Syria Reports Israeli Missile Attack Near Golan Heights

A general view of the mountains in the Golan Heights | Photo: AFP
A general view of the mountains in the Golan Heights | Photo: AFP
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Syria Reports Israeli Missile Attack Near Golan Heights

A general view of the mountains in the Golan Heights | Photo: AFP
A general view of the mountains in the Golan Heights | Photo: AFP

Israel fired several surface-to-surface missiles toward Syrian military positions in the country´s south early Wednesday causing material damage, state media reported.

State TV quoted an unnamed Syrian military official as saying that the missiles were fired from Syria´s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and struck areas around the nearby town of Quneitra.

It added that the attack that occurred shortly after midnight caused material damage but no casualties, according to The Associated Press.

The attack came nearly a week after Syrian state media reported a similar Israeli missile attack on an area south of the capital Damascus that also caused no casualties.

Israel did not comment on the attack. It has made hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria over the past decade of its civil war, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.

Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon´s Hezbollah that fights on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad´s forces.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed the area. Most of the world does not recognize the annexation, though the Trump administration declared the territory to be part of Israel.



Lebanon to Cooperate with Interpol on Arrest of Syrian Official Accused of War Crimes

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
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Lebanon to Cooperate with Interpol on Arrest of Syrian Official Accused of War Crimes

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday Lebanon will cooperate with an Interpol request to arrest former Syrian intelligence officer Jamil Hassan, accused by US authorities of war crimes under the toppled Assad government.

Last week, Lebanon received an official notice from Interpol urging judicial and security authorities to detain Hassan, whose whereabouts remain unclear, if he is found on Lebanese soil, three Lebanese judicial sources told Reuters.

"We are committed to cooperating with the Interpol letter regarding the arrest of the Director of Syrian Air Force Intelligence, as we continue to cooperate on all matters related to the international system," Mikati told Reuters.

The directive also called for Hassan's arrest if he enters Lebanon, with the ultimate aim of extraditing him to the United States, the sources said.

On Dec. 9, a US indictment unsealed charges against Hassan, 72, with war crimes, including the torture of detainees, some of them US citizens, during the Syrian civil war.

Hassan is also one of three senior Syrian officials who were found guilty by a French court in May of war crimes over their involvement in the disappearance and subsequent death of a French-Syrian father and his son.

According to Lebanese judicial sources, the Interpol arrest warrant accuses Hassan of involvement in "crimes of murder, torture, and genocide."

Hassan is also allegedly responsible for overseeing the deployment of thousands of barrel bombs against the Syrian population, leading to the deaths of countless civilians, the sources said.

The Interpol request was circulated among Lebanon’s General Security and border control authorities.

Up to 30 lower-ranking former intelligence and Fourth Division army officers under the Assad administration are now in police custody in Lebanon following their arrest by Lebanese authorities, two security sources told Reuters.