Israel sends troops into Syria, detaining alleged Iranian agent

 

FILE – Israeli soldiers stand near to a tank near Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, Oct. 16, 2023. Israel said on Nov. 3, 2024, that it launched a ground raid into Syria.

Israel said Sunday it launched a ground raid into Syria, seizing a Syrian it claimed was involved in Iranian networks supporting militants in the region.

The Israeli raid into Syria was its first during the current 13-month Middle East conflict. Syria did not immediately confirm the operation.

The Israeli army did not say where the raid occurred or when, but identified the man seized as Ali Soleiman al-Assi and said he had been living in the southern Syrian region of Saida. Israel said he had been under military surveillance for many months and was involved in Iranian initiatives targeting areas of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights near the border with Syria.

Body camera footage of the raid released by the army showed soldiers seizing a man in a white tank top inside a building. The man was brought to Israel for interrogation, the military said.

Elsewhere on the war front, an airstrike on a clinic in northern Gaza, where children were being vaccinated for polio, wounded six people, including four children, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military denied responsibility.

The alleged Israeli drone strike occurred Saturday. The area has been encircled by Israeli forces and largely isolated for the past year. Israel had been carrying out another offensive there in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands.

It was not possible to resolve the conflicting accounts. Israeli forces have repeatedly raided hospitals in Gaza, saying Hamas uses them to hide militant fighters, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials. Hamas fighters are also operating in the north, battling Israeli forces.

Dr. Munir al-Boursh, director general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that a quadcopter struck the Sheikh Radwan clinic in Gaza City early Saturday afternoon, just a few minutes after a United Nations delegation left the facility.

The World Health Organization and the U.N. children\’s agency, known as UNICEF, which are jointly carrying out the polio vaccination campaign, expressed concern over the reported strike.

"The reports of this attack are even more disturbing as the Sheikh Radwan Clinic is one of the health points where parents can get their children vaccinated," said Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson for UNICEF. She said the attack occurred while the humanitarian pause was still in effect, despite assurances given that the pause would be respected from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said that "contrary to the claims, an initial review determined that the (Israeli military) did not strike in the area at the specified time."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the border with Lebanon on Sunday, saying that Hezbollah militants in Lebanon must be pushed back beyond the Litani River, with or without a cease-fire deal in place, and that the Iran-backed group must be prevented from rearming. The river is about 30 kilometers north of the Israeli border.

"With or without an agreement, the key to returning our (evacuated) residents in the north safely to their homes is to keep back Hezbollah beyond the Litani, to strike its every attempt [to] rearm, and to respond forcefully against all action against us," Netanyahu said.

Israel continued to launch strikes in eastern Lebanon and in Gaza, while Israel said more than 100 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory Sunday. Several were intercepted, and some fell in unpopulated areas.

More than a year ago, Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and captured about 250 hostages in their Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the current war. Israel says it believes Hamas is still holding 101 hostages, including 35 the military says are dead.

Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to the territory\’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated a terror group by the United States and other Western countries.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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