Israeli air force carries out 2 strikes in Janta, on border between Lebanon and Syria | LIVE

Syria

The Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria has criticized the constitutional declaration adopted a few hours earlier by the new Syrian authorities, claiming that it does not reflect the country's “diversity.”

The declaration “contradicts the reality of Syria and its diversity,” judged the administration, adding that it “does not reflect the spirit of the Syrian people and its various components, from Kurds to Arabs, Syriacs, Assyrians and other Syrian national components.”

Lebanon

The Israeli army says it has “attacked infrastructure at a strategic weapons production and storage site belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Bekaa region of Lebanon.” It assures that it “will continue to act to eliminate any threat to Israel.”

Lebanon

Israeli fighter jets fly low over the Bekaa, reports our correspondent in the region.

Lebanon

The Israeli air force carried out two strikes in Janta, on the border between Lebanon and Syria, reports our correspondent in the Bekaa.

Lebanon

Israeli drones fly low over the eastern chain as far as Hermel, reports our correspondent in the Bekaa.

South Lebanon

The Israeli army dropped three stun grenades over Kfar Kila, in the Marjayoun district, according to our correspondent.

Lebanon-Israel

“We will not relinquish control of the five sites on Lebanese territory,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video posted on X.

Read more here.

Syria-Israel

“This morning, we attacked an Islamic Jihad headquarters in the heart of Damascus,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message broadcast by his right-wing Likud party. “We did it because our policy is clear: Whoever attacks us or prepares an attack, we hit. And that applies not only to Syria but everywhere else, including Lebanon,” he added.

Syria

The Turkish Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister and the head of the MIT (Turkish intelligence) agency are on a working visit to Damascus, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced, without giving further details.

South Lebanon

Hezbollah organized the funeral of Hassan Ezzeddine in Houmine al-Tahta, in the Nabatieh district, reports the National News Agency. He was killed on Tuesday on the Deir Zahrani-Houmine al-Faouqa road in a strike by the Israeli army, which described him as “a manager of the air defense system within Hezbollah's regional Badr unit.”

At the funeral, MP Ihab Hamadeh said, “We promise the martyrs that we will continue on our path to Jerusalem and remain steadfast in our principles, visions and sacrifices.” He added: “We will continue our path and preserve the blood of the martyrs to liberate the land.”

Gaza

The Israeli army said it had carried out an air strike on Thursday against “several” fighters it believed were burying an explosive device in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory where a truce between Israel and Hamas has been in force since Jan. 19.

“Earlier [Thursday], several terrorists were spotted near army troops in central Gaza as they attempted to hide an explosive device in the ground,” the Israeli army said in a statement, adding that the air force had "carried out a strike and hit the terrorists."

U.S.-Iran

The United States has imposed sanctions against Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad and certain Hong Kong-flagged vessels, according to the Treasury Department, Reuters reports.

Strike in Damascus

The Israeli air strike on Damascus targeted an empty house and not the movement's headquarters, according to Islamic Jihad, thus denying the Israeli version, Haaretz reports. Earlier in the day, the Israeli army had claimed to have targeted a “command center used to plan and direct the terrorist activities of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”

“We affirm our solidarity with the brotherly Syrian people who are suffering from the ongoing occupation and aggression,” said Islamic Jihad spokesperson Mohammad al-Hajj Moussa.

Syria

Qatar has begun supplying gas to Syria via Jordan, the Gulf emirate's state media reported, at a time when the new Syrian authorities are facing economic instability and a shortage of electricity in the aftermath of a devastated 13 years of civil war. "Qatar today began supplying natural gas to the Syrian Arab Republic via the territories of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan," Qatar News Agency reported.

Gaza

Palestinian civil defence crews recovered an additional 48 bodies from Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, Al Jazeera reports, as searches resume at the devastated medical facility, laid siege by the Israeli army several times throughout the war. The remains are now being transported for proper burial.

According to civil defence officials, 38 of the bodies have been identified with the help of relatives, while 10 remain unidentified. The civil defense head told Al Jazeera that clearing all the bodies so far found at the hospital — approximately 160 — will take several days.

Syria, Damascus strike

Islamic Jihad spokesperson Muhammad al-Haj Musa denied the targeted building was a command centre, writing on Telegram that it was an empty house. Reports of at least one person killed circulated in Syrian media, while Reuters cited Syrian health officials who said two people were injured in the Israeli airstrike.

"The Zionist aggression in Damascus was aimed at an empty house, and not at the movement's headquarters, as the occupation claims," Musa stated. "We affirm our solidarity with the brotherly Syrian people who are suffering from the ongoing occupation and aggression."

According to a Times of Israel report, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Syria told reporters that the attack targeted the home of the group’s leader Ziad Nakhaleh.

Ismail Sindak reportedly told the Associated Press that the apartment has been empty for years, adding that Nakhaleh is not in Syria. Asked whether anyone was killed in the strike, Sindak says “the house was empty.” It is not immediately clear where Nakhaleh is, but he is believed to spend his time between Lebanon, Iran and Syria, Times of Israel stated.

Syria, Damascus strike

A source from within Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group allied with Hamas, confirmed "deaths and injuries" in the Israeli air strike "on a building belonging to Islamic Jihad in the Douma district of northwest Damascus," AFP reports, in reference to the air strike on Damascus around 1 p.m. this afternoon, which the Israeli army has claimed and which initial reports say caused at least one death.

Syria

Syria will retain Islamic jurisprudence as the main basis of law and will preserve freedom of opinion and expression, according to a constitutional declaration drafted by experts and signed by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa this afternoon.

A summary of its 44 articles was read out by a legal expert from the committee appointed by Sharaa less than two weeks ago, Reuters reports. According to AFP, the constitutional declaration sets a five-year transition period.

Syria

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has confirmed the army's airstrike against a building in Damascus, AFP reports. Al-Araby news said that two explosions were heard at the municipal district of Dummar in northern Damascus.

According to the Israeli Channel 12 news, the Israeli army has reportedly been concerned about Hamas attempting to rebuild in Syria, with this latest attack part of Israel's operations to prevent that from happening.

South Lebanon

From its al-Assi position on Israeli territory along the border with Lebanon, the Israeli army is combing with heavy machine guns the area of Kroum al-Shraqi, east of the Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal, located in Marjayoun district, our correspondent in the South reports.

Israeli warplanes are flying at a low altitude over the Bekaa Valley, making circles in the skies of Baalbeck and the northern Bekaa, our correspondent in the region reports. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Abdallah)

Syria

🔴 Israel has targeted Damascus in an airstrike, according to Haaretz and Channel 12. The Israeli Army Radio (GLZ) specified that Israeli aircraft struck the headquarters of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Syrian capital.

Syria's state news agency reported that Israeli aircraft targeted a building on the edge of Damascus and two Syrian security sources told Reuters the target was a Palestinian.

Israel and Lebanon

According to a source cited by The Jerusalem Post, there are currently no discussions about normalization between Israel and Lebanon, despite an Israeli political official telling reporters that “discussions with Lebanon regarding the land border are part of a broad and comprehensive plan," and that the end goal was to "achieve normalization with Lebanon."

An Israeli political source told The Post that "just as Lebanon has claims regarding the borders, so do we. We will discuss these matters." However, "It will take weeks before these talks begin, and even then, it is unclear whether they will reach agreements," another source familiar with the details of the discussions said.

According to political sources cited by L'Orient-Le Jour, the Lebanese government only learned of this initiative after statements from Netanyahu and deputy U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus. The "nature" of the working groups established for negotiations — whether political or technical — was not discussed, not even during meetings held in Beirut over the past two days by Natacha Franceschi, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Levant and Syria.

For more, read Salah Hijazi's article "Is Israel making a ‘gesture’ toward the new Lebanese government or setting a trap?"

Israel

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from a seminary network were filmed Tuesday night enthusiastically singing their refusal to enlist in the Israeli army of “infidels,” Times of Israel reports.

The Ateret Shlomo students, from branches around the country that receive tens of millions of shekels annually in state funds, had gathered for the wedding of the son of the yeshiva chain’s head, Rabbi Sholom Ber Sorotzkin, at an event hall in the Mishor Adumim area of the occupied West Bank, east of Jerusalem, and had filled bleachers outside the hall afterward to sing and dance.

Singer Arale Samet led the crowd in an energetic rendition of a famous anthem of the staunchly anti-Zionist Neturei Karta Haredi sect, which is translatable as: “We don’t believe in the government of infidels and we do not recognize their laws.” However, the version sung at the wedding tweaked the words to say: “We don’t believe in the government of infidels and we won’t show up at their [army] recruitment offices.”

Syria

Israel's foreign minister ordered the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Druze community in Syria in an operation carried out in recent weeks, according to a ministry statement cited by Haaretz.

The statement said that 10,000 humanitarian aid packages reached "the Druze residents of Syria that are in the line of battle," adding that the delivery had been done in coordination with the Druze's spiritual leader in Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar went on to say that Israel has a "brave pact with our Druze brethren. It is a right to help them. In this region, where we will always be a minority — it is just and essential that we assist other minority groups."

In early March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz told the Israeli army to prepare to defend the predominantly Druze town of Jaramana, near Damascus, as Israel seeks to increase its influence in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad late last year.

Gaza

Israeli forces have fired at Palestinian homes in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighborhood, Al Jazeera's correspondent on the ground reports, adding that it remains unclear whether attacks caused casualties.

The strikes follow a series of Israeli military assaults in the enclave yesterday, including one that killed six people near the central Netzarim Corridor and another that killed a Palestinian girl in Deir al-Balah.

In the last 24 hours, 12 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and 14 wounded by Israeli fire. Middle East Eye reports that medical sources have confirmed that the death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 48,515, the majority of whom are children and women, since the start of the war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. The number of wounded people has risen to 111,941.

Iraq

Iraq announced yesterday that it was investigating an attack on Syrian workers in the country after a newly formed Iraqi group vowed to avenge the mass killing of Alawite civilians in Syria, AFP reports.

For several days, Syria's Mediterranean coast was engulfed in extreme violence, with mass killings of members of the Alawite minority community, to which ousted president Bashar al-Assad belongs.

In the wake of the massacres, a previously unknown group in Iraq posted a video showing masked men beating two bakery employees. In an earlier statement, the group had condemned Syrians in Iraq "who support crimes against humanity" against Syria's Alawites and warned that they would escalate their attacks.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani denounced the attack on the workers in a statement, calling it a "shameful act of violence" and ordering an investigation.

Syria and the West

The Canadian government announced yesterday its plans to ease sanctions on Syria during what it called a period of transition, Reuters reports. Many Western nations, including Canada, had put a range of sanctions against Syria under its ousted President Bashar al-Assad, who was violent regime was toppled  in December by opposition forces led by Syria's current interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The Canadian government said it is providing C$84 million in new funding for humanitarian assistance to Syria as part of its "commitment to deliver much-needed humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people and to support a transition to an inclusive and peaceful future."

"Canada is also taking steps to ease existing sanctions for a period of six months, to support democratization, stabilization, and the delivery of aid to and within Syria during this period of transition," the Canadian government said in its statement.

Canada’s ambassador to Lebanon, Stefanie McCollum, was nominated to serve concurrently as non-resident ambassador to Syria, Ottawa added.

Arab League and Trump

Egypt said it appreciated U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks on not demanding that residents of Gaza leave the enclave, according to a statement from the foreign ministry cited by Reuters.

"Nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza," Trump said on Wednesday, in response to a question during a meeting in the White House with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.

"This position reflects an understanding of the need to prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the importance of finding fair, sustainable solutions to the Palestinian issue," the Egyptian foreign ministry added.

Syria
Syrian Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree yesterday officially establishing a National Security Council, made up of the ministers of foreign affairs, defense and interior, along with the director of general intelligence, and chaired by Sharaa himself. According to the presidency's statement, the council will also include advisory and technical seats appointed by Sharaa based on competency.

"Based on the powers granted to the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, and based on the supreme national interest, and keen to enhance national security and respond to security and political challenges in the coming period, the President of the Republic decides the establishment of the National Security Council under the chairmanship of the President,” the decree states, adding that the council "shall meet periodically or at the invitation of the President of the Republic."

Behind the news...

Among the four civilians released by Israel on Tuesday is Hussein Koteish, a 63-year-old who, on Feb. 16, was shot in the leg by Israeli soldiers and then abducted from Houla, Marjayoun district. At that point, Israel had already missed its first deadline to withdraw troops from southern Lebanese villages, and many residents were determined to return to their homes, despite the ongoing occupation.

"We went to the village to make a point to the Israelis," Koteish's son, Bilal Koteish, told L'Orient-Le Jour. "They were supposed to have withdrawn from Houla on the 14th. Two hours later, Israeli soldiers arrived in civilian cars and opened fire on us. We ran into dirt paths and they chased us. There were women and children. A little girl was killed that day."

Read the full article by Zeina Antonios here.  👈

South Lebanon

The Lebanese Army has received soldier Ziad Chebli, the last of the five Lebanese captives Israel had agreed to release on Tuesday. The handover took place at the Ras Naqoura border point, after which Chebli was transferred to a Sour hospital for treatment.

He was abducted by Israeli solders on Sunday after they shot at him while he was in civilian clothing in Mazraat Bastara, a village near Kfar Shuba. His release was reportedly postponed due to undergoing surgery in an Israeli hospital.

Four other captives, all civilians, were released by Israel Tuesday evening following a meeting of the cease-fire monitoring committee, during which the Lebanese, Israeli, American, French and UNIFIL representatives agreed on establishing working groups to launch border demarcation "discussions."

Read more about the announced discussions here, and about the rumored Israeli motivations toward normalization here.

Good morning and welcome to today's live coverage of events in the region — notably the numerous negotiations taking place: Between Israel and Lebanon, through the cease-fire monitoring committee, regarding border demarcation; between Hamas and Israel, in Doha, for a possible second stage of the cease-fire; and in Syria, among the diversity of ethnic and religious communities amid an extremely fragile transfer of power.

☕ Read the Morning Brief for a succinct overview of everything you need to know going into today here.  👈

🔴 Catch up on yesterday's live coverage here.  👈