BEIRUT: Israeli air strikes near Damascus on Wednesday killed 10 combatants, among them six Syrian soldiers, in the deadliest such raid since the start of 2022, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an ammunition depot and several positions linked to Iran’s military presence in Syria were among the targets.

Government media in Syria confirmed four casualties in the strikes, on which Israel did not comment.

“The Israeli enemy carried out an air assault at dawn... targeting several positions around Damascus,” a military source was quoted as saying by the state news agency SANA. “The investigation indicated that four soldiers were killed, three others injured and material damage noted.”

Palestinian shot dead in occupied West Bank

The latest strike follows another near Damascus on April 14, without casualties, according to SANA.

The UK-based Observatory, which relies on a vast network of sources across Syria, said eight people were also wounded in the strikes.

The other four killed were not members of the Syrian military but belonged to Iran-backed militia, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that he could not verify their nationality.

He said at least five separate sites were targeted in the latest Israeli raid.

Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian

Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, medics and a militant group said, in clashes that erupted after an arrest raid.

It was the second time in two days that Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian during a late-night incursion.

The Israeli military said its forces had apprehended two suspects in what it described as “counter-terrorism activities” in the city of Jenin. Subsequently, it said dozens of Palestinians threw rocks and explosives devices and opened fire at the soldiers, who responded with live ammunition.

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the raid, saying the slain man, Ahmad Massad, had been summarily executed.

Video circulated on social media appeared to show at least one Palestinian firing a rifle in the street as more gunshots were heard. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said in a statement that Massad was one of its members and that he had been killed “as he confronted the occupying forces”.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2022