Israel strikes Syria, US pounds Huthis in Yemen

By AFP - Oct 17,2024 - Last updated at Oct 17,2024

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on October 17, 2024 (AFP photo)

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel struck a Hizbollah target in Syria on Thursday, a war monitor said, and the United States used heavy bombers to hit rebel targets in Yemen nearly a month into the war in Lebanon.

According to Syrian state media, an Israeli strike on the city of Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad, wounded two civilians.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the Israeli raid targeted a "weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah".

The Israeli military did not comment on the strike when contacted by AFP.

Huthis vow to retaliate

Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria in recent years, including multiple recent attacks along the Lebanese border that seek to cut off Hizbollah's main weapons and equipment supply route from Iran to Lebanon.

In Huthi-controlled areas of Yemen, Israel's main ally the United States conducted multiple B-2 bomber strikes on weapon storage facilities, according to the US military and defence department.

The Huthis' political bureau said "the American aggression will not pass without a response", and vowed to continue the group's "support and assistance to Gaza and Lebanon".

Mohammed Al Basha, a US-based Middle East security analyst, said use of the heavy B-2 stealth bombers indicated Washington was stepping up its efforts against the Huthis.

"This operation signifies a shift in US policy, indicating a firmer stance against the group's destabilising behaviour," Basha said.

Displaced

The Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7, 2023.

The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed 42,438 people, the majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which the UN considers reliable.

In support of its ally Hamas, Hizbollah opened up a front against Israel by launching cross-border attacks from Lebanon last year.

The ensuing exchanges of fire forced tens of thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.

Israel in late September widened the focus of its operations to Lebanon, launching massive strikes on Hezbollah strongholds around the country and on September 30 sending in ground troops.

On Wednesday, Lebanon said Israeli strikes killed 16 people, including a mayor attending a crisis meeting, in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, where Hizbollah and its ally Amal hold sway.

On Thursday, a strike hit near the south Lebanon coastal city of Tyre, AFPTV footage showed, after Israel issued an evacuation call in the area.

Israel also issued evacuation warnings for civilians in part of the eastern Lebanese Bekaa valley, a Hizbollah stronghold.

'Total destruction'

Israeli troops and Hizbollah fighters have been clashing near Lebanon's southern border, where Hizbollah on Thursday said it hit four Israeli tanks with guided missiles.

Rescue workers affiliated with Amal in the southern city of Qana were digging through the rubble of several buildings destroyed in a bombing this week.

"More than 15 buildings have been completely destroyed, total destruction in a neighbourhood in Qana," said Mohammed Nasrallah Ibrahim, one of the rescuers.

The war in Lebanon has left at least 1,373 people dead, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

Israel has faced criticism over its strikes in Lebanon, including from its tops arms supplier the United States.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Washington had told Israel its operations should "not threaten the lives of civilians", UN peacekeepers deployed in the country or the Lebanese military.

Following a string of incidents last week, the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission accused Israeli forces of "firing at their watchtower" in a "direct and apparently deliberate" manner.

The Israeli military said later that it was not targeting UN peacekeepers.

The United Nations has also warned about a growing number of attacks on Lebanese health care facilities.

A new ambulance was destroyed by an Israeli strike in a southern village last week, volunteer rescue worker Bachir Nakhal told AFP.

"We weren't expecting the ambulances... to get directly targeted or bombed," he said.

The Israeli army has accused Hizbollah of using ambulances to transport weapons and fighters, without providing evidence.

Hunger and poverty in Gaza

In northern Gaza's Jabalia, where almost the entire population is displaced, two hospitals said Israeli air strikes on a school sheltering displaced people killed at least 14 people, in the latest of multiple such incidents.

The military reported that it had hit militants.

Some 345,000 Gazans face "catastrophic" levels of hunger this winter after aid deliveries fell, a UN-backed assessment said Thursday, warning of the persistent risk of famine.

Nearly 100 per cent of Gaza's population now lives in poverty, with a "staggering" unemployment rate of nearly 80 percent, the UN's International Labour Organization said on Thursday.

The impact of the war on Gaza "will be felt for generations to come," warned the ILO's Ruba Jaradat.

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