TEHRAN – Syrian armed forces launched artillery and missile strikes on terrorist positions in Aleppo and Idlib, according to a report by Syria’s state SANA news agency.
Syrian warplanes on Saturday targeted a military convoy belonging to terrorist groups in central Aleppo, resulting in significant casualties among the terrorists.
Heavy artillery and missile strikes were also carried out on terrorist strongholds in the village of Flaifel, in the outskirts of Idlib, northwest of Syria.
Additionally, Syrian and Russian warplanes conducted joint operations targeting terrorist vehicles across Aleppo, according to Al-Ahed news outlet.
The Syrian Army’s General Command said in a statement on Friday that forces in Aleppo and Idlib were actively repelling a large-scale offensive by the Al-Nusra Front.
Al-Nusra terrorists made a major offensive against the Syrian Army in Western Aleppo on Wednesday.
The attacks by terrorist groups coincided with direct threats by Israeli prime mnister Benjamin Netanyahu against Syria after he announced a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Smoke billows during Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh on Oct. 16, 2024. (AFP)
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s health ministry said five people were killed in Israeli strikes Wednesday on the municipality of the southern city of Nabatiyeh, after an official said the mayor was among the dead.
“The Israeli enemy raid… on two buildings, that of the Nabatiyeh municipality and the union of municipalities, killed five people in a preliminary toll,” the ministry said in a statement, adding rescuers were searching for survivors under the rubble.
The mayor of Nabatiyeh was among those killed, authorities said.
“The mayor of Nabatiyeh, among others… was martyred. It’s a massacre,” Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk said, adding he had been in the municipality building.
Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers also said several people were killed in the strike on the municipality building including mayor Ahmad Kahil.
The Israeli military launched strikes in southern Beirut on Wednesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, saying it would leave Hezbollah forces near his country’s border.
An AFP journalist saw black smoke rising from Beirut’s Haret Hreik area after two strikes, which followed an Israeli military warning for residents to evacuate.
One of the strikes targeted weapons “stockpiled by Hezbollah in an underground storage facility,” the military said.
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health announced on Sunday afternoon that the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon had risen to four, with seven others injured.
According to a statement issued by the ministry’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center, an Israeli raid on the southwestern Lebanese village of al-Malikiyah killed one person and injured three others.
The center announced earlier in the day that three people were killed and four others injured in three separate Israeli raids on the villages of Khiam, Aitaroun, and Al-Maaliya.
Military sources, who spoke anonymously, said Israeli warplanes and drones carried out four raids on four border villages and towns in the afternoon, and Israeli artillery shelled eight villages and towns.
The sources said earlier in the day that about 90 Israeli airstrikes, involving drones and warplanes, targeted Hezbollah sites on the outskirts of dozens of southern Lebanese towns and villages.
In a statement, Hezbollah announced it launched drone attacks on Israeli forces near kibbutz Manara and Yiftah barracks, successfully hitting the targets.
The Lebanese armed group also reported a missile strike on the Motella settlement, claiming it hit accurately.
Tension along the Israel-Lebanon border has escalated sharply following communication device explosions across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday that killed 37 people and injured 2,931, as well as an Israeli airstrike on Friday targeting a building in the Jamous area in the southern suburbs of Beirut that killed 37 and injured 66.
The Israeli army and Hezbollah, which has deep ties to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, have been exchanging fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since Oct. 8, 2023, raising fears that the nearly one-year-long confrontations could escalate into a full-scale war.
BAGHDAD, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) — Unknown gunmen on Wednesday shot dead three family members and burned their bodies in the northern part of Iraq’s Salahudin province, a provincial police source said.
The attack occurred when the gunmen stormed the house of Safaa al-Janabi in the town of Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, killing al-Janabi, his wife, and their 10-year-old child, said Mohammed al-Bazi from the media office of the provincial police command.
The gunmen burned the victims’ bodies and their house before fleeing the scene, al-Bazi said.
Iraqi security forces rushed to the scene and launched an investigation into the incident and a search operation in the area, looking for the attackers, al-Bazi added.
US Vice President Kamala Harris waves upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
WASHINGTON — US Vice President Kamala Harris’s election campaign said on Sunday it has raised $200 million and signed up 170,000 new volunteers in the week since she became the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday last week and endorsed Harris for the Nov. 5 vote against Republican former President Donald Trump.
“In the week since we got started, @KamalaHarris has raised $200 million dollars. 66 percent of that is from new donors. We’ve signed up 170,000 new volunteers,” Harris’ deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, posted on X.
Polls over the past week, including one by Reuters/Ipsos, show Harris and Trump essentially tied, setting the stage for a close-fought campaign over the 100 days left until the election.
Trump’s campaign said in early July that it raised $331 million in the second quarter, topping the $264 million that Biden’s campaign and its Democratic allies raised in the same period. Trump’s campaign had $284.9 million in cash on hand at the end of June while the Democratic campaign had $240 million in cash on hand at the time.
Harris has secured support from a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, likely ensuring she will become the party’s nominee for president next month.
“So our vice president is the presumptive nominee. We will have the official vote on August 1,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison told MSNBC on Sunday.
Biden withdrew from the race amid questions about his age and health following a faltering debate performance against Trump in late June. Biden pledged to remain in office as president until his term ends on Jan. 20, 2025.
Harris’ takeover has reenergized a campaign that had faltered badly amid Democrats’ doubts about Biden’s chances of defeating Trump or his ability to continue to govern had he won.
Polls showed that Trump had built a lead over Biden, including in battleground states, after Biden’s disastrous debate performance.
A New York Times/Siena College national poll published Thursday found Harris has narrowed what had been a sizable Trump lead while Trump had a two percentage point lead over her in a Wall Street Journal poll published on Friday. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on July 23 showed a two point lead for Harris.
Mitch Landrieu, a campaign co-chair, said on MSNBC that Harris “had one of the best weeks that we’ve seen in politics in the last 50 years.”
“This is going to be a very close race,” he said.
Trump’s fundraising surged when he was convicted in late May on felony charges related to a hush-money payment to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election. An assassination attempt against him this month was also expected to spur campaign contributions.
