Report: 10,000 Iranian Militants Killed in Syria

The ongoing military operations in Syria have resulted in extensive damage to the infrastructure (AP)
The ongoing military operations in Syria have resulted in extensive damage to the infrastructure (AP)
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Report: 10,000 Iranian Militants Killed in Syria

The ongoing military operations in Syria have resulted in extensive damage to the infrastructure (AP)
The ongoing military operations in Syria have resulted in extensive damage to the infrastructure (AP)

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) documented the death of 499,657 people since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising.

The Observatory also announced that the death toll included 1,712 Lebanese Hezbollah members and 8,628 others from non-Syrian militiamen backed by Iran and Russia.

Last year, the United Nations Human Rights Office announced that it compiled a list of 350,209 identified individuals killed in the conflict in Syria between March 2011 to March 2021.

In March 2011, the Observatory announced that 494,438 people had been killed since the start of the conflict in Syria when protests turned into an armed conflict.

The Observatory said that the civilian deaths are 160,681, including 120,158 men, 15,237 women, and 25,286 children in its new report.

It detailed the deaths as follows: 49,359 civilians died under torture in regime prisons, 52,508 were killed in shelling and gunfire by regime forces, and 26,403 in airstrikes by the regime’s air force.

In addition, 8,683 civilians were killed by Russian bombardments, and 2,504 others were killed in airstrikes, the source of which was not confirmed.

SOHR also reported that factions killed 2,320 civilians, militants killed 900 civilians, while 1,692 civilians died in various attacks. Up to 919 civilians died of poor living conditions, and the International Coalitions killed 2,676 civilians.

The non-civilian deaths amounted to 338,976 and were distributed as follows: 91,267 from the regime forces, 67,242 from militias loyal to the regime, Iran and Russia, 1,712 from the Lebanese Hezbollah, and 8,628 from non-Syrian militiamen backed by Iran and Russia.

The list also included 8,017 dead during the fighting and militant factions, 3,588 dissidents from the regime forces, 10,886 of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), 3,228 Kurdish fighters, and 41,101 ISIS terrorists.

The Observatory added that the figures do not include more than 55,000 citizens killed under torture in the regime’s prisons.

The report also does not account for over 3,200 Kurdistan Workers’ Party fighters who were killed during their fight alongside the SDF.

Furthermore, the Observatory could not verify the status of over 3,200 civilians and fighters abducted in ISIS prisons and more than 4,100 prisoners and missing members of the regime forces and loyal militiamen.

The Observatory said that over 1,800 persons were kidnapped by militant factions, ISIS, and Fateh al-Sham Front (former Jabhat Al-Nusra) on charges of “loyalty to the regime.”

The ongoing military operations, shelling, bombardment, and various explosions have injured more than 2.1 million civilians and displaced about 13,000,000 other civilians, including hundreds of thousands of children and women.

Meanwhile, the US State Department said that Washington does not support efforts to normalize relations with the Assad regime and will not normalize relations until there is irreversible progress towards a political solution.

“We will not normalize relations with Assad until and unless there is irreversible progress towards that political solution. The Syrian people deserve nothing less after more than a decade of war,” said spokesman Ned Price.”



Hezbollah Fires about 250 Rockets, Other Projectiles into Israel in Heaviest Barrage in Weeks

Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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Hezbollah Fires about 250 Rockets, Other Projectiles into Israel in Heaviest Barrage in Weeks

Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in one of the group's heaviest barrages in months, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with ceasefire efforts to halt the all-out war.

Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said.  

The Israeli military expressed regret, saying that the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military's operations are directed solely against the fighters.

Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

Hezbollah fires rockets after strikes on Beirut  

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several top commanders.

The Israeli military said about 250 projectiles were fired Sunday, with some intercepted.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there.  

In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing.

The Palestine Red Crescent reported 13 injuries it said were caused by an interceptor missile that struck several homes in Tulkarem in the West Bank. It was unclear whether the injuries and damage elsewhere were caused by rockets or interceptors.

Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later.

Israeli airstrikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel's military said it targeted Hezbollah command centers in the southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, where the group has a strong presence.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

EU envoy calls for pressure to reach a truce  

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week.

The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was "pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.”

Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group.

Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to assist the Lebanese military, which would deploy additional forces to the south.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the monthlong 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol with the presence of UN peacekeepers.