Middle East

Hamas’ Khan Younis brigade commander killed in Gaza air strike, Israel claims

One Syrian soldier killed and three injured in Israeli attacks against military sites and residential building in Damascus early on Sunday

Palestinians inspect the scene after an Israeli air strike in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday. Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA
Sun Jul 14 2024 - 15:38

The Israeli military said that Rafa Salama, Hamas’ Khan Younis brigade commander in Gaza, was killed in an air strike on Saturday that also targeted the head of the group’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif.

The military said Salama was one of Deif’s closest associates and was involved in planning Hamas’ October 7th attack. His death, “significantly impedes Hamas’ military capabilities”, the military said.

Hamas has not confirmed Salama’s fate.

[ Gaza: At least 90 killed, 300 injured, in Israeli air strike on designated humanitarian zone ]

Elsewhere, one Syrian soldier was killed and three others were injured in Israeli air strikes against military sites and a residential building in Damascus early on Sunday, the Syrian army said.

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The army said in a statement that the attacks were launched from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

For years Israel has been carrying out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran’s influence has grown since it began supporting president Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that started in 2011.

Israeli strikes on Syria increased after the start of the war in Gaza last October.

A man stares at damage caused to a building following an Israeli strike in the neighbourhood of Kafr Sousse in Damascus early on Sunday. Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty

Sunday’s strikes targeted “a number of our military sites in the southern region and one of the residential buildings in the Kafar Souseh area in the city of Damascus,” the Syrian army said in a statement.

“Our air defence systems confronted the enemy’s missiles despite their density and shot down a considerable number of them.”

Israel’s army said its strikes were in response to the launch of two drones from Syria towards the north of Eilat on Saturday, which it said were intercepted.

“Overnight, the IDF struck a Syrian military command centre and infrastructure sites. Additionally, terror targets used by the Syrian military’s Aerial Defense Unit were struck,” it added. – Reuters