1. On Friday, an 11-year-old Syrian boy was found dead in a storage tent in a refugee settlement in Marjayoun’s Marj al-Khoukh. The boy, M.H. was found hanging from a rope. He was dead by the time his cousin found him and took him to the Marjayoun Governmental Hospital. A source at the Amel Association, which attends to refugee needs in the camp, told The Daily Star that the boy was found in a tent that is used to store wood, located in a relatively remote area, far from the other tents. The source said this particular camp is home to many families suffering from the psychological difficulties of adapting to their new situation. Multiple cases of bullying have also been reported in the camp.
2. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by Washington, plan to attack the last Islamic State (ISIS) enclave in Syria once the civilians, who are still inside that area, have been evacuated, an SDF official said. The Middle East Eye reported that the besieged ISIS enclave centred around Baghouz on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River represents the terrorist group’s last territorial foothold in the part of Syria where the SDF, supported by the US have been fighting. Mustafa Bali, head of the SDF media office, did not indicate how soon he expected the civilian evacuation to be completed, Reuters reported, noting that most of the civilians are family members of ISIS militants. “We will launch an attack to end the presence of ISIS or they will turn themselves in. There are no other options for them. We confirm there are no negotiations and no intention to have negotiations,” Bali said late on Friday.
3. Asharq al-Awsat reported that sources from the Israeli Directorate of Military Intelligence (AMAN) have said that Iran attempted to deceive Israel and established a factory in Syria instead of Lebanon to produce precision-guided missiles to avoid Israeli strikes. The sources told Channel 2 that because of the difficulties faced by Iran and Hezbollah to find the right infrastructure to produce missiles in Lebanon, the Iranians and Syrians discovered creative ways to provide the necessary equipment to Lebanon. Israeli military sources revealed that Iran is likely to move its weapons supply center for Syria from the Damascus International Airport to the Syrian air base known as T4, located between Homs and Palmyra. The alleged decision comes following the latest wave of Israeli attacks on the Damascus airport, which has caused tension between Iran on the one side and the Syrian regime and Russian on the other because it undermined the attempt by Damascus and Moscow to create the impression that the regime had restored stability to the country after scoring a series of victories.
4. On Saturday, many civilians were killed or wounded after the Russian shelling of the city of Khan Sheikhoun. According to Al-Souria Net, six were killed, including 2 children and one woman and several wounded. “The eastern neighborhood, heavily populated by civilians, was targeted by 30 artillery shells and missiles, which resulted in the death of six people and injured many others,” said Ahmed Khattab, a commander of the civil defense sector in Khan Sheikhoun.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
