BEIRUT: Israeli warplanes flying over Lebanon fired missiles toward areas near Damascus early Monday, the Syrian military said, claiming the country’s air defenses shot most of them down. The strike killed three civilians and wounded four, according to state media.
The military statement, carried by state media, said the attack took place around dawn. It gave no further details about the attack or what it targeted specifically. Syrian state TV said the attacks occurred near Damascus.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the strikes hit targets belonging to Iran and its regional proxies, including Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah. group It had no immediate word on casualties among the fighters.
Syria’s state SANA news agency said shrapnel from the Israeli missiles hit homes in the Damascus suburbs of Hajjira and Adlieh, killing three people there and wounding four.
Israel did not comment on the Syrian report. In the past, Israel has acknowledged carrying out scores of airstrikes over the years, most aimed at alleged Iranian weapons shipments believed to be bound for Hezbollah. In recent months, Israeli officials have expressed concern that Hezbollah is trying to establish production facilities to make precision guided missiles.
Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces in Syria are fighting alongside Syrian government forces. Israel has also in the past used Lebanon’s airspace to launch attacks on Syria.
Last week, an Israeli airstrike targeted Iranian and Iran-backed fighters in the desert near the historic central Syrian town of Palmyra. A Syrian opposition war monitoring group said the strike killed nine fighters, including six who were not Syrians.
Israeli strikes near Syria capital kill 3 civilians
https://arab.news/g9mex
Israeli strikes near Syria capital kill 3 civilians
- State media reported three civilians have died of the attacks, but the military earlier said it did not inflict any casualties
- Israel rarely confirms attacks and it did not comment on the latest missiles strike
Israeli police raid Christmas party in Haifa, arrest Palestinian man dressed as Santa
- ‘Excessive force’ used in raid, says rights group for Palestinian citizens of Israel
- Gaza marks first post-ceasefire Christmas as occupied West Bank faces holiday crackdown
LONDON: Police in Israel last week arrested a Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus at a Christmas celebration in Haifa, The Guardian reported.
The Christmas event was closed on Sunday, after Israeli officers stormed the area and confiscated equipment, the Mossawa Center, a rights group for Palestinian citizens of Israel, said.
The Palestinian Santa Claus performer was arrested, as well as a DJ and street vendor.
In a video circulating on social media, police can be seen forcing the men to the ground and handcuffing them, as crowds of bystanders watch on.
The Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus resisted arrest and assaulted an officer, Israeli police said in a statement.
But the police used excessive force during the raid, which was conducted without legal authority on the music hall venue, Mossawa said.
Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and Gaza are celebrating Christmas this week despite Israel’s imposition of restrictions on daily life there.
Celebrations for Dec. 25 were held in Bethlehem for the first time since the beginning of the war on Gaza.
Marching bands blew bagpipes in processions through the streets in the city of Jesus’ birth.
Churchgoers attended mass there at the Church of the Nativity and Palestinian children sang carols as the city hosted major celebrations.
Gaza’s small Christian community marked its first Christmas in the war-torn enclave since the signing of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Amid the rubble strewn across Gaza, Christmas trees glitter brought sections of color to the territory, The Guardian reported.
Israel continued military operations and settler attacks took place despite the holiday.
In the town of Turmus Ayya outside Ramallah, Israeli settlers uprooted olive trees belonging to Palestinians, and near Hebron soldiers stormed the homes of residents and confiscated vehicles, according to the Palestinian news agency, WAFA.
Israel is carrying out mounting attacks against Christian sites in the occupied Palestinian territories.
A report in March documented 32 attacks on church properties and 45 assaults against Christians.
Pope Leo XIV, in his first Christmas address as pontiff, drew attention to the abysmal humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians there are living in tents amid fierce cold and rain, just as Jesus had been born in a stable, with God “pitching his fragile tent” among the peoples of the world, Leo said.
He added: “How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold.”
The pope highlighted the plight of “the defenseless populations, tried by so many wars.”
