Israeli forces are seen near a border fence between the Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights and Syria, November 4, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli forces are seen near a border fence between the Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights and Syria, on November 4, 2017. Ammar Awad / Reuters

Israel fires rockets at Syrian army positions


The National

Israeli forces carried out air strikes and fired rockets at targets in Syria overnight, causing damage to a “military position”, the Syrian army said on Tuesday.

The army said that it "hit" an Israeli aircraft and intercepted some rockets fired from Israeli territory.

Israeli jets fired missiles at the Al Qutaifa area near Damascus from Lebanese airspace at 2.40am local time, said the army, adding that the Israeli forces then fired ground-to-ground rockets from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Read more: Israel's attack on Syria reveals new fault lines

The Israeli military refused to comment, said Reuters.

In August, an Israeli official said that the air force had struck in Syria about 100 times. Israel usually does not confirm or deny such operations.

The Syrian army said that Israel was using the attacks to support militant groups in Syria and warned of serious repercussions.

Meanwhile, Russia said on Tuesday that it has enough troops in Syria to withstand any possible attacks by militants on its bases.

"That contingent that remains, the military infrastructure that remains, at the Hmeimim and Tartus military bases, they are completely capable of fighting these occasional terrorist acts," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Reuters.

Militants had attacked Russia’s bases overnight on January 6 using 13 armed drones.

Also on Tuesday, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that its military will continue its operation in Syria’s Afrin and Manbij regions

In 2016, Turkey launched the Euphrates Shield operation on its Syrian border to eradicate what it called a "corridor of terror", made up by the dual threat of ISIL and Syrian Kurdish fighters.

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High profile Al Shabab attacks
  • 2010: A restaurant attack in Kampala Uganda kills 74 people watching a Fifa World Cup final football match.
  • 2013: The Westgate shopping mall attack, 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers and four gunmen are killed.
  • 2014: A series of bombings and shootings across Kenya sees scores of civilians killed.
  • 2015: Four gunmen attack Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya and take over 700 students hostage, killing those who identified as Christian; 148 die and 79 more are injured.
  • 2016: An attack on a Kenyan military base in El Adde Somalia kills 180 soldiers.
  • 2017: A suicide truck bombing outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu kills 587 people and destroys several city blocks, making it the deadliest attack by the group and the worst in Somalia’s history.
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Nepotism is the name of the game

Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.