DAMASCUS: Israeli warplanes fired missiles on suburbs of the northern city of Aleppo early Friday, Syrian state media said, amid increased airstrikes on Syria in recent weeks. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
On Aug. 31, an attack targeted the southern suburbs of the capital Damascus killing two soldiers and wounding seven.
Israel rarely comments on such reports, but is believed to have carried out scores of raids targeting Iran’s military presence in Syria. In the past three months alone, Syria has accused Israel of carrying out at least nine air raids on its territory.
State news agency SANA gave few details about Friday’s strike but said the country’s air defenses shot down most of the missiles before they hit their targets.
Iran has been a key ally of the Syrian government in the nearly decade-long civil war sending thousands of Iran-backed fighters to fight on President Bashar Assad’s side.
Israel views Iran as a regional menace and has vowed to prevent any permanent Iranian military buildup in Syria, particularly near the frontier.
In recent months, Israeli officials have also expressed concern that Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group that operates in Syria, is trying to establish facilities to produce precision-guided missiles. Tensions have also risen along the Israel-Lebanon border.
Syria reports Israeli airstrike near northern city of Aleppo
https://arab.news/9m6tr
Syria reports Israeli airstrike near northern city of Aleppo
- An attack targeted the southern suburbs of Damascus killed two soldiers and wounded seven on Aug. 31
- Israel rarely comments on such reports
In major policy shift on Syria, UN Security Council lifts sanctions on Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham
- Move reflects evolving Syrian political landscape in the post-Assad era, ending a global freeze on assets, travel ban and arms embargo
NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council on Friday removed Al-Nusra Front, the militant group that evolved into Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, from its so-called Daesh and Al-Qaeda Sanctions List.
The move signals a major shift in international policy toward Syria’s evolving political landscape in the post-Assad era, and ends a global freeze on assets, travel ban and arms embargo that have been imposed on the group since 2014.
Al-Nusra Front and Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham were led by Ahmad Al-Sharaa, formerly Abu Mohammed Al-Julani, who is now Syria’s president and was a leading figure in the offensive that toppled the Assad regime.
The consensus decision by the Security Council’s sanctions committee was announced by the UK, which holds the presidency of the Security Council this month and was acting in the absence of the chair of the committee. It followed a request by the new Syrian authorities to delist “Al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant.”
The decision means measures that were applied to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham under Security Council Resolution 2734, adopted in 2024, no longer apply. As a result, UN member states are notrequired to freeze the group’s funds, restrict the movement of its representatives, or block the supply or transfer of arms and related materiel.
Al-Nusra Front was added to the sanctions list for its ties to Al-Qaeda and involvement in the financing and execution of militant activities during the war in Syria. The UN initially continued to treat the group’s successor organization, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, as a listed alias.
Al-Sharaa has said the group severed all prior transnational jihadist links and is now solely focused on local Syrian matters.
