Israel attacks Syrian military installations, weapons

Express Tribune

04-06-2025

sraeli soldiers stand on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, as seen from the Golan Heights, December 10, 2024.Photo:REUTERS
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At least 95 Palestinians have been killed and 440 injured by Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The war in Gaza is having a devastating effect on pregnant women and nursing mothers, with an estimated 50,000 at serious risk due to shortages of food and essential medicines, according to a hospital in central Gaza, reported Al Jazeera.
Khalil al-Daqran, spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, said rates of miscarriage had increased sixfold since the outbreak of war and had been accompanied by a large rise in premature births, Wafa reported.
That had left Gaza's embattled neonatal units overwhelmed, he said.
Al-Daqran said Israel's targeting of the healthcare had brought it to the brink of collapse, with far-reaching impacts on patients in Gaza.
More than 23 hospitals had been put out of action, with those that remained only partly functioning, as a result of severe shortages of medical supplies and fuel, he said.
That meant more than 12,000 cancer patients were left without treatment, resulting in about five deaths a day, while dialysis patients were also dying through a lack of essential treatment.
According to Middle East Monitor, 41% of kidney failure patients have died since the beginning of the ongoing Israeli assault, as a result of their inability to receive dialysis treatment due to the destruction of medical facilities and the collapse of essential health services.
Aid suspended
Meanwhile, the United States- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) suspended aid distribution in the war-torn territory on Wednesday, a day after Israeli forces again opened fire on Palestinian aid seekers near a GHF distribution site, killing at least 27 and injuring more than 100.
Read: 27 killed, dozens injured by Israeli fire near Gaza aid site
Israel's military also said that approach roads to the aid distribution centres will be 'considered combat zones' on Wednesday, and warned that people in Gaza should heed the GHF announcement to stay away.
'We confirm that travel is prohibited tomorrow on roads leading to the distribution centers…and entry to the distribution centers is strictly forbidden,' an Israeli military spokesperson said.
In a post on social media, GHF said the temporary suspension was necessary to allow for 'renovation, reorganisation and efficiency improvement work'.
'Due to the ongoing updates, entry to the distribution centre areas is slowly prohibited! Please do not go to the site and follow general instructions. Operations will resume on Thursday. Please continue to follow updates,' the group said.
The temporary suspension of aid comes as more than 100 Palestinian people seeking aid have been reported killed by Israeli forces in the vicinity of GHF distribution centres since the organisation started operating in the enclave on May 27.
The killing of people desperately seeking food supplies triggered mounting international outrage with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanding an independent inquiry into the deaths and for 'perpetrators to be held accountable'.
'It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,' Guterres said.
'It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,' Guterres said.
The Israeli military has admitted it shot at aid seekers on Tuesday, but claimed that they opened fire when 'suspects' deviated from a stipulated route as a crowd of Palestinians was making its way to the GHF distribution site in Gaza.
'Syrian weapons struck down'
Separately, the Israeli military said in a statement it struck weapons belonging to the Syrian regime in southern Syria, in a second attack that Israel launched after claiming that two projectiles were fired from Syria into Golan Heights on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the two projectiles, according to Reuters.
Syrian state news agency and security sources reported a series of Israeli strikes, the first major ones in nearly a month, targeting several sites in the Damascus countryside and Quneitra and Daraa.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had said earlier that he held Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible for the two projectile launches.
"We consider the president of Syria directly responsible for any threat and fire toward the State of Israel, and a full response will come soon," Katz claimed.
אנו רואים בנשיא סוריה כאחראי ישירות לכל איום וירי לעבר מדינת ישראל והתגובה המלאה תגיע בהקדם. לא נאפשר חזרה למציאות של ה-7 באוקטובר.
— ישראל כ'ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) June 3, 2025
The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that reports of the launches towards Israel had not been verified yet and reiterated that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region, state news agency SANA reported.
"We believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilize the region to achieve their own interests," the Syrian foreign ministry added.
Syria and Israel have recently engaged in direct talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between states that have been on opposite sides of conflict in the Middle East for decades.
The Israeli military earlier said that two projectiles crossed from Syria towards Israel and fell in open areas.
Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets circulated a claim of responsibility from a little-known group named "Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades," an apparent reference to Hamas' military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024.
Reuters could not independently verify the statement.
Syrian state media earlier reported an Israeli strike in the southern Daraa province, an attack the Syrian foreign ministry later said resulted in "significant human and material losses."
Local residents said Israeli mortars were striking the Wadi Yarmouk area, west of Daraa province, near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The area has witnessed increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli military incursions into nearby villages, where residents have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops.
Israel has waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that destroyed much of Syria's military infrastructure.
It also has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and taken more territory in the aftermath of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December, citing lingering concerns over the past of the country's new rulers.
Around the same time that Israel reported the projectiles from Syria, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile from Yemen.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they targeted Israel's Jaffa with a ballistic missile.
The group says it has been launching attacks against Israel in support of Palestinians during the Israeli war in Gaza.
Read: Israel 'without a doubt' committed war crimes in Gaza: Mathew Miller
War crimes
Moreover, Hamas described recent comments made by US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller on Sky News, where he acknowledged Israeli war crimes as a "significant acknowledgement", Al Jazeera reported.
In an interview with the Trump 100 podcast, Matthew Miller, who served as the State Department spokesperson under President Joe Biden, offered an unusually candid assessment of the administration's foreign policy challenges, particularly surrounding Israel's military operations in Gaza.
'It is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes,' Miller said, adding that Israeli soldiers were not being held accountable and that there were ongoing policy disagreements inside the administration over the US-Israel relationship.
Miller served from 2023 until the end of Mr Biden's term and was responsible for publicly defending US foreign policy decisions, including during the Israel-Gaza conflict and the war in Ukraine.
Speaking after leaving office, Mr Miller disclosed that there were both 'small and big' disagreements over how to manage relations with Israel, especially during the 2024 escalation in Gaza.
In a statement to Al Jazeera, Hamas said the remarks 'denounce the Israeli occupation, validate its atrocities, and reveal efforts by the US administration to conceal the reality of this brutal war targeting innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip.'
Israel's war on Gaza
The total death toll from Israel's war on Gaza has risen to 54,607 killed and 125,341 injured since October 7, 2023, according to Palestinian health sources.
Israel has killed 4,335 Palestinians and injured 13,300 since breaking a ceasefire in March this year.
Israel's atrocities have displaced around 90% of Gaza's estimated two million residents, created a severe hunger crisis, and caused widespread destruction across the territory.
Aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among the enclave's more than 2 million.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.