LONDON: Once again, events in Syria risk to spill beyond its border. The downing of the Israeli F-16 over Syria is a first in the Syrian war.
The Russian president Vladimir Putin held telephone talks with PM Benjamin Netanyahu urging him to avoid escalation. Washington on the other hand announced that it strongly supports Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself. A statement published by the state department accused Iran of “a calculated escalation of threat and Tehran’s ambition to project its power and dominance places all the people of the region from Yemen to Lebanon at risk”
Iran denounced Israeli “lies” on Saturday and said Syria had the right to “legitimate self-defense” in response to air strikes launched by Israel after an alleged Iranian drone incursion into its territory. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said.
Iranian spokespersons went on to claim that the downed Iranian drone By Tel Aviv was on a surveillance operation monitoring Daesh.
Ghashmi also re-iterated Tehran’s position that it “does not have a military presence in Syria, and has only sent military advisers at the request of the Syrian government.”
Lebanon also criticized the Israeli strikes, and said it would write a letter of protest to the United Nations over the use of its airspace for the raids, according to a statement from its foreign ministry.
Lebanese pro Iranian Militia Hezbollah indicated in a statement today that the shooting down of an Israeli F-16 jet fighter is “the start of a new strategic phase” which would limit Israeli exploitation of Syrian airspaces.
Syrian regime allies, the downing of Israeli F-16 is a strategic shift
Syrian regime allies, the downing of Israeli F-16 is a strategic shift
Israel agrees to ‘limited reopening’ of Rafah crossing: PM’s office
- The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza
JERUSALEM: Israel said Monday it would allow a “limited reopening” of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt once it had recovered the remains of the last hostage in the Palestinian territory.
The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza.
Reopening Rafah forms part of a Gaza truce framework announced by US President Donald Trump in October, but the crossing has remained closed after Israeli forces took control of it during the war.
The Israeli military also said it was searching a cemetery in the Gaza Strip on Sunday for the remains of the last hostage, Ran Gvili, a non-commissioned officer in the police’s elite Yassam unit.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the reopening would depend on “the return of all living hostages and a 100 percent effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said on X.
It said Israel’s military was “currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return” Gvili’s body.
“Upon completion of this operation, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the US, Israel will open the Rafah Crossing,” it said.
