Suspected Israeli Strike Targets Positions Near Damascus Airport

Israeli missiles hit a military installation near Damascus airport early Thursday morning, the Associated Press reported.

The missiles were fired from the occupied Golan Heights and triggered several explosions, according to the Syrian state-run SANA news agency.

A regional intelligence source told Reuters that the strike hit a weapons supply hub managed by the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia, Hezbollah.

Israeli intelligence minister Yisrael Katz did not take responsibility for the strike, but said, “It absolutely matches our declared policy, a policy that we also implement.”

Turkey Claims It Was Targeted by Kurdish Fire

Kurdish militias in Syria attacked Turkish military positions on the border between Turkey and Syria on Wednesday according to the Turkish army, Reuters reported.

Four Turkish outposts were targeted with artillery and mortar shells, a day after Ankara’s warplanes hit the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in northeastern Syria. Three of the attacks came from YPG-held territory, and one reportedly originated from an area under Syrian government control.

Turkish artillery fire struck northeastern Syria on Wednesday, according to YPG spokesman Redur Xelil. The YPG is the leading force behind the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the U.S.-led coalition’s ground partner in the fight against so-called Islamic State.

Airstrikes Target Idlib Province

At least 19 people were killed in airstrikes on several areas of rebel-held Idlib province by suspected Syrian or Russian warplanes, Al Jazeera reported.

Hamid, a local official of search and rescue group Syrian Civil Defence, told Al Jazeera on Thursday: “Nineteen people were killed today. Khan Sheikhoun, Maarat al-Numan, Jisr al-Shughour and other areas were targeted by suspected Russian and Syrian airstrikes since the morning.”

The United Kingdom-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 16 people, including seven children and several medical volunteers.

RECOMMENDED READS:

• Reuters: Trump Gives Pentagon Power to Reset Iraq, Syria Troop Limits
• IRIN: Syria: Return of the Red Line
• Los Angeles Times: Syrian Chemical Attack Bears Assad Signature, France Says
• New York Times: How Syria and Russia Spun a Chemical Strike
• Washington Post: Turkey Deports Foreigners Working With Syrian Refugees