Israel attacks western Syria as indirect talks take place

The National

a day ago

Israel has bombed western Syria killing at least one person in the first such attack on the country in nearly a month, state media said on Friday.
"A strike from Israeli occupation aircraft targeted sites close to the village of Zama in the Jableh countryside south of Latakia," state television said.
One civilian was killed 'as a result of an Israeli occupation air strike targeting the vicinity of Zama', state news agency Sana reported.
This month, Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara said that his government is holding indirect talks with Israel to bring an end to Israeli attacks on Syria. The US called for a 'non-aggression agreement' between the sides.
The Israeli military said it had "struck weapon storage facilities containing coastal missiles that posed a threat to international and Israeli maritime freedom of navigation, in the Latakia area of Syria".
"In addition, components of surface-to-air missiles were struck," it said, adding it would "continue to operate to maintain freedom of action in the region, in order to carry out its missions and will act to remove any threat to the state of Israel and its citizens".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that jets likely to have been Israeli warplanes fired on military sites on the outskirts of Tartus and Latakia.
Since 1948, Syria and Israel have technically been at war. The most notable event was when Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and carried out hundreds of strikes and several incursions.
Israel said its strikes were aimed at stopping advanced weapons reaching Syria's new authorities, whom it considers as terrorists.
This comes as the newly-appointed US envoy to Syria, Thomas Barrack, visited Damascus and said he believed peace between Syria and Israel was achievable.
Mr Barrack made his first trip to Damascus on Thursday and said "Syria and Israel are a solvable problem. But it starts with a dialogue.'
The US official told the press that 'we need to start with just a non-aggression agreement, talk about boundaries and borders.'
The US officially issued a sanctions waiver for Syria last week. Following the waiver, Mr Barrack met Mr Al Shara and Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani in Istanbul.