BEIRUT: Syrian insurgent groups launched a counteroffensive Thursday against government forces advancing toward a major opposition-held air base in the country’s northwest Idlib province, capturing several villages and taking prisoners, opposition groups said.
The push by several factions, including the Al-Qaeda-linked Levant Liberation Committee, slowed the government offensive toward the Abu Zuhour air base that has been held by fighters since 2015.
Recapturing the air base has been a key government goal since late October and Syrian forces have captured some 160 villages since first launched the offensive. The operations also aim to secure the road linking the capital, Damascus, with Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock, in Damascus, said he was “deeply worried” about civilians caught up in the violence in Idlib. The fighting has displaced an estimated 100,000 people who have fled north toward safer areas close to the border with Turkey.
Lowcock, on his first mission to Syria since his appointment last year, called for agreements to allow the UN and other relief organizations to reach 2.5 million Syrians in need of aid on a regular basis. They are Syrians in areas the UN classifies as “besieged” or “hard-to-reach.” The UN delivered aid to an average 7.5 million people each month last year.
The under-secretary-general said he was “particularly concerned about the fate of the besieged people of (Eastern) Ghouta,” a pocket of the opposition in the suburbs of Damascus. Government forces have waged a punishing aerial and artillery campaign on eastern Ghouta after opposition launched an attack on a nearby military base in November. The bombardment has killed 170 civilians over the last two weeks, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
Attacks by Syrian and Russian forces on eastern Ghouta damaged or destroyed four schools and killed eight children in late October and early November 2017, according to a new report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch. Russia is a key military backer of Syria's Bashar Assad.
“Syrian and Russian forces appear to view the lives of children in Eastern Ghouta as utterly disposable,” said Bill Van Esveld, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Government forces had largely beaten back the counter-offensive by militants in Idlib by evening Thursday, the Observatory reported. The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said troops repelled the assault and killed several militants in the fighting.
Idlib is the largest remaining territory in opposition hands, and its population is swollen with more than 1.1 million refugees who have fled fighting from other areas in Syria, according to the UN
A statement Thursday by the International Rescue Committee said it received hundreds of newly displaced people from the southeast of the province in the past few days, joining thousands who fled over the past month.
Many of the newly displaced brought only the belongings they could carry, the committee said, adding that one mother of two twin babies recounted the initial panic of fleeing the airstrikes. The woman was so frightened, she initially left one of her children behind.
“We couldn’t think properly. The fear affected our brains,” the IRC quoted her as saying. The baby was unharmed, she added.
The IRC said nearly two thirds of the displaced in Idlib are living in makeshift tents that are unable to withstand winter conditions while others live in abandoned or partially-build homes that have well water but no toilets.
The Aamaq media arm of the extremist Daesh group reported Thursday that its fighters are clashing with Syrian troops on the eastern edges of Idlib, and released a video purporting to show four soldiers it claimed to have captured.
The Observatory confirmed insurgents have retaken several villages from government troops and said 11 pro-government fighters were captured. The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman said 16 insurgents were killed in the fighting but did not provide a figure for government casulaties.
At least 400,000 people have been killed and half of Syria’s population displaced since a violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in 2011 plunged the country into civil war.
Assad regime says it is fighting a war on terror and describes itself is as a target of a US-led international conspiracy.
It says Western sanctions have crippled its economy. Lowcock, in Damascus, said he would like to see “more detailed evidence” about the claims, and said it would be topic of continued discussion with regime officials.
The US Treasury Department says its sanctions against the Syrian government are in response to human rights abuses and state-sponsored terrorism.
Syrian insurgents in counteroffensive in northwestern area
Syrian insurgents in counteroffensive in northwestern area
Israel says it has launched ‘broad wave’ of strikes on Iran, as Tehran widens its response across the region
- US military says 17 Iranian navy ships destroyed, struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran thus far
JERUSALEM/DUBAI: Israel’s military said Wednesday that it launched a “broad wave of strikes” on targets in Iran, after the Islamic republic fired rounds of missile barrages at Israeli territory.
The military said the targets of its latest strikes include Iranian “launch sites, air defense systems, and additional infrastructure.”
The latest wave of strikes came after Iran struck back against Israel and across the Gulf region, targeting US embassies and disrupting energy supplies and travel.
Air raid sirens rang out across multiple parts of Israel overnight as the military worked to intercept incoming Iranian fire.
There were no immediate reports of significant impact, although police said munitions fell in the Tel Aviv area, where one woman suffered mild shrapnel injuries.
Four days into a war that President Donald Trump suggested would last several weeks or perhaps longer, nearly 800 people have been killed in Iran, including some Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders of the country.
The US military said it has destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including a submarine, and struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran thus far.
“Today, there is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman,” US Central Command chief Brad Cooper said in a video posted to X.
Explosions rang out Tuesday in Tehran and in Lebanon, where Israel said it retaliated against Hezbollah militants. The American embassy in Saudi Arabia and the US consulate in the United Arab Emirates came under drone attacks. Iran has fired dozens of ballistic missiles at Israel, though most of the incoming fire has been intercepted. Eleven people in Israel have been killed since the conflict began.
In other developments, the Pentagon identified four US Army Reserve soldiers killed in a drone strike Sunday at a command center in Kuwait. The strike also killed two other service members.
The spiraling nature of the war raised questions about when and how it would end.
The administration has offered various objectives, including destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, wiping out its navy, preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring it cannot continue to support allied armed groups.
While the initial US-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government, senior administration officials have since said regime change was not the goal.
Trump on Tuesday seemed to downplay the chances of the war ending Iran’s theocratic rule, saying that “someone from within” the Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once the US-Israel campaign is finished.
Trump says people the US had in mind to lead Iran are dead
Speaking Tuesday from the Oval Office, Trump said Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s toppled shah, is not someone that his administration has considered in depth to take over.
As far as possible leaders inside Iran, “the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said.
“I guess the worst case would be do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen,” Trump said. “We don’t want that to happen.”
Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years. It’s only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen. Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement.
Israel and US strike nuclear facilities and other targets in Iran
Information coming out of Iran has been limited because of poor communications, round-the-clock airstrikes and tight restrictions on journalists. But explosions rang out across Iran’s capital.
The Israeli military said it conducted a wave of airstrikes on Iranian sites that produce and store ballistic missiles. It also said it destroyed what it called Iran’s secret, underground nuclear headquarters. Without providing evidence, it said the site was used for research “to develop a key component for nuclear weapons.”
“The regime attempted to rebuild its efforts and conceal them, thinking we wouldn’t notice. They were mistaken,” said Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin.
There was no immediate public comment from the US or Iran about the site Israel named.
Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so and says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Fears rise in Tehran as bombardment of capital intensifies
New rounds of US and Israeli airstrikes rattled Iran.
“Since midnight, I and my wife are hearing sound of explosions,” said Ali Amoli, an engineer living in north Tehran.
Satellite images published Tuesday by Colorado-based company Vantor showed the domed roof of Iran’s presidential complex in Tehran had been destroyed, supporting Israel’s claim of an overnight strike. Iran did not acknowledge the damage or report any casualties.
A north Tehran resident who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation described growing fears amid the heavy bombardment. The resident said most stores in the normally bustling area of Tajrish were closed, though bakeries and supermarkets remained open.
Iran hits US Embassy in Riyadh and Washington pulls out staff
An attack from two drones on the US Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire,” according to the Saudi Arabian Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound.
An Iranian drone struck a parking lot outside the US consulate in Dubai, sparking a small fire, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Washington. He said all personnel were accounted for.
The United Arab Emirates said it has intercepted the vast majority of more than 1,000 Iranian missile and drone attacks against it.
US embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon said they were closed to the public.
The US State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. And US citizens were urged to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, though many were stranded because of airspace closures.
The State Department said Tuesday it’s preparing military and charter flights for Americans who want to leave the Middle East. Several other countries also arranged evacuation flights for their citizens.
The US-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people in Iran, according to the Red Crescent Society. In Lebanon, where Israel launched retaliatory strikes on the Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah, 50 people were killed, including seven children, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
In addition, three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The US military has confirmed six deaths of American service members.
Four of the American soldiers killed were identified as Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; and Sgt, Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa, who received a posthumous promotion in rank. They were assigned to the Iowa-based 103rd Sustainment Command.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Tuesday criticized Iran’s attacks against Gulf neighbors that had worked to prevent war as an “incredibly flawed strategy” that threatened to widen the war if those states decide to retaliate.
