Israel strikes Syria again, claims to have killed alleged Hamas member
The Israeli army has again bombed Syria, claiming it killed a Hamas member during an air strike in the south of the country, in the latest in its series of attacks on Syria in the wake of former President Bashar al-Assad's ouster last December.
In a statement on Telegram on Sunday morning, the Israeli army said it had struck the alleged Hamas member in the Mazraat Beit Jin area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that one person was killed and two others were wounded in the Israeli attack targeting a vehicle in the town near the United Nations-patrolled buffer zone.
Hamas has not yet commented on the death of the alleged member.
The observatory says Israel has carried out 61 attacks – 51 by air and 10 by ground – in Syria so far this year.
Two rockets launched from Syria targeted Israel earlier this week, a first since the fall of al-Assad.
Two groups claimed responsibility for the attack.
The first group, named the 'Martyr Mohammed Deif Brigades', is a little-known group named after the Hamas military commander who was killed last year. A second little-known group, the 'Islamic Resistance Front in Syria', called for action against Israel from southern Syria a few months ago.
Israel struck southern Syria shortly afterwards, with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz saying that he was holding Syria 'directly responsible'.
Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani condemned Israel's attacks and called them 'coordinated provocations aimed at undermining Syria's progress and stability'.
'These actions create an opening for outlawed groups to exploit the resulting chaos,' he said, adding, 'Syria has made its intentions clear: we are not seeking war, but rather reconstruction'.
Syria and Israel had recently engaged in indirect talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between states that have been on opposite sides of conflicts in the Middle East for decades.
But Israel has relentlessly waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that has destroyed much of Syria's military infrastructure. It has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and taken more territory in the aftermath of al-Assad's removal, citing lingering concerns over the country's new government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who it dismisses as a 'jihadist.'
Syria's new government has taken several major steps towards international acceptance after the United States and European Union lifted sanctions on the country last month, giving a nation devastated by nearly 14 years of civil war a lifeline to recovery.
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