Israel hits Hezbollah targets in Syria

Israel has also targeted the international airports in Damascus and the northern Syrian city of Aleppo several times over the past few years, often putting it out of commission. (AFP)
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Updated 20 July 2023
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Israel hits Hezbollah targets in Syria

  • Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment next door, has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of neighboring Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges them

JEDDAH: Three fighters were killed and four injured in new Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday near Syria's capital Damascus.

The targets included warehouses used by Hezbollah, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the monitoring group in the UK that has a vast network of sources in Syria.

The strikes also targeted positions of the Syrian army’s elite Fourth Division near the airport in the town of Dimas. One Syrian pro-regime fighter and two foreign, Iran-affiliated combatants were killed in the strikes, the Observatory said.
During more than a decade of war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes on its territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions.
Syria’s foreign ministry condemned the attack ‘in the strongest terms,” and called on the UN and the Security Council to “take immediate action” to oblige Israel “to desist from these criminal policies.”
While Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out on Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its footprint there.
Tehran says it has sent military “advisers” to support the Syrian army during the civil war, which has claimed more than 500,000 lives. Some of those Iranians stationed in Syria have been killed in Israeli strikes.
According to the Observatory, Israel carried out airstrikes in early July targeting Hezbollah sites near the government-held city of Homs, killing a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Israeli strikes also targeted a Syrian air defense base in Tartus province.


RSF committed atrocities during El-Fasher capture, UN body says

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RSF committed atrocities during El-Fasher capture, UN body says

  • UN Human Rights Office documented more than 6,000 killings in ‌the first ‌three days of the October offensive
Rapid Support Forces violations in Sudan during the capture of the city of El-Fasher amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said ‌on Friday.
Darfur’s El-Fasher fell ‌to RSF forces ​in ‌October ⁠2025 ​after a long ⁠siege that led to mass killings.
Based on interviews with over 140 victims and witnesses conducted in Sudan’s Northern state and in eastern Chad in late 2025, the UN Human Rights Office ⁠documented more than 6,000 killings in ‌the first ‌three days of the ​RSF offensive on El-Fasher ‌after the siege, it said.
RSF committed “widespread ‌atrocities that amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity,” said a report published by the Human Rights Office.
UN Human ‌Rights Chief Volker Turk renewed his call on parties to the ⁠conflict ⁠to take effective steps to end the grave violations by forces under their command, he said in a statement.
He appealed to states with influence to act urgently to prevent the repetition of violations documented in El-Fasher. “This includes respecting the arms embargo already in place, and ending the supply, sale or ​transfer of ​arms or military material to the parties.”