The Israeli military said on Sunday it had carried out a ground attack into Syria, capturing Syrian citizens involved in Iran’s network. It’s the first time war now that Israel announced its forces are operating in Syrian territory.
Israel has carried out airstrikes in Syria several times in the past yeartargeting Lebanese Hezbollah members and officials from Iran, Hezbollah’s close ally and Syria. But it has not made public anything in Syria before.
The Israeli military said the seizure was part of a special operation “that has been carried out for the past several months,” although it did not say exactly when it happened. Syria did not immediately confirm the announcement, but the pro-government Syrian radio station, Sham FM, reported Sunday that Israeli forces carried out a “kidnapping operation” over the summer targeting people in the south of the country.
Israel has been waging a bombardment campaign in Lebanon for the past six weeks, as well as a ground invasion along the country’s border, vowing to cripple Hezbollah. On Saturday, an Israeli military official said naval forces carried out a raid in a northern Lebanese city, capturing what they said was a senior Hezbollah operative.
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The army identified the man as Ali Soleiman al-Assi, saying he lived in the southern Syrian region of Saida. They said the man had been under military surveillance for months and was involved in Iranian initiatives targeting areas in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights near the border with Syria.
Body camera video of the attack released by the army shows soldiers holding a man in a white tank top inside a building. The man was taken to Israel for questioning, the military said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the border with Lebanon on Sunday, saying his focus was trying to keep Hezbollah from rearming itself through the “oxygen lifeline” of Iranian weapons transferred to Lebanon via Syria. Israel said the campaign in Lebanon aims to push Hezbollah away from the border and end for more than a year of fire by the group into northern Israel.
Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 2,500 people over the past year. In Israel, 69 people have been killed by Hezbollah projectiles.
On the US presidential campaign trail this weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged progressives and members of the Arab American population who are angry with the Biden administration for continuing the US alliance with Israel while the Netanyahu government is pushing for war against Hamas. in Gaza.
“I have been very clear that the level of death of innocent Palestinians is unacceptable,” Harris told reporters.
In East Lansing, Michigan, he solve the problem after starting to say. “As president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, bring back the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is safe and ensure that the Palestinian people can realize their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination,” he said.
Some students in East Lansing voiced their opposition on Sunday with calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. At least one participant was escorted out after the ceasefire call.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued their offensive in the northern Gaza Strip, where the military said it was fighting Hamas fighters massed there.
Shell fire hit Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, killing patients, including children, hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya said in a statement to the media. He said the shells hit the hospital’s nurseries, dormitories and water tanks after a delegation from the World Health Organization ended their visit.
Kamal Adwan and two other nearby hospitals have been attacked by Israel several times during the war. Earlier this month, Israeli forces attacked Kamal Adwan, detaining many people, including many staff, Abu Safiya said at the time of the attack. The military said those detained included Hamas members, without providing evidence, and said weapons were found at the facility.
But the Israel Defense Forces in a statement denied attacking Kamal Adwan on Sunday, blaming “explosive devices planted by terrorist organizations in Gaza” for the attack.
“Attacks on civilians, including humanitarian workers, and the rest of Gaza’s civilian facilities and infrastructure must stop,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement on Friday. “The entire Palestinian population in Northern Gaza, especially children, is at risk of death due to disease, famine, and continuous bombardment.”
In southern Gaza, an Israeli strike hit a group of people gathered outside the Khan Younis district, killing at least eight Palestinians, including four children and a woman, the region’s Health Ministry emergency services said. The city’s Nasser Hospital, which received most of the bodies, confirmed the figures.
Palestinian officials said an Israeli drone attack on a clinic in northern Gaza where children were being vaccinated against polio killed six people, including four children. The Israeli military denied responsibility.
Dr. Munir al-Boursh, director general of the Gaza Ministry of Health, told The Associated Press that a quadcopter struck Sheikh Radwan’s clinic in Gaza City early Saturday afternoon, just minutes after a UN delegation left the facility.
UNICEF and WHO, which jointly run the polio vaccination campaign, expressed concern over the reported attacks. Rosalia Bollen, a spokeswoman for UNICEF, said the attack came during a “humanitarian pause” agreed by Israel to allow vaccinations to take place.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said that “contrary to these claims, a preliminary review determined that (the Israeli military) did not attack in the area at the specified time.”
Unable to resolve conflicting accounts. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked hospitals in Gaza during the war, saying Hamas is using them for militant purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials. Hamas fighters are also operating in the north, fighting Israeli forces.
Northern Gaza has been under siege by Israeli forces and largely isolated for the past year. Israel has carried out other attacks there in recent weeks that have killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands.
A scaled-down campaign to administer a second dose of polio vaccine began on Saturday in parts of northern Gaza. It has been suspended since October 23 due to a lack of access, Israeli bombardment and mass evacuation orders, and no guarantees for a humanitarian pause, the UN statement said.
The administration of the first dose took place in September across the Gaza Strip, including the north.
At least 100,000 people have been forced to flee the northern Gaza Strip to Gaza City in recent weeks, but around 15,000 children under the age of 10 remain in the northern cities, including Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which are inaccessible. according to the United Nations
The final phase of the polio vaccination campaign has targeted approximately 119,000 children in the north with a second dose of oral polio vaccine, the agency said, but “meeting this target is currently impossible due to limited access.”
He said that 90% of children in every community should be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.
The campaign was launched after the first case of polio was reported in Gaza in 25 years – a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in his legs. The World Health Organization says the paralysis case suggests there are hundreds of others infected but showing no symptoms.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 250 others. said how many were combatants but said more than half were women and children.
