JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it killed the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah’s liaison with the Syrian army in an air strike on Damascus on Tuesday as a fragile six-day-old ceasefire stutters.
“The (Israeli Air Force) conducted an intelligence-based strike in Damascus targeting Hezbollah’s representative to the Syrian military, Salman Nemer Jomaa,” the military said, adding he played a key role in weapons deliveries between Syria and the militant group.
“As part of his duties, Jomaa was responsible for coordination between Hezbollah agents and the Syrian army, including to support the smuggling of weapons between Syria and Hezbollah,” it added.
Syrian state news agency SANA had reported an Israeli strike on a car on the road to Damascus’s international airport, while a war monitor reported one person killed.
“A car exploded after it was targeted in an Israeli aggression on the road to Damascus International Airport,” SANA reported, citing a police source.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the car was targeted by an Israeli drone.
“A man who was inside was killed and another was injured,” said the Observatory, without providing details of their identities.
The strike occurred near a military airfield, added the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
Since Syria’s war broke out in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, mainly targeting the army and Iran-backed groups including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Israel rarely comments on such strikes but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in the country.
The strike on Damascus came amid mutual accusations between Israel and Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire that came into effect in Lebanon on November 27.
Israel says killed Hezbollah liaison with Syria army in Damascus strike
https://arab.news/mwyhc
Israel says killed Hezbollah liaison with Syria army in Damascus strike
- “The (Israeli Air Force) conducted an intelligence-based strike in Damascus targeting Hezbollah’s representative to the Syrian military, Salman Nemer Jomaa,” the military said
- “Jomaa was responsible for coordination between Hezbollah agents and the Syrian army“hezbolla
Israel’s hostage forum releases AI-generated video of last Gaza captive
- The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling
JERUSALEM: An Israeli group representing the families of Gaza hostages released on Tuesday an AI-generated video of Ran Gvili, the last captive whose body is still being held in the Palestinian territory.
The one-minute clip, created whole cloth using artificial intelligence, purports to depict Gvili as he sits in a Gaza tunnel and appeals to US President Donald Trump to help bring his body back to Israel.
“Mr President, I’m asking you to see this through: Please bring me home. My family deserves this. I deserve the right to be buried with honor in the land I fought for,” says the AI-generated image of Gvili.
Gvili was 24 at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
He was an officer in Israel’s Yasam elite police unit and was on medical leave when he learnt of the attack.
He decided to leave his home and brought his gun to counter the Hamas militants.
He was shot in the fighting at the Alumim kibbutz before he was taken to Gaza.
Israeli authorities told Gvili’s parents in January 2024 that he had not survived his injuries.
The AI clip was released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing those taken captive to Gaza.
The Forum said it was published with the approval of Gvili’s family.
“Seeing and hearing Rani speak in his own voice is both moving and heartbreaking. I would give anything to hear, see and hold him again,” Gvili’s mother Talik said, quoted by the Forum.
“But all I can do now is plead that they don’t move to the next phase of the agreement before bringing Rani home — because we don’t leave heroes behind.”
The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling.
In the first stage, Palestinian militants were expected to return all of the remaining 48 living and dead hostages held in Gaza.
Since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, militants have released 47 hostages.
In the next stages of the truce, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet Trump in Florida later this month to discuss the second phase of the deal.
