Authorities in southern Syria reported that Israeli bombardment on Tuesday killed at least five people in Daraa province, while Israel's military said it carried out a strike in response to incoming fire.
The violence in the south, near the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, followed Israeli air strikes in central Syria, the latest in a string of attacks on military sites since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime president Bashar al-Assad.
Daraa provincial authorities, in a statement posted on Telegram, said in a provisional toll that "five people were killed in the Israeli bombardment of the town of Kuwayya". It added that residents of the town, west of Daraa city, had fled Israeli tank shelling.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that an "Israeli military unit" entered the town and fired heavy artillery at residents attempting to resist their incursion.
The Israeli military said in a statement that its troops "identified several terrorists who opened fire toward them in southern Syria", without providing a specific location. "The troops returned fire in response, and the IAF (air force) struck the terrorists," it added.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had "struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian military bases of Tadmur and T4", referring to bases in Palmyra and another 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the city, the day after European diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas warned against “further escalation”.
On Friday, the army also carried out strikes on the same bases.
Syria's foreign ministry has accused Israel of waging a campaign against "the stability of the country".
At an Arab summit in Cairo in early March, Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa called on the international community to pressure Israel to "immediately" withdraw its troops from southern Syria, calling it a "direct threat" to peace in the region.
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has carried out dozens of strikes on military sites belonging to the former Syrian government, claiming to want to prevent the arsenal from falling into the hands of the new authorities, described by Israel as “jihadists”.
The Israeli army has also deployed in the demilitarized zone on the Syrian Golan, from the part of this plateau occupied by Israel since 1967 and annexed in 1981.
For its part, the new Syrian government denounced this “aggression (as) part of an Israeli campaign against the Syrian people and the country's stability”.
On Monday evening, the Israeli army said it had “intercepted” a missile fired from Yemen.
The Houthis' Saba news agency reported 12 US air strikes “in the last few hours” in the Saadah governorate (north-western Yemen), whose capital is a rebel stronghold and the source of numerous attacks in the Red Sea carried out, they claim, in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Two people were injured in an American air raid on the Alrasoul Alaazam hospital in the same governorate, according to the same source, citing the local Ministry of Health.
Al Jazeera journalist killed
A journalist working for Al Jazeera was killed on Monday in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip, where the army is continuing ground operations by encircling a district of Rafah, in the south of the Palestinian territory.
Hossam Shabat worked for Al Jazeera Mubasher, the Arabic-language live broadcasting service, the Qatari channel said. Gaza's Civil Defense said his car had been targeted by a drone in Beit Lahia (north).
According to AFPTV footage, the car, which bore the TV stamp and the channel's logo, was hit in the rear and the journalist's body was found lying on the ground nearby.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Israel had accused Hossam Shabat of being a member of Hamas, which he firmly denied.
The Civil Defense also reported that an employee of the Islamic Jihad Palestine Today television station, Mohamed Mansour, had been killed in another strike in Khan Younès (south).
More than 206 journalists and media employees have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas's bloody attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, according to the union.
“Detente”
In Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt, the Israeli army continued on Monday its operation launched the day before in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood. The aim is to “dismantle terrorist infrastructures and eliminate terrorists in the area”, according to the army.
According to the Civil Defense, “around 50,000 civilians are trapped,” and the operations have “left dozens dead and wounded”.
On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross also denounced “an attack” on its premises in Rafah, which were damaged by an “explosive projectile” despite being “clearly identified”. No staff members were injured, the ICRC said.
The Israeli army explained that it had fired on the building without knowing it belonged to the ICRC, thinking it had “identified suspects”.
The UN Secretary-General's spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said that strikes on UN buildings in the central city of Deir el-Balah on March 19, which killed a Bulgarian employee, had been caused by “an Israeli tank”.
In the evening, the Israeli army issued a call to evacuate areas of northern Gaza ahead of a strike in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian territory into Israel. The armed branches of Islamic Jihad and Hamas claimed responsibility for the rockets, which were intercepted.
“The resumption of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel is “the only possible way to put an end to the suffering on both sides”, assured the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, on a visit to Jerusalem.
The truce agreement reached by mediators after months of difficult negotiations came into force on January 19, after 15 months of devastating war.
But after weeks of disagreement over the continuation of the truce, Israel broke it on March 18 with massive bombardments followed by ground operations, saying it wanted to force the Palestinian movement to return the last hostages it was holding. On Monday, the armed wing of Hamas broadcast a video of two Israeli hostages still being held.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Defense announced the creation of an administration dedicated to the “voluntary departure of Gazans to a third country”. Egypt, which borders Gaza and Israel, expressed its “firm condemnation” of the creation of this authority on Monday evening.
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