An Israeli drone strike reportedly killed a Syrian air defense commander Sunday afternoon, hours after Israel’s defense minister threatened to destroy Syria’s air defense array, amid spiraling tensions between Jerusalem and Damascus.
Russia’s military on Friday said it has begun scaling down its deployment to Syria, with Moscow’s sole aircraft carrier set to be the first to quit the conflict zone.
Two incidents this week showcase the complexity of the challenges facing Israel on its northern front.
Syria confirmed Wednesday that Israeli jets attacked west of Damascus, with reports in Arab media saying an arms convoy intended for Hezbollah was the target.
The Israel Air Force attacked an abandoned ISIS military facility in the Syrian Golan Heights early Monday in response to the mortar and gunfire aimed at an IDF patrol from that area the previous day, dropping 10 one-ton bombs on the target.
The Israel Air Force killed four ISIS terrorists on Sunday morning after launching a retaliatory strike just minutes after mortars and gunshots were fired in Israel’s direction from Syria. No other injuries were reported in the incident.
Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov arrived in the eastern Mediterranean, off the Syrian coast, a naval commander told Russian television.
MOSCOW – The wife of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview her husband’s foes had offered her the chance to flee Syria in order to try to shake confidence in him, but that she had not left the country since the war erupted.
The Israel Defense Forces has reportedly approached the Russian Defense Ministry to request that new coordination procedures be developed now that Russia has stationed S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in Syria. News of the IDF request appeared in the Russian newspaper Izvestia.
Muslim and Jewish religious leaders met in Jerusalem in an intimate forum including Israelis and Palestinians. Leading the Jewish delegation was Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel and Head of the Supreme Rabbinical Court Yitzhak Yosef.