Israeli airstrikes have intensified, with recent attacks on Hezbollah-linked sites near Homs resulting in nine deaths, targeting ammunition depots amid escalating regional tensions. Satellite images reveal Israeli construction along the demilitarized Alpha Line near the Golan Heights, potentially violating UN ceasefire rules. Syria has condemned these actions, calling for international support to counter Israeli aggression, which recently led to civilian casualties in the Damascus area. Meanwhile, Syria faces a worsening mental health crisis in the north, as a lack of funding and resources leave nearly a million residents without adequate care, further complicated by trauma from the civil war and natural disasters. UN officials report that Syria’s humanitarian needs are at a critical juncture, as an influx of refugees fleeing Lebanon strains already overstretched aid resources, prompting urgent calls for increased global support.
Israeli airstrike kills 9 near Homs
The Israeli Air Force struck targets near the village of Shinshar, located on the outskirts of Homs, Syria on Monday, jns.org reported.
Nine people were killed and more than 10 wounded in the strikes, according to the report.
According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is associated with the Syrian opposition, the strike targeted a Hezbollah ammunition storage facility on the Homs-Damascus road.
The alleged Israeli strike comes after Arab media reported on Sunday that Israel had killed a Hezbollah commander in Syria convicted in 2020 for the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri in 2005.
Salim Jamil Ayyash, a senior member of the Iranian terror proxy’s assassinations unit (Unit 121), was reportedly eliminated near the Syrian city of al-Qusayr in the Homs region.
Israel’s military is building along UN-patrolled demilitarized zone in Syria, satellite images show
AP reports that Israel has begun a construction project along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria, apparently laying asphalt for a road right along the frontier, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show.
Israeli troops have entered the demilitarized zone during the work, the United Nations confirmed to the AP, a violation of the cease-fire rules governing the area.
The work, which earlier satellite photos show began in earnest in late September, follows the completion by the Israeli military of new roadways and what appears to be a buffer zone along the Gaza Strip’s frontier with Israel.
The Israel military also has begun demolishing villages in Lebanon, where United Nations peacekeepers have come under fire.
So far, there has been no major violence along the Alpha Line, which delineates the demilitarized zone between Syria and Israeli-occupied territory that U.N. peacekeepers have patrolled since 1974.
The images appear to show a trench between two embankments, parts of which appear to have been laid with fresh asphalt. There also appears to be fencing running along it as well toward the Syrian side.
The construction follows a southeast route before heading due south along the Alpha Line, and then again cutting southeast. The images show excavators and other earth-moving equipment actively digging along the route, with more asphalt piled there. The area is also believed to be littered with unexploded ordnance and mines from decades of conflict.
Syria demands concerted efforts to stop Israeli atrocities against regional states
Syria has condemned in the strongest terms repeated Israeli acts of aggression against the Arab nation, calling upon all peace-loving and freedom-loving countries of the world to join forces and stop the regime’s ongoing campaigns of aggression against regional peoples.
The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in a statement released on Monday, said the “Zionist entity insists on the perpetration of vicious crimes in the region and reaffirms its contempt for human values and international law day after day.”
The ministry denounced the Israeli strike on a residential building in the Sayeda Zainab district south of Damascus on Sunday, which killed at least seven civilians injured 20 others, and caused material damage to private properties.
The Syrian foreign ministry concluded that Damascus reiterates that such an act of aggression would not have happened without the support of certain Western countries for the terrorist Israeli regime.
Syria’s mental health crisis deepens as funds dry up
Gavi.org published a report on the deteriorating mental health of Syrians in Northern Syria. Northern Syria is grappling with a severe mental health crisis, exacerbated by limited funding, social stigma, and an acute shortage of mental health professionals.
Nearly one million people in the northwest region are affected, but services are scarce, with only four facilities and two psychiatrists available for 4.5 million people.
The ongoing Syrian civil war and a 2023 earthquake that devastated Syria and Turkey have intensified mental health issues, particularly among children, women, and displaced people. Suicide rates have spiked, reflecting the immense psychological toll of war, displacement, poverty, and trauma.
Despite efforts by organizations like Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to offer psychological support, the region faces a significant funding shortfall. The United Nations reports that only a fraction of the $4.1 billion needed for humanitarian aid in northwest Syria has been secured, with mental health care at risk of being deprioritized.
Experts emphasize the urgent need for early intervention and destigmatizing mental health treatment to prevent further deterioration.
Joint Statement by UN Senior Officials On the Lack of Funding in Syria
UN Senior Officials Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, Ramanathan Balakrishnan issued a joint statement on the lack of funding in Syria.
With two out of every three persons in dire need of lifesaving and life-sustaining humanitarian assistance, Syria’s humanitarian crisis is deepening and widening.
The statement explained that in addition to a pre-existing caseload of 16.7 million persons in need of humanitarian assistance, since 24 September, 510,000 Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian people fleeing Lebanon for their lives have arrived in Syria. Over 75% of these new arrivals are women, children and people with special needs.
These people have been driven to seek refuge in a country that has already been reeling from over a decade-long, protracted humanitarian crisis. Most of the new arrivals are being hosted with relatives and friends in communities that are already struggling. They are accessing services offered through the existing humanitarian response mechanisms which are already stretched to their breaking point.
The pair urged the donor community to significantly and urgently increase its support for Syria’s humanitarian response. The costs of inaction would be enormous and will go beyond deepening human suffering, in terms of increasing instability in the region, migration outflows beyond the region and deepening of the conflict.
