Strikes on Syria
9/9/24
Syrians inspect damage at the site of overnight strikes near the Syrian city of Masyaf on Sept. 9.Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty Images
Overnight airstrikes killed at least 18 people in Syria’s Tartus and Hama governorates, Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabbash said on Monday. Nearly 40 others were wounded, including six critically—making it one of the deadliest attacks on Syria since the Israel-Hamas war began last October. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based war monitor, placed the death toll even higher at 25 people, including at least five civilians.
Israel is widely believed to be responsible for the operation; the Israeli military declined to comment on foreign reports. Israel has regularly targeted military sites in Syria linked to Iran and Hezbollah, accusing Tehran of using Syria to transport Iranian weapons to the Lebanon-based militant group, which—like Iran—is allied with Hamas. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, the Israeli military has launched more than 180 strikes on Syria since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
The overnight assault reportedly targeted military sites, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying on Monday that strikes hit a scientific research institute in the Syrian city of Masyaf that worked on “developing short- and medium-range precision missiles.”
Syrian officials, however, said the attack hit civilian targets, including a highway in Masyaf. The strikes caused “truly significant” damage to water and electricity infrastructure, Electricity Minister Mohammad al-Zamel said. A Syrian military source told state media that Syrian air defenses intercepted and shot down some of the fired missiles.
Ending the Israel-Hamas war and “averting a full-blown regional conflict is an absolute and urgent priority,” United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk said on Monday. Israeli strikes on Syria have already heightened regional tensions, particularly when Israeli forces targeted an Iranian consulate building in Damascus in April. “The region is under fire, and everything is interlinked with what happens in Gaza,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told reporters at the time.
Türk also urged other countries on Monday to denounce Israel’s “blatant disregard” for international law concerning its actions in the West Bank and Gaza, where more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed over the past 11 months. Violence in the West Bank has also escalated in recent weeks. On Friday, Israeli forces concluded a 10-day raid on Jenin that targeted suspected militants, killing at least 36 Palestinians. And on Sunday, a Jordanian citizen killed three Israelis at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank. Jordan’s Interior Ministry said the gunman appeared to have acted alone.
“It seems to me we are at a fork in the road,” Türk said, adding that continuing down the current path is “a treacherous new normal” that will enable the region to “sleepwalk into a dystopian future.”