Syrian Red Crescent says volunteer killed at Syria-Lebanon border
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent says that one of its volunteers has been killed and other volunteers injured in attacks on the Dabussiyeh and Jussiyeh crossings in Syria’s Homs province.
“They were performing their humanitarian duty in providing first aid to the wounded at dawn on Wednesday,” the organisation said in a statement on Telegram, calling on all parties to respect international humanitarian law and protect humanitarian workers.
Several ambulances were also damaged in the attack and the organisation has withdrawn its crews from the border crossings with Lebanon to ensure their safety, the statement added.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 560,000 people have fled into Syria from neighbouring Lebanon since Israel escalated its attacks on Lebanon in late September.
Israel strikes all 3 north Lebanon crossings with Syria for first time
Earlier, we reported that Israeli warplanes had bombed border crossings between Syria and Lebanon.
Lebanon’s transport minister, Ali Hamieh, has now told the Reuters news agency that the Israeli military has bombed all three of Lebanon’s northern border crossings with Syria for the first time.
The three border areas are the Arida crossing, in the Tartous province, and the Dabussiyeh and Jussiyeh crossings, in the Homs province.
Syrian state TV has reported that 18 people were injured, some critically, in the strike on the Arida crossing. It has not reported any casualties. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it has received reports of two Syrian government soldiers being killed in the attack on Dabussiyeh.
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent has said one of its volunteers was killed and other volunteers injured when responding to the attacks on Arida and Dabussiyeh, without specifying where.
US says strike in Syria targets weapons cache of ‘Iran backed’ group
The US military said it attacked a site in Syria used as a weapons storage facility by an “Iranian-aligned” armed group.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the air strike followed after an attack was launched against US military forces stationed in Syria. CENTCOM said current assessments indicate that there were no civilian casualties but a “battle damage assessment is underway”. The location of the attack in Syria was not provided.
CENTCOM commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said the US strike was designed to “degrade” the ability of the armed group “to plan and launch future attacks on the US and Coalition forces” involved in operations against ISIL [ISIS] in the region. “As previously stated, we will not tolerate any attacks on our personnel and coalition partners,” Kurilla said in a statement.
The US military has around 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq as part of the international coalition that was established in 2014 to help combat ISIL. US forces have launched strikes on Iran-backed groups in Syria on multiple occasions and pro-Iran groups have repeatedly targeted US forces in Iraq and Syria in response to Washington’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
