JERUSALEM — The Israeli military on Wednesday said it struck dozens of Iranian targets in Syria, carrying out a “wide-scale” strike in response to rocket fire on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights the day before. Syrian state media reported that two civilians were killed.
The military said its fighter jets hit multiple targets belonging to the elite Quds force, including surface-to-air missiles, weapons warehouses and military bases. After the Syrian military fired an air defense missile, the military said a number of Syrian aerial defense batteries were destroyed.
Syria’s SANA news agency said the two people were killed by shrapnel when an Israeli missile hit a house in the town of Saasaa, southwest of Damascus.
The report also said several others were wounded in the airstrikes near the capital, Damascus, including a girl in a residential building in the suburb of Qudsaya, west of the Syrian capital. It claimed that Syrian air defenses destroyed most of the Israeli missiles before they reached their targets.
The strikes further burst into the open what’s been a long shadow war between Israel and its archenemy Iran. The two foes have increasingly clashed over what Israel says is Iran’s deeper presence along its borders.
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“Yesterday’s Iranian attack towards Israel is further clear proof of the purpose of the Iranian entrenchment in Syria, which threatens Israeli security, regional stability and the Syrian regime,” the military said in a statement.
Israel intercepted the four rockets on the Golan Heights on Tuesday which came amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iranian proxies along its borders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a series of warnings recently about Iranian aggression throughout the Middle East and has vowed to respond firmly.
“I made it clear: whoever harms us, we will harm them. That’s what we did tonight,” he said early Wednesday. “We will continue to aggressively protect Israel’s security.”
Israel’s new hard-line defense minister, Naftali Bennett, issued an equally firm statement.
“The rules have changed: whoever fires on Israel during the day will not sleep at night,” he said. “Our message to the leaders of Iran is simple: you are no longer immune. Any place you dispatch your tentacles, we will chop them off.”
The rare rocket fire comes a week after an Israeli airstrike against a top Palestinian militant based in Syria. Akram al-Ajouri, a member of the leadership of the militant Islamic Jihad group who is living in exile, survived the attack but his son and granddaughter were killed.
Israel frequently strikes Iranian interests in Syria. But last week’s airstrike appeared to be a rare assassination attempt of a Palestinian militant in the Syrian capital. It came the same day as another Israeli airstrike killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza, settling off the fiercest round of fighting there in years.
Iran has forces based in Syria, Israel's northern neighbor, and supports Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. In Gaza, it supplies Islamic Jihad with cash, weapons and expertise.
Netanyahu also has claimed Iran is using Iraq and far-off Yemen, where Tehran supports Shiite Houthi rebels at war with a Saudi-led coalition backing the government, to plan attacks against Israel. Hamas also receives some support from Iran.
WASHINGTON — The Taliban has freed two Western hostages, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks, after holding them in captivity for more than three years, a U.S. official and the prime minister of neighboring Pakistan said Tuesday.
A U.S. official with knowledge of the release said the American University of Kabul professors, who were kidnapped at gunpoint in August 2016, were now in U.S. hands. Their health was being evaluated and the two were being debriefed, added the official who was not authorized to speak to the media on the subject.
"We appreciate steps taken by all involved to make it possible," Prime Minister Imran Khan said via Twitter. "As part of the international community working to bring peace and end the suffering of the Afghan people, Pakistan has fully supported and facilitated this release as part of its policy of supporting initiatives for a negotiated political settlement of the Afghan conflict."
Taliban sources said the two hostages had been handed over in Zabul province, on the border with Pakistan. The Taliban said ten Afghan soldiers had also been released.
King, the American hostage, was suffering from “serious” and “multiple” health issues, according to a Taliban leader in Zabul province.
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“The American teacher was having some serious health problems when we handed him over to the U.S. and Afghan officials,” he added, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
On Nov. 12, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a deal to release the two hostages in exchange for three Taliban members.
The Western hostages were released in exchange for Taliban members Anas Haqqani, Haji Maali Khan and Hafiz Rasheed Ahamd Omari, according to the Taliban.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the professors' release too.
“Tim’s family has asked for privacy. They have asked the Australian Government to convey their relief that their long ordeal is over, and their gratitude to all those who have contributed to Tim’s safe return,” he added on Twitter.
The American University of Afghanistan welcomed the news soon after the announcement.
“The AUAF community shares the relief of the families of Kevin and Timothy, and we look forward to providing all the support we can to Kevin and Tim and their families,” the statement said.
The exchange raises hopes that negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban may restart after President Donald Trump pulled the plug on a potential deal to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from the country and end America's longest war. Negotiations broke down on Sept. 7 and it remains unclear if and when they will start again.
“These actions are a step forward in good-will and confidence building measures that can aid the peace process,” the Taliban said in a statement Tuesday.
Abigail Williams reported from Washington; Ahmed Mengli reported from Kabul; Mushtaq Yusufzai from Peshawar, Pakistan; and Saphora Smith from London.
WASHINGTON — The Taliban has freed two Western hostages, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks, after holding them in captivity for more than three years, an American official and the prime minister of neighboring Pakistan said Tuesday.
A U.S. official with knowledge of the release said the American University of Kabul professors, who were kidnapped at gunpoint in August 2016, were now in U.S. hands. Their health was being evaluated and the two were being debriefed, added the official who was not authorized to speak to the media on the subject.
"We appreciate steps taken by all involved to make it possible," Prime Minister Imran Khan said via Twitter. "As part of the international community working to bring peace and end the suffering of the Afghan people, Pakistan has fully supported and facilitated this release as part of its policy of supporting initiatives for a negotiated political settlement of the Afghan conflict."
Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.
Taliban sources said the two hostages had been handed over in Zabul province, on the border with Pakistan.
On Nov. 12, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a deal to release the two hostages in exchange for three Taliban members.
According to the Taliban, Anas Haqqani, Haji Maali Khan and Hafiz Rasheed Ahamd Omari have also been released.
The release of the two comes weeks after President Donald Trump pulled the plug on a potential deal with the Taliban to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from the country and end America's longest war. Negotiations broke down on Sept. 7 and it remains unclear if and when they will start again.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also confirmed the professors' release.
“Tim’s family has asked for privacy. They have asked the Australian Government to convey their relief that their long ordeal is over, and their gratitude to all those who have contributed to Tim’s safe return,” he added on Twitter.
The American University of Afghanistan welcomed the news.
“The AUAF community shares the relief of the families of Kevin and Timothy, and we look forward to providing all the support we can to Kevin and Tim and their families,” the statement said.
Abigail Williams reported from Washington; Ahmed Mengli reported from Kabul; Mushtaq Yusufzai from Peshawar, Pakistan; and Saphora Smith from London.
Palestinians have condemned a decision by the US to abandon its four-decades-old position that Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank are inconsistent with international law.
Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said it threatened to replace international law with the "law of the jungle".
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US move, saying it "rights a historical wrong".
The UN regards the settlements as being illegal under international law.
Settlements are communities established by Israel on land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. They have long been a source of dispute between Israel and the international community, and the Palestinians.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements is not, per se, inconsistent with international law". The status of the West Bank, he added, was "for the Israelis and the Palestinians to negotiate".
The move was seen as a victory for Mr Netanyahu, who has pledged to apply Israeli sovereignty over all the settlements, as well as the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea.
The Palestinians have long called for the removal of the settlements, where about 600,000 Jews live, arguing that their presence on land they claim for a future independent Palestinian state makes it almost impossible to make such a state a reality.
"Israeli colonial settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, are not only illegal under international law, they are war crimes," said Mr Erekat. "Once the Trump administration decides to undermine international law... this constitutes a major threat to international peace and security."
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Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said: "The United States is neither qualified nor is authorised to negate international legitimacy resolutions, and it has no right to give any legitimacy to Israeli settlement."
Palestinian militant groups also weighed in, calling it the official funeral of the Oslo peace process and urging stepped-up resistance to the Israeli occupation.
In 2017, US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and ordered the relocation of the US embassy to the city from Tel Aviv. The decision was condemned by Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state, and the UN General Assembly demanded its cancellation.
And earlier this year, Mr Trump recognised Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, which were seized from Syria in the 1967 war.
Mr Pompeo's announcement was made two days ahead of a deadline for Benny Gantz, Mr Netanyahu's political rival, to form a coalition government following an inconclusive general election in September. Mr Gantz was given the opportunity after Mr Netanyahu himself failed to form a ruling coalition.
Hours later, the US state department alerted Americans planning to visit Jerusalem, West Bank or Gaza that "those opposed to the secretary of state's announcement may target US [government] facilities, interests, and citizens".
In praising the US move, Mr Netanyahu said Israeli courts were the "appropriate place" to decide the legality of the settlements, "not biased international forums that pay no attention to history or facts".
"Israel remains ready and willing to conduct peace negotiations with the Palestinians regarding all final status issues in an effort to achieve a durable peace," he said, "but will continue to reject all arguments regarding the illegality of the settlements."
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Meanwhile, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said the bloc's position was that "all settlement activity is illegal under international law and it erodes the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace".
Ayman Safadi, Foreign Minister of Jordan - the custodian of a holy site in Jerusalem known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount - said the change would "kill" a two-state solution, calling the settlements "a blatant violation of international law".
Mike Pompeo said the decision would create the political space for a more likely resolution of the conflict. But that resolution is now more likely to be on Israel's terms, since it is by far the stronger party.
Dismissing the international legal prohibitions on Jewish settlements undermines the legal framework for the peace process, including the notion of Palestinian national rights and the principle of self-determination.
It will almost certainly boost the movement to expand and annex the Jewish settlements. There has already been a sharp increase in settlement planning and construction since Mr Trump took office.
Palestinians will be dismayed, although not surprised. Palestinian analysts I have spoken with say the growth of Jewish settlements has essentially killed the potential for a viable two-state solution. They speak in terms of a war of position, saying that staying on the land and simply continuing their lives is a kind of non-violent resistance.
In 1978, the Carter administration concluded that the establishment of civilian settlements was inconsistent with international law. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan disagreed with that conclusion, saying he did not believe the settlements were inherently illegal.
Since then, the US has adopted a position of describing the settlements as "illegitimate" - though not "illegal" - and sheltering Israel from condemnatory resolutions on the issue at the United Nations.
However, one of the last acts of the Obama administration, at the end of 2016, was to break with US practice by not vetoing a UN resolution that urged an end to illegal Israeli settlements.
President Trump's administration has displayed a much more tolerant attitude towards settlement activity than President Obama's. Mr Pompeo said the Trump administration had studied all sides of the debate and agreed with Mr Reagan.
Most of the international community, including the UN and the International Court of Justice, say the settlements are illegal. The basis for this is the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention which forbids the transfer by an occupying power of its people to occupied territory.
However, Israel says the Fourth Geneva Convention does not apply de jure to the West Bank because, it says, the territory is not technically occupied.
Israel says it is legally there as a result of a defensive war, and did not take control of the West Bank from a legitimate sovereign power. It says the legal right of Jewish settlement there, as recognised by the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, was preserved under the UN's charter.
