Israeli strikes in central Syria kill 16

MASYAF

Israeli strikes hit central Syria late Sunday, killing at least 16 people and wounding 43 others as well as causing fires at sites believed to house Iranian forces, according to Syrian state media.

"The number of martyrs resulting from the Israeli aggression on a number of sites in the vicinity of Masyaf has risen to 14 martyrs and 43 wounded including six critically," official news agency SANA reported citing a medical source. A Syrian war monitor earlier reported at least seven dead.

Syrian air defenses responded to the attacks, which damaged a highway in Hama province, with firefighting teams working to control the blazes, the SANA news agency reported.

Masyaf National Hospital reported five dead and 19 injured, some critically.

The Masyaf area, often linked to Iranian forces, has been frequently targeted in attacks attributed to Israel.

The site contains the Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS) used by Iran to develop missiles.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claimed the strikes targeted a research center in Masyaf and areas near Tartous.

SOHR, often criticized for inflating figures, reported an Iranian militia presence at the sites.

Israel, which rarely comments on operations, has conducted airstrikes in Syria since 2011, focusing on Iranian forces and Hezbollah targets.

Israeli air raids in Syria have intensified since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

At the end of August, three pro-Iranian fighters were killed in the central region of Homs in strikes attributed to Israel, the Observatory said.

A few days later, the Israeli military said it had killed an unspecified number of fighters belonging to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad in a strike in Syria near the Lebanese border.

Bloodshed rises in West Bank

A truck driver shot dead three Israeli guards at a border crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan Sunday before being "eliminated", Israel's military said, as it pounded Gaza with new strikes.

Jordan's interior ministry identified the shooter as Jordanian national Maher Diab Hussein al-Jazi, citing "preliminary investigations".

The rare attack at the Allenby Bridge crossing comes amid soaring violence in the West Bank with major Israeli raids and attacks by Palestinians, and against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas Gaza war, now in its 12th month.

The driver "exited the truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces operating at the bridge", a military statement said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the assailant as a "despicable terrorist" inspired by "a murderous ideology" which he said was fuelled by Iran.

Hamas praised the attack but did not claim responsibility for it, adding it "affirms the Arab peoples' rejection of the (Israeli) occupation, its crimes, and its ambitions in Palestine and Jordan".

The crossing, in the Jordan Valley, is the only international gateway for Palestinians from the West Bank that does not require entering Israel, which has occupied the territory since 1967.

Violence in the West Bank has surged alongside the war in Gaza which began after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

Israel's military on Aug. 28 launched simultaneous raids across several cities and refugee camps in the northern West Bank, killing at least 36 Palestinians, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.

The military said it killed 35 militants. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed at least 14 of the fatalities as members.

Since Oct. 7, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 662 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

At least 23 Israelis, including members of the security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, Israeli officials say.

The Hamas attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians including some hostages killed in captivity, official Israeli figures show.

Militants seized 251 hostages during the attack, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 40,972 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The U.N. human rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

On Sunday, Israel pounded Gaza with air strikes and shelling as prospects remained dim for a ceasefire, while in the evening the military said two rockets were fired from northern Gaza towards the area of Ashkelon.

One was intercepted, while the other fell off the coast of Ashkelon city, it said.

Gaza's civil defense agency said nearly a dozen people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Sunday, including five in Jabalia refugee camp.

The Israeli military said it had struck around "25 Hamas targets" across Gaza over the past day.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant toured the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza on Sunday, where he vowed again to eliminate Hamas.

But he said the military was focusing on the northern front also, where Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces traded fire on Sunday.

"While you are fighting here in Gaza, we are preparing for anything that may happen in the north," Gallant told soldiers, according to a statement issued by his office.

"The shift of the centre of gravity can happen quickly and can also involve you in a short period of time."

Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of a ceasefire deal, but Israel insists troops must remain along the Gaza-Egypt border.