عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Al-Balous: Elimination of Falhout Militia Helps Eradicate Iranian Expansion in Syria’s Sweida

Laith Al-Balous meeting a host of social and religious leaders in his hometown residence in Sweida’s countryside. (Moudafat al-Karama)
Laith Al-Balous meeting a host of social and religious leaders in his hometown residence in Sweida’s countryside. (Moudafat al-Karama)
TT
TT

Al-Balous: Elimination of Falhout Militia Helps Eradicate Iranian Expansion in Syria’s Sweida

Laith Al-Balous meeting a host of social and religious leaders in his hometown residence in Sweida’s countryside. (Moudafat al-Karama)
Laith Al-Balous meeting a host of social and religious leaders in his hometown residence in Sweida’s countryside. (Moudafat al-Karama)

Laith Al-Balous, the son of the late Syrian Druze leader sheikh Wahid Al-Balous, founder of the “Rijal al Karama” movement in south Syria’s Sweida region, announced that eliminating the Raji Falhout militia was only the beginning of eradicating “Iranian Shiite expansion” in the Druze-majority area.

“The extermination of the Raji Falhout gang is equal to eradicating Iranian Shiite expansion in Sweida, and we have long denounced and warned Sweida’s sheikhs of what is being fabricated by the intelligence services,” Al-Balous said in a video circulated on Tuesday.

Video footage of statements made by Al-Balous were released a day after he had met with a host of social and religious leaders in his hometown residence in Sweida’s countryside.

According to local sources, the meeting coincided with the release of prisoners affiliated with “al-Fajr” group. They were freed after turning out innocent in investigations into the killing of Sweida civilians and security unrest.

Al-Balous addressed public discontent stirred by the killing of six members of the Raji Falhout militia by affirming that those executed had admitted to killing Sweida’s women and sheikhs.

The bodies of the said murderers were dumped on a roundabout in the center of Sweida city last Thursday.

“The people who were killed and whose bodies were thrown at the al-Mishnaqa roundabout in the city of Sweida confessed to killing women and elderly people,” said Al-Balous.

Al-Balous leads a local armed group that is strong by the dozens and entirely independent from the “Rijal al Karama” movement, the Syrian opposition, and the Syrian regime.

It recently participated in the attack on the headquarters and positions of the Raji Falhout militia in the town of Attil and Salim on the Damascus-Sweida route.

Among the bodies dumped at the roundabout was the body of Mohammad Abu Hamdan, a prominent member of the Raji Falhout militia.

His body was discovered three days after his arrest by Al-Balous’ group. He was taken under the charge of killing Sweida locals.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen's Capital and Port City after Houthi Attack Targets Israel

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
TT
TT

Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen's Capital and Port City after Houthi Attack Targets Israel

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

A series of intense Israeli airstrikes shook Yemen's Houthi-held capital and a port city early Thursday and killed at least nine people, officials said, shortly after a Houthi missile targeted central Israel.
Thursday’s strikes risk further escalating conflict with the Iranian-backed Houthis, whose attacks on the Red Sea corridor have drastically impacted global shipping. The militants have so far avoided the same level of intense military strikes that have targeted the Palestinian Hamas militant group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fellow members of Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance.”
The Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah said that some of the strikes targeted power stations in the capital, as well as the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. The channel, citing its correspondent in the port city of Hodeidah, said at least seven people had been killed at the nearby port of Salif, while another two had been killed at the Ras Isa oil terminal.
Others suffered wounds at the Hodeidah port as well, it said.
An Israeli military statement offered no specifics on the targets hit, nor any damage assessment.
“The targets struck by the (Israeli military) were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes,” the statement said. “The strikes degrade the Houthi terrorist regime, preventing it from exploiting the targets for military and terrorist purposes, including the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the region.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said the strikes hit energy and port infrastructure, which he alleged the militants “have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military action.”
“Israel will not hesitate to act in order to defend itself and its citizens from the Houthi attacks,” Hagari said.
Houthi-held Hodeidah, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Sanaa, has been key for food shipments into Yemen as its decades long war has gone on. There's also longstanding suspicion that weapons from Iran have been transferred through the port.
The strikes happened just after the Israeli military said its air force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it entered the country’s territory.
“Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling debris from the interception,” the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded near Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas, and a large explosion was heard overhead at the time. The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile attack, but said an important military statement would be issued in the coming hours, following a pattern of how they claim their assaults.
Israel previously struck Hodeidah and its oil infrastructure in July after a Houthi drone attack killed one person and wounded 10 in Tel Aviv. In September, Israel struck Hodeidah again, killing at least four people after a militant missile targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving back to the country.
American forces have also launched a series of strikes on the Houthis over nearly a year due to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor. On Monday, the US military's Central Command said it hit “a key command-and-control facility" operated by the Houthis in Sanaa, later identified as the al-Ardi complex once home to the government's Defense Ministry.
But Israel appears to have carried out Thursday's strikes alone. A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the attacks, said America had no part in them.
The Houthis have targeted some 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Israel's grinding offensive in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say.
The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate US- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.
The Houthis maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.