At least six members of US-backed Kurdish-led group killed in drone strike in Syria – reports
In the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the US launched strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias that have been targeting its forces in the region, six allied Kurdish fighters were killed late Sunday by a drone attack on a base also housing US troops in eastern Syria.
Associated Press reports the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. No casualties were reported among US troops.
The SDF initially accused “Syrian regime-backed mercenaries” of carrying out Sunday’s attack but in a second statement blamed “Iran-backed militias” after investigating the attack. An umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias, dubbed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, released a video claiming responsibility and showing them launching a drone from an unspecified location. Iraq and Syria share 600km (370m) of border.
Britain-based opposition war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed at least seven SDF fighters were killed in the attack on Sunday, and at least 18 others wounded, some in critical condition.
The SDF said it has the right to respond to the attack.
The US strikes on Saturday came after three of its service personnel were killed in a drone strike on a US base in Jordan on 27 January. Two US defense officials told CNN at the weekend that during those strikes “all but one of the 85 targets were ‘destroyed or functionally damaged’”.
Key events
Israeli police have published footage showing what they say was an attempted stabbing attack earlier today near Israeli-occupied al-Eizariya in the West Bank. Police shot dead the 14-year-old during the incident. Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the child as Wadee Oweisat from Jabal al-Mukkaber, near occupied East Jerusalem.
Ofri Bibs, the aunt of the two youngest Israeli hostages held in Gaza, said at a committee session in the Knesset today that “it is important to me to remind that behind the posters and the pictures that we bring with us and that appear all over the country, which we a little bit got used to seeing, there are people.”
“I think that, if there’s someone who hasn’t understood it yet, we don’t have another way to bring them except a deal,” she insisted.
“יהיו מחירים כואבים, אבל אין דרך אחרת להביא את המשפחות” – עופרי ביבס, גיסתה של שירי ביבס ודודה של אריאל וכפיר, דיברה בוועדת החוקה על עסקת השבויים המתגבשת: “להקריב חטופים תמורת כותרת של מיטוט חמאס? בשביל זה אנחנו הולכים להקריב 136 אזרחים?”@bringhomenow @BringThemHome23 pic.twitter.com/aQaoOu5xQq
— ערוץ כנסת (@KnessetT) February 5, 2024
Thomas White, the director of UNRWA Affairs – Gaza, said that “a food convoy waiting to move into Northern Gaza was hit by Israeli naval gunfire.”
No one was injured, he added.
Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 2pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv, 3pm in Damascus and 3.30pm in Tehran. Here are the headlines …
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Six allied Kurdish fighters were killed late Sunday by a drone attack on a base also housing US troops in eastern Syria in the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the US launched strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias. The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. No casualties were reported among US troops. Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibilty.
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US secretary of state Antony Blinken is set to arrive in Saudi Arabia on his fifth visit to the region since October in the coming hours. He will visit Israel as well as Egypt and Qatar. Speaking Monday after meeting in Washington with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Blinken said there was “real hope” for success of a “good, strong [ceasefire] proposal”. Jake Sullivan, president Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said Blinken would press Israel to allow more food, water, medicine and shelter in to Gaza, which has been left in rubble by nearly four months of bombardment.
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In its latest operational update the Israeli military claims it has killed “dozens of terrorists” in the central and northern Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli bombardment continues in Khan Younis, with large areas east of the city of Deir al-Balah also being targeted. At least 20 Palestinians were killed over the weekend in Israeli strikes on Rafah, the city previously designated a safe zone by the Israeli military and to where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled, according to the UN agency humanitarian agency OCHA.
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The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported on social media that Israeli forces have detained the general manager and the administrative director of the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
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Citing security sources and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, news agency Wafa reports that Israel has detained another 22 Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Describing the raids as a “large-scale military incursion” across the territory, Wafa reports nearly 6,540 Palestinians have been detained since 7 October.
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Spain will send the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional €3.5m (£3m / $3.8m) in aid, foreign minister José Manuel Albares told lawmakers on Monday. The agency has warned of a significant funding shortfall after several large donors suspended funding after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
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Russia has summoned Israel’s ambassador in Moscow over comments Simona Halperin made in an interview. She had criticised Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for playing down the importance of the Holocaust and said Russia was being too friendly with Hamas.
At least six members of US-backed Kurdish-led group killed in drone strike in Syria – reports
In the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the US launched strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias that have been targeting its forces in the region, six allied Kurdish fighters were killed late Sunday by a drone attack on a base also housing US troops in eastern Syria.
Associated Press reports the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. No casualties were reported among US troops.
The SDF initially accused “Syrian regime-backed mercenaries” of carrying out Sunday’s attack but in a second statement blamed “Iran-backed militias” after investigating the attack. An umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias, dubbed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, released a video claiming responsibility and showing them launching a drone from an unspecified location. Iraq and Syria share 600km (370m) of border.
Britain-based opposition war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed at least seven SDF fighters were killed in the attack on Sunday, and at least 18 others wounded, some in critical condition.
The SDF said it has the right to respond to the attack.
The US strikes on Saturday came after three of its service personnel were killed in a drone strike on a US base in Jordan on 27 January. Two US defense officials told CNN at the weekend that during those strikes “all but one of the 85 targets were ‘destroyed or functionally damaged’”.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported on social media that Israeli forces have detained the general manager and the administrative director of the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
It also reports that hundreds of displaced Palestinians are leaving the compound after sheltering there during “a two-week siege”.
🚨 Urgent: The occupation forces summoned both the Executive Committee member of the PRCS and the General Manager of Al-Amal Hospital, Dr. Haider Al-Qaddura, along with the hospital’s Administrative Director, Maher Atallah, and took them to an unknown location.
📌This follows… pic.twitter.com/yVEWwrGnbE— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 5, 2024
A drone strike inside Syria is reported to have killed six members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed Kurdish-led armed group there, at a base which also houses US forces.
More details soon …
Spain to send additional funding to UNRWA
Spain will send the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional €3.5m (£3m / $3.8m) in aid, Reuters reports foreign minister José Manuel Albares told lawmakers on Monday.
The agency has warned of a significant funding shortfall after several large donors suspended funding after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
Madrid contributed €18.5m (£15.8m / $19.9m) directly to UNRWA in 2023, including €10m (£8.5 / $10.75m) approved in December in the wake of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory since Israel commenced its military assault there.
Citing security sources and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, news agency Wafa reports that Israel has detained another 22 Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Describing the raids as a “large-scale military incursion” across the territory, Wafa reports nearly 6,540 Palestinians have been detained since 7 October.
Al Jazeera has a report from Mohammed R Mhawish who has remained in Gaza City with his family throughout the Israeli assault on the territory. He writes:
My family – father, mother, sister, wife, and two-year-old son – and I are seeking relative refuge in the parking garage of a destroyed apartment building. On rainy nights, I take off my coat and wrap it around my baby, making it both a blanket and protection for him against the cold, with hope and prayer that it will be enough for his small body.
Beyond shelter is the struggle for food. I cannot recall the last proper meal my son had. Wheat is nowhere to be found so we have been using animal feed-grade barley and corn to grind into flour for bread.
If you secure food, you still have to cook it and, with no cooking gas, people are combing the ruins to find anything they can burn for a cooking fire, exposing themselves to bombing at any time. And so, when every hour of the day is spent either looking for food or a means to make it, we cannot always worry about staying safe.
In Russia, Tass reports that “the Israeli ambassador will be summoned to the Russian foreign ministry in connection with unacceptable public statements.”
Reuters notes that in an interview in Russia’s Kommersant, published on Sunday, Simona Halperin criticised Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for playing down the importance of the Holocaust and said Russia was being too friendly with Hamas.
In October, two-and-a-half weeks after the 7 October attack, Moscow received a delegation from Hamas. Hamas subsequently released two Russian-Israeli dual nationals it had seized from southern Israel as hostages, under a separate hostage release agreement negotiated between Hamas and Russia.
The ministry described Halperin’s comments as “an extremely unsuccessful start” to her diplomatic posting, which began last December.
In its latest operational update the Israeli military claims it has killed “dozens of terrorists” in the central and northern Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours.
It says that in the west of Khan Younis its troops “continue to kill terror operatives in battles”. It claims to have “conducted targeted raids on terrorist targets and located weapons including AK-47 rifles, sniper rifles, grenades, and ammunition”.
Al Jazeera reports that the Al-Quds Brigades belonging to Islamic Jihad in Gaza claims to have engaged Israeli troops “on the frontlines of the city of Khan Younis” using “anti-personnel bombs”.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
