Damascus Reports Bombing of US Base East of the Euphrates

Prisoners accused of belonging to ISIS in Hasakah governorate, northeastern Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Prisoners accused of belonging to ISIS in Hasakah governorate, northeastern Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Damascus Reports Bombing of US Base East of the Euphrates

Prisoners accused of belonging to ISIS in Hasakah governorate, northeastern Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Prisoners accused of belonging to ISIS in Hasakah governorate, northeastern Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Sources in Damascus reported that a US base in northeastern Syria was bombed with five rockets at a time when a fierce campaign is being led against US economic aid being given to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

The Kharab al-Jir military base used by US forces in the Hasaka Governorate in northeastern Syria was targeted by rockets, reported the Syrian state news agency SANA.

According to the report, five rockets were fired at the base. No casualties have been reported.

The sources explained that “immediately after the targeting of the base, the area witnessed an intense flight of helicopters and warplanes belonging to US forces.”

According to SANA, US bases in the Al-Omar oil and Konico gas fields in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor and Kharab Al-Jir in the Hasaka countryside have been subjected to several missile attacks during the past two months.

“US forces removed a military convoy of 110 vehicles from their base at Kharab al-Jir airbase in the Hasaka countryside to northern Iraq through the illegal Al-Waleed crossing,” added SANA.

Meanwhile, laboratory analysis at the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform have proven the invalidity of the Turkish-origin wheat seeds, which have been provided by the US forces through the so-called US Agency for International Development “USAID” to the farmers in several areas in the Qamishli countryside.

“The Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Directorate in Hasaka province sent a sample of the wheat seeds provided by the American occupation to the laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture, and it was found that they are not suitable for cultivation,” Head of the Directorate Eng. Said Hajji said in a statement to SANA.

He warned farmers in the Qamishli countryside and the region against using these seeds, calling to destroy them and not plant them because the damage they cause will last for years and put the agricultural lands out of investment.



Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
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Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

A Lebanese security source said the target of a deadly Israeli airstrike on central Beirut early Saturday was a senior Hezbollah official, adding it was unclear whether he was killed.

"The Israeli strike on Basta targeted a leading Hezbollah figure," the security official told AFP without naming the figure, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The early morning airstrike has killed at least 11 people and injured 63, according to authorities, and had brought down an eight-storey building nearby, in the second such attack on the working-class neighbourhood of Basta in as many months.

"The strike was so strong it felt like the building was about to fall on our heads," said Samir, 60, who lives with his family in a building facing the one that was hit.

"It felt like they had targeted my house," he said, asking to be identified by only his first name because of security concerns.

There had been no evacuation warning issued by the Israeli military for the Basta area.

After the strike, Samir fled his home in the middle of the night with his wife and two children, aged 14 and just three.

On Saturday morning, dumbstruck residents watched as an excavator cleared the wreckage of the razed building and rescue efforts continued, with nearby buildings also damaged in the attack, AFP journalists reported.

The densely packed district has welcomed people displaced from traditional Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon's east, south and southern Beirut, after Israel intensified its air campaign on September 23, later sending in ground troops.

"We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," Samir told AFP, reporting minor damage to his home.

Since last Sunday, four deadly Israeli strikes have hit central Beirut, including one that killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.

Residents across the city and its outskirts awoke at 0400 (0200 GMT) on Saturday to loud explosions and the smell of gunpowder in the air.

"It was the first time I've woken up screaming in terror," said Salah, a 35-year-old father of two who lives in the same street as the building that was targeted.

"Words can't express the fear that gripped me," he said.

Saturday's strikes were the second time the Basta district had been targeted since war broke out, after deadly twin strikes early in October hit the area and the Nweiri neighbourhood.

Last month's attacks killed 22 people and had targeted Hezbollah security chief Wafiq Safa, who made it out alive, a source close to the group told AFP.

Salah said his wife and children had been in the northern city of Tripoli, about 70 kilometres away (45 miles), but that he had to stay in the capital because of work.

His family had been due to return this weekend because their school reopens on Monday, but now he has decided against it following the attack.

"I miss them. Every day they ask me: 'Dad, when are we coming home?'" he said.

Lebanon's health ministry says that more than 3,650 people have been killed since October 2023, after Hezbollah initiated exchanges of fire with Israel in solidarity with its Iran-backed ally Hamas over the Gaza war.

However, most of the deaths in Lebanon have been since September this year.

Despite the trauma caused by Saturday's strike, Samir said he and his family had no choice but to return home.

"Where else would I go?" he asked.

"All my relatives and siblings have been displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs and from the south."