Explosions in Damascus claim lives as regional tensions grow over Israel and Hamas conflict
An Israeli airstrike in the Syrian capital Damascus has targeted an Iran military gathering with at least two senior aides, including an intelligence leader, being killed. Follow the updates.
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An Israeli strike on Damascus killed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence chief for Syria and his deputy as well as two other Guards members on Saturday, Iranian media reported.
“The Revolutionary Guards’ Syria intel chief, his deputy and two other Guards members were martyred in the attack on Syria by Israel,” Iran’s Mehr news agency said, quoting an informed but unnamed source.
“An Israeli missile strike targeted a four-storey building, killing five people... and destroying the whole building where Iran-aligned leaders were meeting,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The British-based monitor with a network of sources inside Syria said the targeted neighbourhood is known to be a high-security zone home to leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and pro-Iran Palestinian factions.
“They were for sure targeting senior members” of those groups, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
“Two high-ranking Iranian advisers were martyred in today’s attack by the Zionist regime (Israel) in the Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus,” Iran’s Mehr news agency said, quoting an informed but unnamed source.
In a statement, the Revolutionary Guards confirmed four of its members were killed in the strike on the Syrian capital and accused Israel of being behind the attack.
State-run Press TV reported the same information, adding the two were members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The mid-morning strike, which caused a large plume of smoke to billow into the sky, was also reported by Syrian state media.
“An attack targeted a residential building in the Mazzeh neighbourhood in Damascus, resulting from an Israeli aggression,” the official SANA news agency reported. It did not say if there were any casualties.
The destroyed building was cordoned off with ambulances, firefighters and Syrian Arab Red Crescent rescue teams all present at the site.
Civil defence were busy searching for survivors under the rubble of the totally collapsed building, AFP reported.
The Mazzeh area is home to the United Nations’ headquarters, embassies and restaurants.
“I heard the explosion clearly in the western Mazzeh area, and I saw a large cloud of smoke,” a resident said.
“The sound was similar to a missile explosion, and minutes later I heard the sound of ambulances,” he added.
It comes as US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke for the first time in almost a month amid reports of tension between the two leaders.
The two spoke “to discuss the latest developments in Israel and Gaza”, the White House said in a statement.
It comes after Netanyahu said he would only agree to a deal that would see the Israel gain security control over the entire Gaza Strip, adding that he had “told this to the Americans”.
Israel says it still expects the war, which began with unprecedented Hamas attacks on October 7, to continue for months.
About 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, were killed during the massacre. Hamas terrorists also kidnapped about 250 hostages, around 132 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza. At least 27 hostages are believed to have been killed
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HOUTHIS FIRE TWO MISSILES AT AMERICAN TANKER
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) has reported a third Houthi attack on a commercial shipping vessel in three days.
CENTOM did not specify the location of the attack but said the Yemen-based group fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles at the US-owned, Greek-operated tanker ship, the Chem Ranger.
“The crew observed the missiles impact the water near the ship. There were no reported injuries or damage to the ship. The ship has continued underway,” CENTCOM wrote on X.
Third Houthi Terrorists Attack on Commercial Shipping Vessel in Three Days
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 19, 2024
On Jan. 18 at approximately 9 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists launched two anti-ship ballistic missiles at M/V Chem Ranger, a Marshall Island-flagged, U.S.-Owned, Greek-operated tanker… pic.twitter.com/moBkH0Al5B
ISRAELI PROTESTORS DEMAND CEASEFIRE
Israeli police have arrested seven people during a demonstration in Tel Aviv calling for the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a deal to secure the return of the dozens of hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The families of hostages being held in captivity by Hamas stopped the traffic on the major road in Tel Aviv in protest for a ceasefire.
They also held a sign, reading “136”, to represent the 136 people still being held hostage.
Israeli paper Haaretz daily reported that the police aggressively dispersed the rally under the claim that it “harms the feelings of the public.”
The rally was called by Israeli human rights groups including the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, a leftist rights group, to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoners swap deal, according to Walla.
Neta Peleg, who survived Hamas’ rampage of Kibbutz Be’eri, was present alongside Netta Himan, a peace activist whose mother was held captive and released from Gaza.
Recent weeks have seen growing calls in Israel for an end to the war on Gaza after it has gone on for three months without achieving any of its goals.
NEW:
— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) January 18, 2024
⚡ 🇮🇱 Hostage families block Ayala's n road in protest in Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/FWB3e2au9A
Meanwhile, a crowd of hundreds gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, holding orange balloons to mark the first birthday of hostage Kfir Bibas.
Kfir, along with his 4-year-old brother Ariel and their parents Shiri and Yarden, were abducted on October 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz to Gaza.
Many held orange balloons, in acknowledgment of Kfir’s red hair. A large screen displaying the number of days the hostages have been held in Gaza stood nearby – 103.
Avital Brown of Women Wage Peace told The Jerusalem Post that guns and security measures were not the only way to solve a conflict like Operation Swords of Iron.
“What we need is a political agreement that will take out all of the extremists,” Brown said. “After October 7, we’ve been saying that only political agreement will create security. We are standing here together today, Jews and Arabs, Palestinians, to say that there are other ways to think about security. Security is not just guns and war.”
‘IMMINENT THREAT’: US LAUNCHES NEW MISSILE ATTACK AT HOUTHIS
The US military fired another wave of ship- and submarine-launch missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites, US Central Command said, marking the fourth time in days it has directly targeted the group in Yemen as violence that ignited in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war continues to spill over in the Middle East.
The strikes were launched from the Red Sea and hit 14 missiles that the command deemed an “imminent threat”.
The strikes followed an official announcement that the US has put the Houthis back on its list of specially designated global terrorists.
The sanctions that come with the formal designation are meant to sever violent extremist groups from their sources of financing.
“Forces conducted strikes on 14 Iran-backed Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen,” Central Command said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“These missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time, prompting US forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves.”
Despite the sanctions and military strikes, including a large-scale operation carried out by US and British warships and warplanes that hit more than 60 targets across Yemen last Friday, the Houthis are continuing their harassment campaign of commercial and military ships.
The latest incident occurred Wednesday when a one-way attack drone was launched from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen and struck the Marshall Islands-flagged, US-owned and -operated M/V Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden.
The US has also strongly warned Iran to cease providing weapons to the Houthis.
On Thursday a US raid on a dhow intercepted ballistic missile parts the US said Iran was shipping to Yemen.
Two US navy SEALs remain unaccounted for after one was knocked off the vessel by a wave during the seizure and the second followed the overcome SEAL into the water.
On Wednesday, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the US would continue to take military action to prevent further attacks.
“They are exploiting this situation to conduct attacks against the ships and vessels from more than 50 countries … around the world. And so we’re going to continue to work with our partners in the region to prevent those attacks or deter those attacks in the future,” Maj. Gen. Ryder said.
There have been several incidents since the Friday joint operations.
The Houthis fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward a US navy destroyer over the weekend, but the ship shot it down.
The Houthis then struck a US-owned ship in the Gulf of Aden on Monday and a Malta-flagged bulk carrier in the Red Sea on Tuesday.
In response Tuesday, the US struck four anti-ship ballistic missiles that were prepared to launch and presented an imminent threat to merchant and US navy ships in the region.
Hours later, the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the Malta-flagged bulk carrier Zografia. The ship was hit, but no one was injured and it continued on its way.
US URGES RESTRAINT AS PAKISTAN, IRAN TRADE AIR STRIKES
The US has urged Pakistan and Iran to avoid escalating tensions after the two countries exchanged air strikes, as President Joe Biden said the clash showed Iran was not “well-liked” in the region.
Tensions between nuclear-armed Islamabad, a US ally, and Washington’s enemy Tehran have soared after Pakistan has launched missile strikes into Iran, killing nine people, after Iran carried out strikes in Pakistan.
Iran condemned the attack, which it said killed three women, two men and four children who were not Iranian.
The situation has also added to broader unrest in and around the Middle East.
“As you can see, Iran is not particularly well-liked in the region,” Biden told reporters at the White House when asked about the clashes.
Biden said the United States was now trying to understand how the Iran-Pakistan situation would develop, adding: “Where that goes we’re working on now, I don’t know where that goes.”
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States was monitoring the situation “very, very closely” and was in touch with Pakistani officials.
“These are two well-armed nations and again we don’t want to see an escalation,” Kirby told journalists travelling with Biden aboard Air Force One.
Iran carried out air strikes on Tuesday, saying it had targeted a Sunni Muslim extremist group behind a series of attacks in Iranian territory. Pakistan said two children were killed.
ISRAELI TROOPS KILL DOZENS OF MILITANTS
It comes as Israeli ground troops killed dozens of militants in “close-quarters combat” on Thursday local time, the army said, as it intensified operations in Khan Yunis, south Gaza’s biggest city.
In the occupied West Bank, where violence has soared alongside the war in Gaza, an Israeli raid continued into a second day around Tulkarem, an official said. Palestinian health officials reported a sixth person had been killed in the operation.
Tensions flared further in the wider region, following Pakistani strikes on an Iranian border zone and new US military action targeting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen.
“In Khan Yunis, the Givati Brigade is now fighting in the southernmost area that (Israeli) ground troops have operated in so far,” the army said, referring to a unit that had been based in Gaza before Israel’s 2005 withdrawal.
“The soldiers eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat and with the assistance of tank fire and air support,” it said in a statement.
Soldiers raided the “Martyr’s Outpost” of Hamas’s Khan Yunis brigade and the offices of its commanders, seizing a weapons cache including AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, it added.
Footage showed smoke rising over central-southern Gaza in the afternoon. The Hamas government reported dozens of strikes, including on Khan Yunis and refugee camps in central Gaza.
Gaza’s health ministry said 93 people had been killed overnight, including 16 in a strike on a house in the southern city of Rafah, where many people have fled.
Those killed in the Rafah strike included women and children, and 20 people were injured, the ministry said.
A man sat quietly among the rubble, his head bowed, examining a child’s glove. Umm Walid al-Zamli said she lost her children, and her house. “The eldest was a second-grade girl,” she said in a choked voice. “What did they do wrong?”
AID ENTERS GAZA
Meanwhile, Palestinian and Israeli officials on Thursday local time confirmed a shipment of aid, including medicine for hostages, had entered Gaza after French and Qatari mediation.
Qatar late Wednesday said the shipment, which also comprises humanitarian aid for Gazan civilians, had reached the territory under an agreement announced on Tuesday.
Two planes had earlier arrived in the Egyptian city of El-Arish near Gaza with 61 tonnes of aid provided by Qatar and France.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it did not play any role in implementing the deal but welcomed it as “a much-needed moment of relief”.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the army was hitting Khan Yunis particularly hard to dismantle the Hamas leadership, which the army says has already been done in northern Gaza.
Since ground operations began in late October, 193 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza, the military says.
The war has displaced roughly 85 per cent of Gazans, the UN says. Many have crowded into shelters where they struggle to get food, water, fuel and medical care.
At Israel’s Nir Oz kibbutz, Yossi Schneider is clinging to hope for his relative Kfir Bibas, a baby, despite Hamas’s announcing his death, along with that of his brother and mother.
The youngest hostage was less than nine months old when militants snatched him from his bed on October 7. He would be celebrating his first birthday on Thursday.
“We are thinking about them every day, every second, every minute,” Schneider said.
EU TO ADOPT SANCTIONS AGAINST HAMAS
The European Union will enact sanctions on Monday against Hamas in response to the Palestinian group’s deadly October 7 attack on Israel, France said on Thursday local time.
Brussels will adopt “a regime of sanctions against Hamas”, French foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told reporters, adding that they would target “individuals and transfers of funds”.
The punitive measures will target Hamas and some of its leaders involved in the unprecedented October 7 attacks against southern Israel that resulted in the death of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants seized about 250 hostages during the October 7 attacks, around 132 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza.
On Tuesday, the EU added Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar to its “terrorist” sanctions blacklist over the October 7 attacks.
The move means that the accused mastermind of the attacks is subject to an asset freeze in the 27-nation bloc and bans EU citizens from conducting transactions with him.
In December, the EU added two of Hamas’s top military commanders, Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa, to its terrorist blacklist.
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is already listed as a “terrorist” organisation by the EU.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel is conducting relentless bombardment and a ground offensive which have killed at least 24,448 Palestinians, around 70 per cent of them women, children and adolescents, according to Gaza health ministry figures.
NO TIES WITH ISRAEL BEFORE GAZA CEASEFIRE
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is unable to pursue talks about a landmark deal to recognise Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza, the kingdom’s ambassador to the United States said on Thursday local time.
“I think the most important thing to realise is the kingdom has not put normalisation at the heart of its policy. It’s put peace and prosperity at the heart of its policy,” Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“The kingdom has been quite clear. While there is violence on the ground and the killing persists, we cannot talk about the next day.”
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, has never recognised Israel and did not join the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords that saw its Gulf neighbours Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates as well as Morocco establish formal ties with Israel.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has pushed hard for Saudi Arabia to take the same step.
Under de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son of the ageing King Salman, Riyadh had laid out conditions for normalisation, including security guarantees from Washington and help developing a civilian nuclear program.
In an interview with Fox News in September, Prince Mohammed said that “every day we get closer” to a deal, although he also insisted the Palestinian issue was “very important” for Riyadh.
That apparent momentum stalled soon after Hamas launched a large-scale attack on southern Israel on October 7 that resulted in the death of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians.
One week later, a source familiar with the normalisation talks told reporters Saudi Arabia had paused the process.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel is conducting relentless bombardment and a ground offensive. These have killed at least 24,620 Palestinians, around 70 per cent of them women, children and adolescents, according to updated figures from the Hamas government’s health ministry.
-with AFP
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