Cincunri Sakia

Senin, 01 April 2024

Israel accused of deadly strike on Iranian consulate in Syria - BBC

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By Jeremy Bowen, International Editor, and David Gritten

BBC News in northern Israel and London

Iran's Revolutionary Guards says seven officers have been killed in an Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate building in Syria's capital, Damascus.

Brig-Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the elite Quds Force, and Brig-Gen Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi, his deputy, were named among the dead.

Iran and Syria's governments condemned the attack, which destroyed a building next door to the Iranian embassy.

The Israeli military said it did not comment on foreign media reports.

However, it has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of strikes in recent years on targets in Syria that it says are linked to Iran and allied armed groups which are armed, funded and trained by the Revolutionary Guards.

The Israeli strikes have reportedly been stepped up since the start of the war in Gaza in October last year, in response to cross-border attacks on northern Israel by Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups in Lebanon and Syria.

But Monday's attack will be seen as a serious escalation.

The Israelis appear to be testing the resolve of the Iranians and their allies and signalling that they are serious about increasing pressure on their enemies.

The Israelis are looking at the fact that both Iran and Hezbollah have not been pushing as hard as some might expect. Now they will see if Iran and Hezbollah are going to push back.

There will be a response, but it may not be the one people expect. Rather than missiles, it may be some sort of cyber-attack.

Photo showing aftermath of air strike that destroyed building next to Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria (1 April 2024)

Syria's defence ministry said Israeli aircraft targeted the Iranian consulate building, which was on a highway in the western Mezzeh district of Damascus, from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights at about 17:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Monday.

Syrian air defences shot down some of the missiles they launched, but others made it through and "destroyed the entire building, killing and injuring everyone inside", the ministry added.

The ministry said work was under way to recover the bodies and rescue the wounded from beneath the rubble, without saying how many casualties there were or naming any of them.

Photos and videos from the scene showed smoke and dust rising from the remains of the collapsed multi-storey building. The Iranian embassy next door did not appear to have sustained any significant damage.

The Iranian ambassador, Hossein Akbari, said Israeli F-35 fighter jets "brutally targeted my place of residence and the consular section of the embassy, along with Iran's military attaches". He told Iranian state TV that between five and seven people were killed, including some diplomats.

Later, the Revolutionary Guards put out a statement saying that seven of its officers were killed, including Brig-Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Brig-Gen Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi, whom it described as commanders and "senior military advisers".

Iranian media said Zahedi, 63, was a senior figure in the Quds Force - the Revolutionary Guards' overseas operations arm - and served as commander in Lebanon and Syria between 2008 and 2016. Haji-Rahimi was meanwhile identified as Zahedi's deputy.

Zahedi is one of the most high-profile Iranian figures believed to have been killed by Israel in the country's long campaign of targeted assassinations.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources on the ground in Syria, reported that eight people were killed - a high-ranking leader of the Quds Force, two Iranian advisers and five members of the Revolutionary Guards.

Syria's Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said he strongly condemned what he called "this heinous terrorist attack", adding that it had killed "a number of innocent people".

In a telephone conversation with Mr Mekdad, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian described the strike as "a violation of all international obligations and conventions" and "blamed the consequences of this action on the Zionist regime", the Iranian foreign ministry said.

He also "stressed the need for a serious response by the international community".

A White House spokeswoman said US President Joe Biden was aware of the reports.

In a briefing to journalists on Monday, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said an apparent drone attack on a naval base in the southern Israeli city of Eilat was "a very serious incident". The drone was "made and directed by Iran", he said.

This attack followed suspected Israeli strikes on Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo last Friday, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said killed 53 people, including 38 Syrian soldiers and seven members of the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

In January, another strike in Mezzeh that was blamed on Israel killed five senior Revolutionary Guards and several Syrian security personnel.

Israel has previously acknowledged carrying out strikes in Syria to combat what it calls Iran's "military entrenchment", as well as shipments of Iranian weapons to allied groups which it proscribes as terrorist organisations.

Iran has said Revolutionary Guards have been sent to Syria to "advise" President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the country's civil war, but it has denied they have been involved in combat or established bases.

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By Yolande Knell & Sean Seddon

BBC News, in Jerusalem and London

Israel's military has pulled out of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City after a two-week raid that has left most of the major medical complex in ruins.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said dozens of bodies had been found and locals said nearby areas were razed.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had killed 200 "terrorists", detained hundreds more and found weapons and intelligence "throughout the hospital".

The IDF said it raided al-Shifa because Hamas had regrouped there.

The two-week operation saw intense fighting and Israeli air strikes in nearby buildings and the surrounding area.

Wards were attacked because Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives were using them as a base, the IDF said, accusing them of fighting inside medical departments, setting off explosives and burning hospital buildings.

Images published following the Israeli withdrawal showed Palestinians walking near the charred main buildings with chunks of wall missing and carrying bodies wrapped in blankets. Graphic photos showed corpses partially exposed on the churned ground.

The health ministry said dozens of bodies, some decomposed, had been found in and around the medical complex, which was now "completely out of service".

A doctor told AFP news agency more than 20 bodies had been recovered, some crushed by withdrawing vehicles.

A spokesperson for Gaza's Hamas-run civil emergency service said Israeli forces had used bulldozers to dig up the grounds of the complex and exhume buried bodies.

The Hamas government media office said Israeli forces had killed 400 Palestinians in al-Shifa and the surrounding area, including a female doctor and her son, who was also a doctor. Israel has not yet commented.

The IDF said its troops killed 200 "terrorists" and detained more than 900 people, of whom more than 500 were subsequently found to be affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad - which Israel, the UK and other countries proscribe as terrorist organisations. The suspects had been transferred to the intelligence services for further interrogation, it added.

The IDF said "forces found large quantities of weapons, intelligence documents throughout the hospital, encountered terrorists in close-quarters battles and engaged in combat while avoiding harm to the medical staff and patients".

An IDF spokesman said more than 6,000 people had been in the hospital complex, mostly civilians, at the start of the raid.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday night that 21 patients had died, with patients moved a number of times and held without medical care.

Dr Amira al-Safady at al-Shifa told the BBC's Gaza Lifeline radio that about 16 people who were in the intensive care unit died after being moved, because she and other doctors no longer had the equipment to treat them.

Three days later, troops told medical staff to bury them outside, she said.

The IDF has been asked for comment. It says troops set up temporary infrastructure for medical treatment at al-Shifa, with video showing troops setting up a small number of beds.

Patient Barra al-Shawish told Reuters news agency that the Israeli troops had allowed in a "very small amount of food". "No treatment, no medicine, nothing, and bombing for 24 hours that didn't stop and immense destruction in the hospital," he said.

Some of the patients were being moved to al-Ahli hospital, about 3km (1.8 miles) to the south-east, a medic at al-Shifa told Reuters.

Gaza's hospitals have been a main focus of the current war, with thousands of Palestinians seeking shelter from Israeli bombardment in their grounds and Israeli forces storming the facilities because they say Hamas fighters are present there.

Israel has long accused Hamas of using civilian health infrastructure as a cover to launch its operations, which the group denies.

Two weeks ago, it took hundreds of Israeli forces just a few hours to approach and enter the Gaza Strip's largest hospital. That was in marked contrast to their first controversial raid there in November, when it took several weeks for large numbers of tanks and vehicles, backed by heavy air strikes, to close in on the site.

For supporters of the Israeli military, this has been evidence of the gains it has made during the war and its tactical success, launching a surprise attack on the enemy to strike it hard. An IDF spokesman previously referred to the operation as "one of the most successful of the war so far" because of the intelligence gleaned, as well as numbers killed and detained.

destroyed residential area near al-Shifa

However, some commentators suggest the second al-Shifa raid highlights flaws in Israel's military strategy for the war. They argue that it shows the ease with which Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters were able to regroup after Israel pulled its forces out of northern Gaza and the urgent need to come up with a convincing post-war plan to govern the territory.

On Monday, the Gaza health ministry appealed for international help to restart medical care at Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The biggest hospital in southern Gaza has been out of action since the Israeli military stormed it in February.

The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. About 130 of the hostages remain in captivity, at least 34 of whom are presumed dead.

More than 32,800 Palestinians have been killed and 75,000 injured in Gaza since Israel launched its military campaign, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. It says 70% of those killed were women and children.

Map showing key buildings at al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City

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By Sean Seddon

BBC News

Israel's military says it has pulled out of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City after a two-week military operation that has destroyed much of the hospital complex.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), troops "killed terrorists" and found "numerous weapons and intelligence documents" in the area.

The raid happened after Israel said it had intelligence indicating Hamas was using the hospital as a base to launch attacks.

Hamas denies using medical sites to carry out military operations.

Heavy fighting has been reported around the hospital, the largest in Gaza, in recent weeks.

In a statement following Monday's withdrawal, the IDF said troops had "completed precise operational activity in the area of the Shifa Hospital and exited the area".

"The troops killed terrorists in close-quarter encounters, located numerous weapons and intelligence documents throughout the hospital, while preventing harm to civilians, patients and medical teams."

Earlier, Palestinian media reports said dozens of bodies were found in the vicinity of the complex, citing witnesses and the Hamas-run health ministry.

The BBC has not verified those reports. But the World Health Organization (WHO) has said 21 patients have died in al-Shifa in the past two weeks, while Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said more than 200 "terrorists" were killed.

When the raid was first announced, IDF chief spokesman Daniel Hagari said "Hamas terrorists have regrouped inside al-Shifa hospital".

The IDF said then it was launching a "high-precision" operation on the grounds of the hospital and urged displaced civilians sheltering on the grounds to leave immediately.

Witnesses reported heavy gunfire and tanks surrounding the facility when the raid began in the early hours of the morning on 18 March.

Al-Shifa was raided earlier in the conflict after Israel said it had evidence that hostages captured during the 7 October attack were taken there.

Israel has long accused Hamas of using civilian health infrastructure as a cover to launch its operations, which the Palestinian group refutes.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the WHO, has described the situation at al-Shifa hospital as a "siege".

In a post on X - formerly Twitter - made prior to the troops' withdrawal, he said more than 100 people were still inside al-Shifa struggling with a lack of food, water and medical supplies.

But Mr Netanyahu has reiterated that al-Shifa was a "terrorist lair" and praised the efforts of Israeli soldiers for conducting a "precise and surgical" surprise attack.

The Israeli PM made his remarks on Sunday night prior to entering surgery to treat a hernia discovered during a routine check-up.

Early on Monday his office said the operation was successful and Mr Netanyahu was "in good shape and beginning to recover".

The surgery took place amid demonstrations held in Jerusalem fuelled by mounting anger over his government's handling of the war in Gaza. Thousands took to the streets demanding more action to free hostages.

Around 130 people - at least 34 of whom are presumed dead - are still unaccounted for after Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel.

Mr Netanyahu is under pressure from some in Israeli society who believe there has been insufficient progress in rescuing the remaining hostages inside Gaza.

Also on Sunday, seven journalists - including a freelancer working for the BBC - were injured in an Israeli air strike on the grounds of al-Aqsa hospital targeting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group.

The IDF hit a building in the grounds of the hospital which it said PIJ was using as a command centre.

Four members of the PIJ - which is allied with Hamas and participated in the 7 October attack - were killed, the IDF said.