Israeli airstrikes hit targets in Syria
Israeli strikes hit several military sites in southern Syria on Wednesday, killing eight soldiers and wounding seven others, according to state media.
The airstrikes targeted the Daraa countryside overnight and came from the direction of Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the SANA state-run news agency said, citing military officials.
The Israeli military said in a post on X that its fighter jets struck “military infrastructure and mortar launchers” of the Syrian army “in response to rocket launches from Syria toward Israel yesterday.”
Since the war between Israel and Hamas started on 7 Oct, tensions have spiked in the region.
Israel has carried out several reported strikes in Syria including two on the Damascus airport and three on Aleppo’s airport, putting them out of service.
Israel has targeted airports and sea ports in the government-held parts of Syria in an apparent attempt to prevent arms shipments from Iran to militant groups backed by Tehran, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
‘Collective duty to stop bloodshed’, says Palestinian FM
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki has called on world leaders at a high-level UN meeting “to stop … the ongoing massacres being deliberately and systematically and savagely perpetrated by Israel.”
“Over 2 million Palestinians are on a survival mission every day, every night,” he added.
Under international law, al-Maliki said, “it is our collective human duty to stop” the Israeli attacks and bloodshed.
Israel, for its part, vowed to destroy Hamas, rejecting calls for a cease-fire from the UN, Palestinians and many countries.
It said the war in Gaza is not merely its own but “the war of the free world.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also dismissed calls for “proportionality” in the country’s response to Hamas’ surprise attacks on 7 Oct that killed 1,400 people.
More than 5,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, according to its Health Ministry.
Cohen told the UN Security Council the proportionate response to the militant group’s attack on southern Israel is “a total destruction to the last one of the Hamas,” calling the extremist group “the new Nazis.”
“It is not only Israel’s right to destroy Hamas. It’s our duty,” he said.
UNRWA says operations will halt on Wednesday night due to lack of fuel
The UN’s agency for the relief of Palestinian refugees last night warned it would be forced to halt its operations in Gaza due to a lack of fuel as of Wednesday night.
In response, Israel’s military posted a picture of what it said were fuel tanks inside Gaza.
“They contain more than 500,000 litres of fuel,” it wrote. “Ask Hamas if you can have some.”
UNRWA’s director general Philippe Lazzarini had already warned on Sunday that the organisation’s fuel would run out on Wednesday.
“Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries. Without fuel, aid will not reach those in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance. No fuel will further strangle the children, women and people of Gaza,” he said.
US fighter jets arrive in Middle East
The New Jersey Air National Guard’s 119 Expeditionary Fighter Squadron arrived in the Middle East on Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.
The squadron has F-16 fighter jets, and officials would not say where exactly it went.
Ryder also said the US is preparing for an increase in violence, noting there have already been at least 13 attacks against troops and installations in Iraq and Syria.
“What we are seeing is the prospect for more significant escalation against US forces and personnel across the region in the very near term coming from Iranian proxy forces and ultimately from Iran,” he said during a Pentagon briefing.
