Israeli strikes target Syria for a second day in a row

Jerusalem: The Israeli military on Tuesday said its air force had struck targets in Syria for the second day in a row, attacks it said were aimed at cutting off the flow of weapons and intelligence between Hezbollah, the armed Lebanese group, and its sponsor, Iran.

The announcement was the third time in a week that Israel made the rare admission of attacking inside Syria. The strike on Tuesday targeted "weapons storage facilities used by Hezbollah's munitions unit" in al-Qusayr in Syria, near the Lebanese border, according to a statement from the Israeli military.

The military has said that Hezbollah's munitions unit recently expanded its activities into Syria, and accused the armed group of deliberately establishing weapons infrastructure within civilian areas.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that monitors violence in Syria, on Tuesday reported that Israeli jets struck warehouses in and near al-Qusayr, an industrial city, and that about seven explosions were heard. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Last week, Israel said it had hit Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and command centers in al-Qusayr "to reduce the transfer of weapons from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon."

On Monday, the Israeli air force said it had targeted a branch of Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Israeli strikes hit three farms that had previously been used as camps by members of Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

Syria's Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned the attacks, calling on the United Nations to act swiftly to stop the Israeli incursions, according to Syria's state news agency SANA.

As Israel expands its war efforts in the Middle East, it appears to be intensifying its focus on Syria. On Sunday, the Israeli military said it had transferred a Syrian citizen to Israel for interrogation after a special operation in Syrian territory that took place in connection with "Iranian terror networks" near the Golan Heights.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that regardless of whether a cease-fire deal could be reached with Hezbollah in Lebanon, there were several keys to achieving security along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, including "cutting Hezbollah's oxygen line from Iran via Syria."

The strikes in Syria comes as the Israeli military continues its fight in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military raided Palestinian villages in the northern part of the West Bank early Tuesday, setting off clashes with militants. Four Palestinians were killed, according to Palestinian health authorities.

It was not clear whether the dead included militants or civilians and Palestinian authorities do not differentiate in their death tolls. But the Israeli military said it had engaged in firefights during the raids that killed militants in the village of Tamoun and that it had carried out airstrikes there and near the city of Jenin.

The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed militant group, said fighters in villages south of Jenin were shooting at Israeli forces and detonating explosive devices.

Israel has been ramping up a crackdown in the West Bank that began before the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, with authorities increasingly concerned about bolder and more sophisticated attacks by Palestinian militants. The raids have left a swath of destruction in the Israeli-occupied territory, churning up roads and leaving many civilians scared to leave their homes. Israeli officials have said destroying the roads was necessary because of the threat of buried explosives.

Sadeq Nazzal, 60, an owner of a nursery in Qabatiya, not far from Jenin, said he heard a powerful explosion Tuesday morning. He described a chaotic scene, with military vehicles moving along the main north-south highway and sounds of gunfire in the distance.

"We've become used to this situation," he said. "But every time it happens, it upends our lives. Workplaces and schools shut down."

During a funeral procession held in Tamoun, one of the Palestinians killed Tuesday had been wrapped in an Islamic Jihad flag. Palestinian militant groups often drape their fallen members in flags bearing their emblems. They also will occasionally claim unaffiliated people as being among their ranks.

The raids in the West Bank suggested that Israel's military was continuing to target armed fighters in the northern part of the territory even as it conducts major operations in the Gaza and Lebanon and braces for the possibility of a wider conflict with Iran.

In northern Gaza, a deadly strike hit the town of Beit Lahia overnight, Zaher al-Waheidi, an official at the Health Ministry in Gaza, said Tuesday. Israel launched a wide-scale operation in northern Gaza in October, targeting what it says is a resurgence of Hamas in the area.

The Israeli military said it struck a weapons storage facility where a militant was operating. It said it had sought to reduce the risk to civilians before the strike, without explaining what measures it had taken.

Video from the scene obtained by Reuters showed people digging through rubble around a half-collapsed building in Beit Lahia, indicating it was caused by a recent strike.

The New York Times independently verified that the scene in the Reuters video matched other imagery captured by professional photographers Tuesday morning. Walls and concrete beams had collapsed, and a sofa appeared half-buried amid the debris. In a clearing surrounded by heavily damaged buildings, four white plastic shrouds could be seen being buried at a makeshift grave.

Here's what else is happening in the Middle East:

• Defense minister dismissal: Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on Tuesday over differences on the prosecution of the war in Gaza and over domestic political issues. Gallant was pushing for a cease-fire deal in Gaza to secure the release of hostages, and his dismissal removes the main proponent in the government for such an agreement. The two men had also clashed over the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Israelis.

• Gaza evacuations: The World Health Organization is preparing to evacuate an expected 113 critically injured and sick Palestinians from Gaza on Wednesday in what would be one of the biggest such operations in months, according to Rik Peeperkorn, the organization's representative for the Palestinian territories.

• Polio vaccines: The Gaza Health Ministry and U.N. aid agencies extended an emergency polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza by an additional day, aiming to increase vaccination coverage among children younger than 10. The start of the second phase of the campaign had been postponed because of a lack of access and assurances about pauses in the fighting, according to UN agencies.

• Lebanon strikes continue: The Israeli military continued to conduct airstrikes across Lebanon on Tuesday. At least 20 people were killed and more than a dozen were wounded by an Israeli strike in the Lebanese town of Barja, a largely Sunni Muslim area outside of southern Beirut, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Earlier in the day, one person was killed and 20 others were wounded in the nearby town of Jiyeh, a popular summer resort destination along the coast, according to the health ministry.