Written by James McKenzie and Taimur Azhari
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Israeli military said it had eliminated a member of the Hezbollah group in Syria who was transmitting intelligence against Israel in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, while Syrian media reported on Thursday that Israeli air strikes had hit targets in Syria.
Israel, which has carried out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years, has intensified its strikes since the October 7, 2023 attack by the Iran-backed Palestinian movement Hamas on Israeli territory, which sparked Israel’s war in Gaza. .
Israel escalated its retaliation for the Hamas attack, sending troops into Lebanon and carrying out air strikes in Iran, Yemen and Syria to pursue Iranian-backed militants, raising fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East that could attract Iran and the United States.
Ground clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, also backed by Iran, extended along the mountainous border in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, as the Middle East was on high alert awaiting Israel’s response to an Iranian missile attack last week.
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday about possible Israeli retaliation against Iran, in a call that both sides described as positive.
The White House said the two leaders discussed Israeli plans in the 30-minute call, and Biden urged Netanyahu to reduce harm to civilians in Lebanon.
Israel promised that Iran, its arch-enemy, would pay the price for its missile attack, which caused minor damage, while Tehran said that any retaliation would be met with widespread destruction, raising fears of broader fighting in the oil-producing region.
Last week, Biden made statements discouraging Israel from striking Iranian oil fields, and said that he would not support Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites.
Strikes in Syria
The Israeli army announced on Wednesday that it had killed Adham Jahout, a member of Hezbollah’s “Golan Terrorist Network” in the Quneitra region of Syria.
The Israeli army said that Jahot’s role was to transfer information from Syrian regime sources to Hezbollah and transfer intelligence collected on the Syrian front to facilitate operations against Israel in the Golan Heights.
Israel occupied the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed the region, a move not recognized by most countries.
Early Thursday, Syrian state television said that Israel carried out air strikes targeting an industrial site in the Syrian city of Homs and a military site in the countryside near the city of Hama, causing “some material damage.”
Syrian television, quoting the director of the industrial site, Amer Khalil, said that the raids targeted a car manufacturing factory in Homs and caused a fire.
Official media reported that explosions were also heard in the Syrian city of Daraa and were being investigated.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it intercepted a drone that approached Israel over the Red Sea but did not cross into Israeli territory, minutes after the Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced that it had targeted the Israeli city of Eilat with drones.
“Deadly, precise and sudden” revenge.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the discussion between Biden and Netanyahu was “direct and very productive,” but she acknowledged differences between the two leaders. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told reporters that the two leaders had a “positive contact, and we appreciate the support of the United States.”
Relations between Biden and Netanyahu were strained due to the Israeli leader’s dealings with Gaza and Lebanon. The United States has tried to prevent an escalation of hostilities and has sought unsuccessfully to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.
Some analysts say that Israel is likely to respond to the Iranian attack on October 1 by targeting Iranian military facilities, especially those that produce ballistic missiles like the ones used in the attack. It could also seek to destroy Iran’s air defense systems and missile launch facilities.
In a video published by Israeli media on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant reiterated plans to launch a fatal strike against Iran. “Our attack will be deadly, precise, and above all sudden,” he said.
The top UN official in Lebanon said on Wednesday that although the conflict was intensifying, the proposal put forward by the United States and France last month for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah “is still on the table.”
The Israeli bombing of Lebanon killed more than 2,100 people, most of them in the past few weeks, and forced 1.2 million to leave their homes, according to the Lebanese government. Israel says it has no choice but to strike Hezbollah so that tens of thousands of Israelis can return to their homes from which they fled under Hezbollah’s missiles.
The Hamas attack a year ago led to the death of about 1,200 people and the taking of about 250 hostages, according to Israeli statistics. The Gaza Ministry of Health says that nearly 42,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attack. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people were displaced, and much of the Strip was destroyed.