Region

DAMASCUS — Syria slammed Israeli attacks as a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty after deadly bombardment Tuesday in the country's south, where Israel's military said it responded to incoming fire.

The violence 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.

The Syrian foreign ministry in a statement condemned "the continued Israeli aggression on Syrian territory, which saw a dangerous escalation in the village of Kuwayya" in the southern Daraa province.

It said "heavy artillery and air bombardment targeted residential and farming areas, leading to the death of six civilians", raising an earlier toll provided by local authorities. 

"This escalation comes in the context of a series of violations that started with Israeli forces' penetrating into Quneitra and Daraa provinces, in an ongoing aggression on Syrian territory, in flagrant violation of national sovereignty and international law," the ministry said.

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli military said 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 in a statement.

Daraa governor Anwar al-Zoabi said in a statement that "Israeli occupation army violations and repeated attacks on Syrian territory pushed a group of residents to clash with a military force that tried to penetrate" Kuwayya, northwest of Daraa city.

The situation "led to an escalation" by Israeli forces "with artillery shelling and drone bombardment", said the statement posted on Telegram. 

‘Dangerous escalation' 

The foreign ministry in neighbouring Jordan condemned Tuesday's incursion and bombardment as "a dangerous escalation" that risked fuelling "further conflict and tension in the region".

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites since Assad's fall in December, saying it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities it considers jihadists.

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 kilometres west of the city.

On Friday, the military carried out strikes on the same bases.

Israel has also deployed troops to the Golan Heights buffer zone, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarisation of southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-annexed Golan.

United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Tuesday that he was "concerned by Israeli statements on the intention to stay in Syria" and demands for the full demilitarisation of the south.

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.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — One person was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon late Monday, after a wave of intensive air attacks in the region over the weekend, state media reported. 

"A raid by an enemy Israeli drone on a vehicle in the area of Qaqaiyat Al Jisr left one dead," the National News Agency (ANI) said, attributing the toll to the Lebanese health ministry. 

Israel launched air strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing eight people, in response to rocket fire that hit its territory for the first time since a ceasefire took effect on November 27. 

No party has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, which a military source said was launched from an area north of the Litani River, between the villages of Kfar Tebnit and Arnoun, near the zone covered by the ceasefire agreement.

The agreement stipulates that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers may be deployed south of the Litani River, with Hezbollah required to dismantle its infrastructure and withdraw north of the river.

But the war has severely weakened Hizbollah, which remains a target of Israeli air strikes despite the ceasefire.

Over the weekend Lebanese officials held discussions with Washington and Paris to prevent Israel from bombing Beirut, a source told AFP on Monday on condition of anonymity. 

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that following rocket fire on Metula, a town in northern Israel, "Metula's fate is the same as Beirut's".

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — An Israeli air strike killed a journalist working with Al Jazeera on Monday and the military issued fresh calls to evacuate parts of Gaza's north, as Israel pressed its renewed bombardment and ground operations in the Palestinian territory.

Israel resumed intense air strikes across Gaza last Tuesday, followed by ground operations, after talks on extending a ceasefire with the Palestinian militant group Hamas reached an impasse.

On Monday evening, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued "an early warning before a strike" in the northern area of Jabalia.

"Terrorist organizations are once again returning to and firing rockets from populated areas... For your safety, head south toward the known shelters immediately," Adraee said on X, after issuing similar warnings for the northern towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.

Earlier, Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli drone strike on Monday afternoon killed Hussam Shabat, who was working with Al Jazeera, near a petrol station in Beit Lahia.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency, said air strikes had targeted more than 10 cars, including Shabat's, in various parts of Gaza.

"Hussam Shabat, a journalist collaborating with Al Jazeera Mubasher, was martyred in an Israeli strike targeting his car in the northern Gaza Strip," an alert from the Qatari broadcaster said, referring to its live Arabic channel.

AFPTV footage from the scene in Beit Lahia showed Palestinians gathering around the car, which had an Al Jazeera sticker on its windscreen. A body could be seen on the ground nearby.

According to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel's military in October accused Shabat and five other Palestinian journalists of being militants, which he denied.

Hundreds of people attended Shabat's funeral held at Beit Lahia's Indonesian Hospital, praying over his body, which still wore a press flak jacket.

The civil defence agency said a media worker from Islamic Jihad-affiliated Palestine Today TV, Muhammad Mansour, was killed in a separate air strike in Gaza's south.

In a statement, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called the deaths of Shabat and Mansour "a crime added to the record of Israeli terrorism". 

It said that more than 206 journalists and media workers had been killed since the start of the war, which was triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

'Imagine this is your son' 

The October 7 attack resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures, while Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 50,082 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

The health ministry said Monday that 730 people had been killed since Israel resumed bombardments on March 18, including 57 in the past 24 hours.

Militants also seized 251 hostages on October 7, 58 of whom are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas's armed wing released a video on Monday showing two Israeli hostages -- identified by AFP as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana -- describing the danger they have faced since the resumption of intense Israeli strikes. 

Bohbot's family reacted to the video with a statement appealing to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump to secure the remaining hostages' release.

"Imagine this is your son, the father of your grandchild, waiting to see daylight, hearing [Israeli army] bombs, and living in constant fear for his life," the statement said.

'Civilians 'trapped' 

Israel's military said it intercepted a total of three "projectiles" launched from the Gaza Strip on Monday evening. The armed wing of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it had launched rockets towards Israel.

The military also said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the sixth since the resumption of Gaza hostilities.

The Huthis later claimed responsiblity for two missiles, saying they would "target the heartland of the occupying entity until the aggression stops and the siege on the Gaza Strip is lifted". 

The Huthi news agency Saba late Monday reported 12 US airstrikes "in the last few hours" in northwest Yemen.

The Israel military said Tuesday it had again struck two military bases in central Syria, a day after the European Union's foreign policy chief warned strikes there and in Lebanon risked escalation.

"A short while ago, the IDF struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian military bases of Tadmur and T4," the Israeli military said, referring to bases in Palmyra and another 50 kilometres west of the city.

On Monday during a visit to Jersalem, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that Israeli strikes on Syria and Lebanon were threatening to worsen the situation.

"Military actions must be proportionate, and Israeli strikes into Syria and Lebanon risk further escalation," Kallas said.

Meanwhile, the municipality of the southern Gaza city of Rafah said in a statement Monday that "thousands of civilians" were "trapped under intense Israeli shelling" in the Tal Al Sultan neighbourhood.

It added that all communications were cut with the neighbourhood, and that the local health care system had "entirely collapsed".

On Sunday the military said it had encircled Tal Al Sultan to "dismantle terrorist infrastructure and eliminate" militants there.

The defence ministry also announced the creation of an administration dedicated to the "voluntary departure of Gaza residents to a third country", drawing outrage from Egypt.

DAMASCUS — 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 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.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites since Assad's fall in December, saying it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities it considers jihadists.

It has also deployed to the Golan Heights buffer zone, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarisation of southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-annexed Golan.

The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, has reported near-daily Israeli military incursions into southern Syria beyond the demarcation line.

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 kilometres west of the city.

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.

United Nations, United States — The United Nations said Monday a strike on its buildings in Gaza last week that killed one employee and injured several others was caused "by an Israeli tank," a claim disputed by the country's government.

"Based on the information currently available, the strikes hitting a UN compound in Deir Al Balah on 19 March were caused by an Israeli tank," said the secretary-general's spokesman Stephane Dujarric. 

The strike -- which killed a Bulgarian employee of the UN Office for Project Services and severely injured six others, according to Dujarric -- came as Israel renewed its intense bombardment of the Palestinian territory, carrying out the deadliest wave of attacks since a January truce in its war against militant group Hamas.

"The location of this UN compound was well known to the parties to the conflict," Dujarric said.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said in a statement on X that Israel launched an investigation into the UN worker's death, but "the initial examination found no connection... whatsoever" to Israeli military activity.

Given the renewed violence, Dujarric said the UN "has taken the difficult decision" to temporarily reduce its international staff within the Palestinian territory.

But "the UN is not leaving Gaza," Dujarric stressed, adding that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "renews his urgent call for the restoration of the ceasefire to bring an end to the anguish."

Israel's military said it intercepted two "projectiles" launched on Monday from the Gaza Strip, nearly a week after Israel resumed intensified bombing of the territory.

It is the third time Gaza fighters have fired rockets into Israel since it restarted its heavy air strikes on March 18, shattering a period of relative calm since a January truce.

"Following the sirens that sounded at 19:02 in the communities near the Gaza Strip, two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip were intercepted" by the Israeli Air Force, the military statement said.

The armed wing of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad, the Al Quds Brigade, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, saying in a statement that it had fired towards Sderot, Netiv Ha'asara and Zikim, near the northern edge of the Gaza Strip.

The health ministry in Gaza said Monday that 730 people had been killed since Israel resumed intense bombardments, including 57 in the past 24 hours.

RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — Doctors Without Borders [MSF] denounced on Monday the "extremely precarious" situation of Palestinians displaced by the ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank.

According to the United Nations, some 40,000 residents have been displaced since January 21, when the Israeli army launched an operation targeting Palestinian armed groups in the north of the territory.

The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is home to about three million Palestinians as well as nearly 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.

The Israeli operation started two days after a truce agreement came into effect in the Gaza Strip between the Israeli military and the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers.

The situation of the displaced Palestinians is "extremely precarious", said MSF, which is operating in the area.

Palestinians "are without proper shelter, essential services, and access to healthcare", the NGO said.

"The mental health situation is alarming."

In a statement to AFP, the Israeli military [IDF] said it had been operating "against all terrorist organizations, including Hamas, in a complex security reality".

"The IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals," the statement said.

MSF said the scale of forced displacement and destruction of camps "has not been seen in decades" in the West Bank.

"People are unable to return to their homes as Israeli forces have blocked access to the camps, destroying homes and infrastructure," said MSF Director of Operations Brice de la Vingne.

"Israel must stop this, and the humanitarian response needs to be scaled up."

Dubbed "Iron Wall", the Israeli operation is primarily targeting three refugee camps,  Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams, and defence minister Israel Katz said in February it would last several months.

"I have instructed [the soldiers] to prepare for a prolonged stay in the evacuated camps for the coming year, and not to allow the return of their residents or the resurgence of terrorism," he said in a statement.

TEHRAN — Iran said on Monday it was open to indirect talks with the United States, after President Donald Trump had demanded negotiations for a new nuclear deal.

"The way is open for indirect negotiations," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, dismissing the prospect of direct talks "until there is a change in the other side's approach towards the Islamic republic".

The top Iranian diplomat said Tehran would not engage in direct talks with Washington under threats and so long as Trump maintain his "maximum pressure" policy.

Under that policy in his first term as president, Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark agreement on Iran's nuclear programme in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Tehran.

The deal, sealed in 2015 between Tehran and Western powers, required Iran to limit its nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.

Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of pursing a nuclear weapon, which Tehran has denied, insisting its enrichment activities were solely for peaceful purposes.

On March 7, Trump said he had written to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to call for nuclear negotiations and warn of possible military action if Tehran refused.

The letter was delivered to Tehran on March 12 by UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash, Iranian news agency Fars reported at the time.

On Friday Khamenei said US threats "will get them nowhere", warning of reciprocal measures "if they do anything malign" against Iran.

Araghchi on Thursday said Trump's letter was "more of a threat", but added that it could also open up some opportunities and that Tehran would respond soon.

US Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff, in an interview published Friday, said Trump's goal was to avoid military conflict by building trust with Iran.

He insisted the letter was not meant as a threat.

Tehran and Washington cut diplomatic ties after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah.

Since then, the Swiss embassy in Tehran has facilitated communications between the two nations.

Gulf state Oman has also mediated indirect talks on Iran's nuclear issue via the so-called "Muscat process", which Araghchi had said in October was "halted for the time being."

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — US and Russian officials opened talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday on a partial ceasefire in the Ukraine war, a day after delegates from Washington and Kyiv had their own discussions.

US President Donald Trump is pushing for a rapid end to the three-year war and hopes talks in Riyadh could pave the way for a breakthrough.

Both sides have proposed different plans for temporary ceasefires, but cross-border attacks have meanwhile continued unabated.

Originally planned to take place simultaneously to enable shuttle diplomacy -- with the United States going back and forth between the delegations -- the talks are now taking place one after the other.

Russia's TASS news agency said at around 0730 GMT that the US-Russian talks had begun.

The meeting between the Ukrainian team, led by defence minister Rustem Umerov, and the Americans finished up late Sunday night.

"The discussion was productive and focused -- we addressed key points including energy," Umerov said on social media, adding Ukraine was working to make its goal of a "just and lasting peace" a reality.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff voiced optimism that any agreement struck would pave the way for a "full-on" ceasefire.

"I think you're going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries. And from that you'll naturally gravitate to a full-on shooting ceasefire," he told Fox News.

‘Only at the beginning' 

But the Kremlin on Sunday downplayed expectations of a rapid resolution.

"We are only at the beginning of this path," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV.

He said there were many outstanding questions over how a potential ceasefire might be implemented.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a joint US-Ukrainian call for a full and immediate 30-day pause, proposing instead a halt in attacks only on energy facilities.

"There are difficult negotiations ahead," Peskov said in the interview, published on social media.

Peskov said the "main" focus in its talks with the United States would be a possible resumption of a 2022 Black Sea grain deal that ensured safe navigation for Ukrainian farm exports via the Black Sea.

"On Monday, we mainly intend to discuss President Putin's agreement to resume the so-called Black Sea initiative, and our negotiators will be ready to discuss the nuances around this problem," Peskov said.

Moscow pulled out of the deal -- brokered by Turkey and the United Nations -- in 2023, accusing the West of failing to uphold its commitments to ease sanctions on Russia's own exports of farm produce and fertilisers.

A senior Ukrainian official previously told AFP that Kyiv would propose a broader ceasefire, covering attacks on energy facilities, infrastructure and naval strikes.

Both sides launched fresh drone attacks on the eve of the negotiations.

Deadly attack on Kyiv 

Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone attack overnight Saturday killed three civilians in Kyiv, including a five-year-old girl and her father.

AFP reporters in the capital saw emergency workers treating the wounded early Sunday in front of damaged residential buildings hit in the strike.

Deadly strikes on the well-protected city are rarer than elsewhere in the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his country's allies to put fresh pressure on Russia.

"New decisions and new pressure on Moscow are needed to bring an end to these strikes and this war," he posted on social media on Sunday.

Moscow heads into the Saudi talks after a rapprochement with Washington under Trump that has boosted confidence in the Kremlin.

Peskov said Sunday that the "potential for mutually beneficial cooperation in a wide variety of spheres between our countries cannot be overstated".

"We may disagree on some things but that does not mean we should deprive ourselves of mutual benefit," he added.

SANAA — Yemen's Huthi rebels said one person had been killed and 13 others injured in strikes late Sunday on the capital Sanaa that they blamed on the United States.

"A citizen was killed and 13 others were injured including three children in the final toll of the US aggression on a residential building in the Aser area," in Sanaa, said Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anees Alasbahi in a statement.

An AFP correspondent in that area of Sanaa saw the remains of a building destroyed in an apparent strike.

Earlier, Huthi media had reported US strikes on a residential building in Sanaa as well as in the group's rebel heartland of Saada.

The United States did not immediately confirm whether it had conducted strikes on Sanaa, but a defence official told AFP: "CENTCOM (US Central Command) is conducting strikes across multiple locations of Iran-backed Huthi locations every day and night in Yemen."

On March 15 the United States announced a new military offensive promising to use overwhelming force until the rebels stop firing on vessels in the key shipping routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

That day saw a wave of US air strikes that officials said killed senior Huthi leaders, and which the rebels' health ministry said killed 53 people.

The Huthis targeted ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the start of the Gaza war until a ceasefire began in January, claiming solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Earlier this month, they threatened to renew attacks on shipping in the vital maritime trade route over Israel's aid blockade on the Palestinian territory, triggering the first US strikes on Yemen since President Donald Trump took office in January.

The rebels have also claimed attacks targeting Israel in recent days, vowing to escalate after the resumption of massive military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Attacks by Huthi rebels in Yemen have forced three-fourths of US-flagged ships to avoid the Red Sea and instead take the long and expensive detour around the southern tip of Africa, the US national security advisor said Sunday.

"Seventy-five percent of our US flag shipping now has to go around the southern coast of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal," Mike Waltz told CBS's "Face the Nation."

He added: "The last time one of our destroyers went through the straits there, it was attacked 23 times."