign fighters, and injured several Syrians, said the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The state-run Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported that the “Israeli enemy launched their missiles from the direction of al-Tanf” towards the T4 base.

SANA reported that six soldiers were wounded in the attack and that there was unspecified damage.

Observatory Director Rami Abdel Rahman said the Israeli airstrikes targeted warehouses and a base for drones.

The Israeli army refused to comment on the airstrikes, reported AFP.

Over the past years, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, targeting the Syrian army and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces.

In September, the Observatory confirmed that Israeli strikes hit positions of Iranian-backed militias.

Meanwhile, regime forces renewed their bombardment of the de-escalation zones in northwestern Syria after clashes with opposition factions.

A new Turkish military convoy carrying dozens of military vehicles entered into the Idlib countryside, in northwest Syria.

Opposition activist Ziad al-Hassan said the regime forces and Iranian militias struck the Himayat and Sirmaniyah villages and areas in Jabal al-Akrad northwest of Hama.

The attack injured a civilian and destroyed several homes.

Hassan added that a Turkish military convoy entered the Kafr Losin border crossing on Friday. It included about 35 vehicles, with ten armored cars and trucks carrying logistic equipment and roadblocks.

The convoy was accompanied by several military vehicles of the opposition factions equipped with medium machine guns.

Over 1,300 families were forced to flee villages and towns of Jabal al-Zawiya towards camps near the Turkish border north of Idlib because of the continuous military escalation by the regime and Iranian militias since the beginning of June 2021, he revealed.

The families have not received any humanitarian aid from organizations.

Meanwhile, the northern countryside of Aleppo witnessed an exchange of artillery and missile fire between Turkish forces and Syrian opposition factions loyal to Ankara, on the one hand, and the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), on the other.

According to activists, the SDF targeted the vicinity of a hospital and a Turkish base in the Azaz area, which is under Turkish control.



Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”