WASHINGTON: US-led coalition aircraft have destroyed heavy weaponry seized by Daesh terrorists when they retook the Syrian city of Palmyra from regime forces over the weekend, officials said Friday.
The strikes on Thursday destroyed an air defense artillery system, 14 tanks, three artillery systems, two Daesh-held buildings and two tactical vehicles, the coalition said in a statement.
Among the Russian weaponry the Daesh group captured around Palmyra were thought to be modern surface-to-air missiles, or SAMs, giving terrorists the potential capability to shoot down coalition jets, a coalition official told AFP.
Earlier on Wednesday, the commander of the coalition forces conducting airstrikes against the Daesh group in Iraq and Syria, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, had said that “anything they (Daesh) seize poses a threat to the coalition, but we can manage those threats and we will.”
Thursday’s attack took place near the Tiyas military airfield near Palmyra, northeast of the fabled city along a highway.
The Daesh group overran Palmyra on Sunday, nine months after its fighters were expelled by Russian airstrikes and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.
The radicals had initially seized Palmyra in May 2015 and went on to blow up UNESCO-listed Roman-era temples and loot ancient relics.
Before the Daesh group retook the city, it had been the focus of Russian and Syrian counter-Daesh operations and not an area were the US coalition was particularly active.
The White House has been withering in its criticism of Russia for losing control of the desert town, accusing Moscow of focusing more on helping the Assad regime retake Aleppo than its claim of fighting the Daesh group.
“(Russia) has only had one operational gain on the ground inside of Syria against Daesh. It has had that — that gain rolled back,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
“In fact, the threat that is posed by Daesh is now worse because of Russia’s failed strategy inside of Syria, because Daesh didn’t just retake Palmyra, they retook Palmyra and all of the military equipment that the Assad regime, backed by Russia, had moved in there.”
Despite the rhetorical clashes and arguments over Syria, the United States and Russia have established military back channels to ensure operations outside their usual zones of interest do not result in direct confrontation.
Coalition strike destroys Daesh-seized weapons near Palmyra
Coalition strike destroys Daesh-seized weapons near Palmyra
Israeli forces detonate house of detainee Abu Al-Rab near Jenin
- Abu Al-Rab family received a demolition notice in January
LONDON: Israeli forces detonated a house on Wednesday in the Palestinian town of Qabatiya, located south of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.
The house belonged to the detainee Ahmed Abu Al-Rab in Qabatiya, according to Wafa news agency.
Israeli forces used explosives to demolish the house, causing damage to several neighboring homes and forcing multiple families to evacuate their residences in the area before the detonation.
The Abu Al-Rab family received a demolition notice in January. Overnight, Israeli forces raided several houses in Qabatiya, arresting multiple individuals before carrying out the demolition, the Wafa added.
It has now been almost a year since Israel launched a military campaign in the Jenin Governorate in retaliation for the bombing of empty buses in Tel Aviv, allegedly carried out by a Palestinian from the area last February. The campaign resulted in the deaths of over 60 Palestinians and the demolition of more than 600 houses, displacing 22,000 people.
