Israel Launches Airstrikes Targeting Militants on Syria Border

Israeli armed forces said on Sunday that they had carried out an airstrike on the country’s border with Syria after spotting four people trying to plant bombs near the Israeli-held Golan Heights, AP reports.

The army said on its official Twitter account that the operation targeted “terrorists” armed with explosives who “were en route to imminent attack on our forces. Our air force neutralized threat.”

A spokeswoman for the Israeli military said the men had crossed from the Syrian side into the Israeli-held Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War.

The Israeli news media claims three or four men were killed in the airstrikes.

No one made an immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and it was not clear if the men were Syrians or belonged to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

On Saturday, Al Arabiya TV news channel reported that Israeli aircraft had launched two strikes against Hezbollah targets in in the Qalamoun area. One of the reported targets was a large weapons convoy headed for Hezbollah forces engaged in fighting alongside Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime against opposition forces.

Israel has conducted several airstrikes on Syria since 2011, mostly destroying weaponry it believed was destined for Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.

In January, tensions escalated in the border region after a suspected airstrike on a convoy in the Syrian portion of the Golan Heights that was attributed to Israel. The attack killed an Iranian general and five Hezbollah fighters, including the son of the group’s slain military commander, Imad Mughniyeh.

The incident was followed by an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers, in addition to a Spanish peacekeeper killed by retaliatory fire from Israel.

U.N. Aid Chief Urges Syria Arms Embargo and Sanctions

The United Nations aid chief has urged the Security Council to impose an arms embargo and sanctions in Syria for violations of humanitarian law, Reuters reports.

Valerie Amos also appealed to the Council to mandate the United Nations’ commission of inquiry on Syria to specifically investigate besieged areas, the militarization of schools and attacks on hospitals.

The United Nations says that about 440,000 people are besieged in Syria’s civil war. However, the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) claims the number is much higher, estimating that 640,200 Syrians are living in at least 49 besieged communities across the country.

Addressing the 15-member Security Council during an open briefing, Valerie Amos said that it is alarming that “people have become numb to figures that should, every day, shock our collective conscience.”

Over the tragic five-year arc of conflict, she added, “220,000 people have been killed; over one million injured. More than 7.6 million have been displaced within Syria and nearly four million people have sought refuge in neighboring countries,” which has further aggravated the crisis.

“The failure to stop the violence has undermined the credibility of this Council and eroded confidence in the international community to take its responsibilities seriously,” she concluded.

Special Envoy of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie, was one of four United Nations officials who briefed the Council.

“We cannot look at Syria, and the evil that has arisen from the ashes of indecision, and think this is not the lowest point in the world’s ability to protect and defend the innocent,” Jolie told the Security Council.

The Council failed last year to refer Syria’s conflict to the International Criminal Court for possible prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Syrian ally Russia, backed by China, vetoed the move.

Islamist Fighters Seize Jisr al-Shughour in Latest String of Rebel Victories Against the Regime

Islamist insurgents including militants from the Syrian al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra captured the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour on Saturday, Reuters reports.

“Islamist groups agreed to unite in the battle for Jisr al-Shughour under the name “Battle for Victory,’” according to Reuters.

The insurgents have been trying to push government forces out of the regime’s few remaining bases in Idlib province, putting the insurgents closer to the coastal province of Latakia, the stronghold of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“Jisr al-Shughour is more important than Idlib itself, it is very close to the coastal area which is a regime area, the coast now is within our fire reach,” Ahmad from Ahrar al-Sham told Reuters.

The capture of Jisr al-Shughour in northern Idlib province was just the latest in a string of victories by rebel forces, which have made significant advances in both the north and the south of the country.

Last month, Sunni Islamists seized the capital of Idlib province, after forming an alliance of rebel groups including the hardline group Ahrar al-Sham movement and Jund al-Aqsa.

“The formation of alliances by groups before major battles is one of the factors behind the advances,” sources told Reuters.

Syrian government aircraft retaliated by launching air raids in opposition-held areas across Idlib province on Sunday, killing at least 34 people in a single strike on Darkoush, a town near the Turkish border, AP reports.

Recommended Reads

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• The Washington Post: Assad’s Hold on Power Looks Shakier Than Ever as Rebels Advance in Syria
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• Reuters: Syrian Jets Pound Insurgent-Held Town: Monitor

Photo Courtesy of AP Images