In Syria today, a US airbase next to the Al-Omar oil field was hit by rockets, reportedly in retaliation for US support of Israel. Meanwhile, an Israeli strike targeted Hezbollah-related sites in Syria’s Homs, aimed at preventing arms transfers to Lebanon. This comes as former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant reaffirmed Israel’s opposition to an Iranian military presence in Syria. At the same time, northern Syria is experiencing a mental health crisis worsened by war, with severe funding shortages for aid. The EU allocated €5 million for displaced people in Syria due to regional hostilities. Finally, the UK’s Labor Party may fast-track asylum claims for Syrians and others from high-grant countries to reduce processing backlogs.
US Airbase Under Attack
News sources reported that a US base in eastern Syria was targeted in a rocket attack on Tuesday, according to Iranian Mehr News Agency.
Local sources in Syria reported on Tuesday that several explosions were heard at the US base in the Al-Omar oil field in eastern Syria.
Syrian media reported that at least 3 explosions were heard in the US base.
Sputnik reported that the US base was the target of a rocket attack.
Syrian media have not published more details regarding the possible casualties.
The Islamic Resistance of Iraq has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks on US bases.
Iraqi groups usually announce that these attacks were carried out in response to US support for the Zionist regime and in defense of the Palestinian people.
Israeli attack targets town in Syria’s Homs province, state TV reports
An Israeli attack targeted an industrial zone and some residential buildings in the town of Qusayr in Homs province in central Syria on Tuesday, Syrian state TV reported, as quoted by Reuters.
The outlet quoted the Homs province’s health director as saying there were no injuries as a result of the attack.
Israel’s military later issued a statement on the incident, saying it attacked ammunition depots used by Hezbollah’s weapons unit in Syria.
“Hezbollah’s munitions unit is responsible for the storage of weapons in Lebanon and has recently expanded its activities into Syria in the area of Qusayr. This is a further example of Hezbollah establishing logistical infrastructure to transfer weapons from Syria to Lebanon through smuggling routes,” the statement said.
A previous Israeli attack on Qusayr on Thursday wounded a number of civilians and caused material damage, state media reported.
Israel’s military said in reference to that attack that it had hit weapons storage facilities and command centres used by militant group Hezbollah.
The Israeli military also said on Monday that it struck Hezbollah intelligence assets near the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Israel says it has been carrying out strikes to reduce the transfer of weapons from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israeli troops recently detained Iranian operative in Syria, Israeli military says
Reuters reported that Israeli troops recently detained an individual in Syria it said was an Iranian operative who had gathered intelligence on Israeli troops in the border area, the Israeli military said on Sunday.
The military named the person as Ali Soleiman al-Assi, a Syrian citizen from the area of Saida in southern Syria. It said the operation took place in recent months but gave no exact date.
“The operation by Israel Defense Forces troops to detain al-Assi prevented a future attack and led to the exposure of the operational methods of Iranian terror networks located near the Golan Heights,” the military said.
How Syria Became the Middle East’s Drug Dealer
Ed Caesar wrote a long article in The New Yorker tracing the rise of captagon smuggling in Syria and its transformation into a state-backed industry that supports the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The article centers on Marai al-Ramthan, a former sheepherder from southern Syria who rose to wealth through captagon smuggling before being killed by a Jordanian airstrike in May 2023. Initially, petty smuggling across the Syrian-Jordanian border was common, but after Syria’s civil war began, many smugglers shifted to the more lucrative captagon trade.
Captagon, an amphetamine originally synthesized as a pharmaceutical drug, is now Syria’s primary illicit export, generating billions in revenue for the Assad regime. Assad’s younger brother, Maher al-Assad, reportedly oversees the trade through the 4th Division of the Syrian Army. Captagon pills, cheaply produced in Syria and worth up to $25 each in the Middle East, find their largest market in Saudi Arabia, where demand is high among students, workers, and even those looking for a discrete stimulant in a society where intoxication is stigmatized.
The article also explores the broader impacts of Syria’s captagon industry. Jordan, a key transit route for the drug, faces significant security challenges and cross-border skirmishes as it attempts to curb the influx of captagon. Caesar details how Jordan has bolstered its military presence along the border, leading to frequent clashes with traffickers and occasional airstrikes on Syrian targets suspected of drug trafficking.
Syria’s reliance on captagon has led experts to describe it as a “narco-state,” likening it to past regimes in Bolivia and Afghanistan that relied heavily on the drug trade. The Assad regime’s dependency on captagon has infiltrated state institutions, including the military and intelligence branches, which facilitate production and distribution. The article also highlights the geopolitical complexities, as neighboring countries like Jordan cautiously approach the Assad government despite widespread knowledge of its involvement in the captagon trade.
Caesar’s article weaves a broader history of captagon, from its initial pharmaceutical production in Germany to its current illicit manufacturing in Syria, revealing the deep economic and political entanglements that make the trade so difficult to dismantle. For the Assad regime, captagon has become essential not only for financial survival under international sanctions but also as a means to retain control and project influence in the region.
Israel Rejects Iran’s Presence in Syria
Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant stated on Tuesday, November 5, that Israel will not tolerate an Iranian military presence in Syria. Galant emphasized the need to halt Iran’s transfer of weapons through Syria and Iraq to Hezbollah in Lebanon, as reported by the Financial Times.
According to Galant, Israeli strikes in Syria are a strategic response to secure Israel’s national security against mounting threats from “hostile actors” like Hezbollah and Iran. “The IDF’s military successes position it strongly to demand Hezbollah’s withdrawal north of the Litani River,” Galant asserted, indicating Israel’s commitment to weaken Hezbollah’s operational capacity against Israel.
On November 4, the Israeli military reported airstrikes on Hezbollah-linked infrastructure and intelligence sites in Damascus, accusing the Syrian regime of facilitating Hezbollah’s activities by allowing it to establish command centers within Syrian territory. This follows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to sever Hezbollah’s “lifeline from Iran through Syria.”
Major funding deficit deepens Syria’s mental health crisis
News-medical.net reported that Northern Syria is grappling with a deepening mental health crisis, exacerbated by over a decade of civil war, economic hardship, and the devastating 2023 earthquakes that killed over 55,000 people in Turkey and Syria. Suicide rates have surged, but a severe shortage of treatment centers and trained professionals means that most Syrians affected by mental illness remain untreated, isolated, and stigmatized, according to SciDev.Net.
In 2024, suicide rates climbed significantly, with many cases recorded in northwest Syria, where economic strain, displacement, and trauma from the ongoing conflict have left lasting psychological scars. Survivors like Amer, a former detainee of the Syrian regime, and Dalal, a young woman injured by airstrikes, recount enduring trauma that has led to isolation, severe depression, and PTSD. Children, too, are profoundly impacted, with some, like eight-year-old M.S., struggling with panic attacks after losing family members in the earthquake.
Mental health services in northwest Syria are nearly non-existent; the World Health Organization reports only four facilities and two psychiatrists for a population of 4.5 million, leaving nearly one million people without proper support. Social stigma and a lack of understanding of mental health further deter people from seeking help.
Despite the urgent need, mental health care faces severe funding challenges. Only a fraction of the $4.1 billion required for humanitarian aid in Syria has been received, with mental health care particularly vulnerable to cuts. MSF and other groups continue to provide limited psychological support and advocate for greater mental health investment, emphasizing that such funding is essential for long-term stability in Syria and other conflict-affected regions.
EU releases €5 million to support displaced people in Syria
In light of the ongoing escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which triggered massive population displacement and crossings of people from Lebanon to Syria, the European Commission mobilized an additional €5 million to address the most urgent humanitarian needs of the people crossing into Syria.
The new allocation aims to scale up humanitarian support for both Syrians and Lebanese, helping displaced people and host communities to fulfil immediate needs such as food assistance, health and protection.
The assistance will be channelled through EU humanitarian partners already responding to the displacement crisis in Syria to ensure critical aid will be provided swiftly to those arriving.
Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “The EU is deeply concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of intensifying hostilities in Lebanon as these are already unfolding in Syria. De-escalation at regional level and continued international support are more crucial than ever to ensure civilians do not pay the toll of war. As we scale up assistance for those forcibly displaced, we call for the respect of international humanitarian law and protection of civilians who continue to be the most affected by violence.”
UK – Labor could fast-track asylum claims from Afghanistan, Iran and Syria
Migrants from countries such as Afghanistan, Iran and Syria could have their asylum claims fast-tracked under Labor plans to clear the backlog of cases, The Telegraph reported.
Asked whether ministers would fast-track claims by asylum seekers from countries with high grant rates, Sir Keir Starmer said the Government wanted to move “all cases through the system much more quickly”.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, declined to say which countries would be subject to the potential moves, but high grant nations include Afghanistan – the biggest nationality for applications – where 96 per cent of claims are approved.
For Syria, Eritrea and Sudan it is 99 percent on average, followed by Iran at 86 percent. These five nations account for more than 35,000 asylum claims in the total backlog of nearly 120,000 as in June this year, according to Refugee Council data.
The processing of their applications was blocked by the Tories’ legislation enacting the Rwanda scheme, where any migrant arriving illegally in the UK faced detention and deportation to the central African state.
After scrapping the Rwanda policy, Labor reversed the legal provisions, allowing the migrants to claim asylum in the UK. About 6,000 applications are now being processed every month.
Asked whether the Government should fast-track claims from high grant countries, Sir Keir said: “I think we should move all the cases through the system much more quickly.
“One of the problems we’ve got is that the last government didn’t process the claims. That left us in the worst of all worlds, which was unprocessed claims. More and more people [were] being added to the list of people who need to be processed, all of them being housed in hotels, and you got into this complete fundamental problem.
