CAIRO: Israeli strikes on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo early on Friday killed 38 people, including five members of Hezbollah, two security sources said.
The Syrian defence ministry said earlier on Friday that a number of civilians and military personnel were killed after Israel and militant groups launched attacks against Aleppo.
The Israeli airstrikes targeted several areas in Aleppo’s countryside at about 1:45 a.m. local time (2245 GMT), the ministry said a statement.
The airstrikes coincided with drone attacks carried out from Idlib and western rural Aleppo that the ministry described as having been conducted by “terrorist organisations” targeting civilians in Aleppo and its surroundings.
However, the ministry did not mention a specific death toll or clarify whether the casualties were caused by the Israeli airstrikes or the attacks by militant groups.
“The aggression resulted in the martyrdom and injury of a number of civilians and military personnel and caused material losses to public and private property,” the statement said.
The Israeli military declined comment.
Since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians and soldiers, Israel has escalated its strikes on what it says are bases of Iranian-backed militia in Syria. It has also struck Syrian army air defences and some Syrian forces.
Israel has for years carried out such attacks in Syria, where Tehran’s influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that started in 2011.
Fighters allied with Iran, including Hezbollah, now hold sway in vast areas of eastern, southern and northwestern Syria and in several suburbs around the capital.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the war erupted in Gaza, the biggest escalation since they fought a month-long conflict in 2006.
Committed to ensuring that Afghanistan never becomes a terror hub: US
The US State Department on Thursday said they remain committed to ensuring that Afghanistan can never again be a launching pad for terrorism.
During the daily press briefing, Spokesperson Matthew Miller noted that the US government is vigilant against the evolving threats posed by various terrorist outfits, including Al-Qaeda, and Daesh.
“We continue to push the Taliban to fulfil all of their counterterrorism commitments to the international community,” he said.
The spokesperson maintained that the US has made clear to the Taliban that it’s their responsibility to ensure that they give no safe haven to terrorists, whether it’s Al-Qaeda or Daesh or any other terrorist organisation.
“Our global coalition to defeat Daesh, and the C5+1, help intensify our efforts to monitor terrorist threats from the region and prevent terrorists’ ability to raise funds, travel and spread propaganda,” he said.
Miller stressed that the US will “continue to work to hold Daesh accountable for its actions and prevent terrorist attacks against the US and other Western countries.”
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In response to a related question, the spokesperson explained that the US administration has maintained an unwavering focus on terrorism since President Biden took office three years ago.
“Working both unilaterally and with our partners to successfully disrupt threats around the globe and degrade Daesh,” he said, adding that in February 2022, operating on the president’s orders, US military forces successfully targeted Haji Abdullah, the leader of ISIS, and then later successfully concluded airstrike in Kabul killing Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
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