Drone strike kills woman in western Syria: monitor
DAMASCUS: A civilian woman was killed Sunday in Syria's western Tartus province when a drone struck her home, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
It marked the first reported casualty on Syrian soil since the latest escalation between Iran and Israel began.
The Britain-based war monitor reported the death of 'a woman after a drone fell on her house' in a village in rural Tartus, suggesting the drone was likely Iranian.
Since the start of the Iran-Israel escalation, AFP correspondents and residents across Syria have observed dozens of missiles flying overhead, several of them intercepted.
They have exploded in various regions, fuelling concerns over a broader regional conflict.
On Friday, Israel launched a large-scale offensive on Iran, targeting mainly military and nuclear sites, with the stated goal of preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
The strikes killed several high-ranking Iranian officers, including Revolutionary Guard commander Hossein Salami, army chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, and nine nuclear scientists.
The military escalation between Israel and Iran has stoked fears among Syrians of the conflict spilling over into their war-ravaged country.
Since the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel -- wary of the new authorities in Damascus -- has carried out hundreds of strikes on military sites across Syria, claiming it aims to prevent weapons from reaching the new leadership, which it labels as 'jihadist'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
43 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
Strait of Hormuz closure 'worst-case scenario', warns Greek shipping minister
ATHENS: The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is feared should armed tension escalate between Iran and Israel, would affect the global economy, Greece's shipping minister warned on Friday, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported. Vassilis Kikilias noted that there would be serious global economic implications should Iran close the sea passage. "If the Strait of Hormuz is closed, which is the worst-case scenario, it will affect the entire global economy, not just shipping," he told SKAI TV. Nearly 90 per cent of global trade depends on maritime routes, and rerouting vessels around Africa to reach key destinations in Europe and the US would severely upset global supply chains, Kikilias explained. Calling the current geopolitical landscape "very volatile," he said that oil prices have already risen by 7 to 10 per cent in recent days, owing to the armed tension between Iran and Israel. Hostilities broke out last Friday when Israel launched airstrikes on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes. Israeli authorities said at least 25 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks. The death toll in Iran has risen to at least 639, while more than 1,300 are wounded, according to reports. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
New Straits Times
44 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
Iran, Israel launch new attacks after Tehran rules out nuclear talks
JERUSALEM: Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive. Shortly after 2.30am in Israel (2330 GMT on Friday), the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel's air defence systems responded. At the same time, Israel launched a new wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran, the Israeli military said. Sirens also sounded in southern Israel, said Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency service. An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and that there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts. There were no initial reports of casualties. The emergency service released images showing a fire on the roof of a multi-storey residential building in central Israel. Local media reported that the fire was caused by debris from an intercepted missile. Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this. Its air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran. The dead include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities. Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures for either side. TALKS SHOW LITTLE PROGRESS Iran has repeatedly targeted Tel Aviv, a metropolitan area of around 4 million people and the country's business and economic hub, where some critical military assets are also located. Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets on Friday, including missile production sites, a research body it said was involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the US "until Israeli aggression stops." But he arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with European foreign ministers at which Europe hopes to establish a path back to diplomacy. US President Donald Trump on Friday reiterated that he would take as long as two weeks to decide whether the United States should enter the conflict on Israel's side, enough time "to see whether or not people come to their senses", he said. Trump said he was unlikely to press Israel to scale back its airstrikes to allow negotiations to continue. "I think it's very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we're ready, willing and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens," he said. The Geneva talks produced little signs of progress, and Trump said he doubted negotiators would be able to secure a ceasefire. "Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this one," Trump said. Hundreds of US citizens have fled Iran since the air war began, according to a US State Department cable seen by Reuters. Israel's envoy to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told the Security Council on Friday his country would not stop its attacks "until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled." Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani called for Security Council action and said Tehran was alarmed by reports that the US might join the war. Russia and China demanded immediate de-escalation. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran was ready to discuss limitations on uranium enrichment but that it would reject any proposal that barred it from enriching uranium completely, "especially now under Israel's strikes." --REUTERS
New Straits Times
44 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
Cyber war intensifies as Iran counters Israeli hacking attempts
ISTANBUL: Iran's Cyber Security Command announced that since the onset of Israeli cyberattacks amid the conflict, multiple attempts to disrupt critical infrastructure, including the banking network, have been largely thwarted, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported, citing Iranian Mehr News Agency on Friday. Key achievements highlighted, according to a statement by the Command, include repelling major distributed denial-of-service attacks, limiting hacker groups' access to sabotage systems and steal data, causing a partial collapse of Israel's command and control (C4I) structures near military operations and disrupting Israeli data collection mechanisms used for targeted attacks. Additionally, efforts prevented the exploitation of mobile phone malware by hostile actors, it added. The Cyber Security Command warned collaborators with Israel that they would be "identified and prosecuted." Hostilities broke out on June 13 when Israel launched airstrikes on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes. Israeli authorities said at least 25 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks. Meanwhile, in Iran, 639 people have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded in the Israeli assault, according to Iranian media reports. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
