Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the Israel-Syria border Sunday, where he was briefed in detail on Iran and Hezbollah’s continued efforts to establish a presence throughout Syria, allisrael.com reported.
The defence minister was accompanied by Brigadier General Zion Retzon, commander of Division 210, and other senior officers. The comprehensive situational assessment along the border included an inspection of the Ramim Ridge area of the Naftali Mountains in the Upper Galilee and meeting with reserve officers deployed there.
“I patrolled the Golan Heights sector this morning, and together with the division commander, I witnessed the exceptional readiness of IDF forces in the eastern sector,” Gallant said, afterwards.
“We are actively preventing the establishment of Hezbollah and Iranian forces attempting to reach the border of the Golan Heights. We maintain full freedom of action to strike at any target or enemy that poses a threat to us.
Majority of Israelis stand behind Damascus strike despite Iran’s response, poll finds
The majority of Israelis support the Damascus strike, which Israel has not claimed responsibility for, according to a new survey by The Israel Democracy’s Institute’s Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Police Research published on Sunday.
According to jpost.com, a total of 514 respondents were interviewed via an internet panel and by telephone in Hebrew and 98 in Arabic. he maximum sampling error was ±4.04% at a confidence level of 95%.
Mohammed Reza Zahedi, the top commander in the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for Lebanon and Syria was assassinated in an airstrike, The Jerusalem Post reported. He was killed alongside a lieutenant and about five other officers, according to the IRGC. Bloomberg reported that an entire IRGC command wing was killed.
A total of 80% of Jewish Israelis surveyed reported supporting the strike as “the right thing to do.” However, the majority of Arab-Israelis (67%) felt it was “the wrong course of action.”
The consensus among Jewish Israelis remains similar across most of the political spectrum, although those identifying as right-wing are most supportive of the strike comparatively. 90.5% of right-wing Jewish Israelis support the strike, and 77% of politically centred Jewish Israelis. However, only a large minority of left-wing Israelis (45%) believe it was the right course of action.
Rocket attack from Iraq targets US base in Syria
Several rockets have been fired from Iraq towards a US military base in northeastern Syria, Al-Jazeera reported.
The attack, launched from the town of Zummar late on Sunday, was the first since early February to target US troops when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq brought to an end a campaign that had seen regular strikes against the US-led international coalition.
The resumed hostilities came a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani returned from a visit to the United States where he met with President Joe Biden.
A post on a Telegram group affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah said armed factions in Iraq had decided to resume attacks after a near-three month pause having seen little progress on talks to end the US-led military coalition in the country.
However, on Monday, Kataib Hezbollah said it had issued no statement claiming a return to attacks on US forces. It called the earlier announcement “fabricated news”.
A statement from the Iraqi security forces accused “outlaw elements of having targeted a base of the international coalition with rockets in the heart of Syrian territory”, at about 9:50pm.
Iraqi forces launched a major search operation in northern Nineveh province and found the vehicle used in the attack, the statement added.
Assad says Syria has held ‘meetings’ with US
US-sanctioned President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview published on Sunday that Syria had held meetings “from time to time” with Washington, as it sought openings after over a decade of isolation, The Middle east Eye reported.
The United States was among the first to cut ties with Assad over the repression of anti-government protests that sparked war in 2011, and many western and Arab states also severed relations.
However, last year Syria returned to the Arab fold, seeking better ties with wealthy US-allied Gulf states, in the hope they could help fund reconstruction – although western sanctions are likely to deter investment.
“America is currently illegally occupying part of our lands… but we meet with them from time to time, although these meetings do not lead to anything,” Assad said in an interview with a Russian-backed official from Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, published by Syria’s official Sana news agency.
Assad did not give further details about who was involved in the meetings, or what was discussed.
“There is always hope: even when we know there will be no results we must try,” he said when asked about the possibility of mending ties with the West.
Archaeological gem Dura-Europos found to be mirror image of Iraq’s Anqa
The Jerusalem Post published a long report on the ancient city of Anqa in Iraq, identified as the “forgotten twin” of Dura-Europos in Syria. The report underscores the importance of these sites in broadening scholarly insights into ancient civilizations and the complex history of the area, emphasizing the potential of Anqa to contribute valuable knowledge similar to that derived from Dura-Europos.
Dura-Europos, often referred to as the “Pompeii of the Desert,” is a well-preserved archaeological site in Syria, mirroring the ancient city of Anqa in Iraq, as detailed in a recent study published in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies. This study identifies Anqa, located just across the Syrian border in the Al-Qaim district of Iraq’s Anbar Governorate, as a “forgotten twin” of Dura-Europos. Both cities share similar sizes, compositions, and potentially equal value for scholars, emphasizing their importance in understanding the ancient Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman periods.
Dura-Europos, situated on a steep slope above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates River, was strategically important for controlling movement between the populous valley upstream and the trade routes downstream. Founded around 300 BCE by Seleucus I Nicator, it changed hands between the Parthians and Romans before being captured by the Sasanian Empire in the mid-3rd century CE. The city was subsequently abandoned, disappearing under layers of sand and mud until rediscovery in the 1850s, although it remained largely unexplored until the 1930s.
In contrast, Anqa has been relatively untouched despite its proximity to Dura-Europos, preserving its historical artifacts from significant looting or destruction. The new political, military, and administrative boundaries established post-World War I, resulting from the San Remo conference, have historically impeded archaeological research in the region.
The findings from Anqa, facilitated by advancements in digital scholarship that transcend political borders, offer promising insights into the Middle Euphrates’ history. This could also help address the impacts of colonialism in archaeology, according to Prof. Simon James of the University of Leicester, who spearheaded this research. This ongoing exploration of Anqa alongside Dura-Europos enriches our understanding of their historical significance and the broader implications for the region’s archaeological study.
