Damascus, Dec 17 (EFE).- On Sunday, Syria accused Israel of launching a new missile attack on the outskirts of Damascus, amid scalating tensions since the war broke out in the Gaza Strip over two months ago, as reported by the Syrian state news agency SANA.
An unidentified military source informed SANA that approximately at 22:05 local time, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting a number of points in the Damascus countryside.
The same source said that the Syrian air defenses intercepted their missiles and shot down some of them, with losses limited to material damage, although the aggression caused two soldiers to be wounded, no deaths were reported.
However, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Israeli missiles targeted a military site near the residential area of Al-Dimas, killing two unidentified members and wounding others.
The NGO which is based in the United Kingdom and has a wide network of partners on the ground, added that the strikes also targeted Syrian air defense centers and military sites where forces working with Hezbollah were stationed.
The organization has tracked Israeli attacks on Syrian territory 34 times since the Gaza Strip war, killing 38 military personnel and 2 civilians.
First humanitarian aid from Israel reaches Gaza
On the same day Syria denounces an attack, Israel assures that it has allowed 79 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, in fulfillment of a commitment it made with the United States on Friday to ease the severe humanitarian crisis left behind by the war in the Palestinian enclave.
In addition, another 122 trucks inspected at the Nitzana crossing were transferred to Gaza via Rafah, the border between Egypt and the Strip, bringing the total number of trucks transferred on Sunday to 201.
The Israeli government on Friday temporarily authorized for the first time the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza through Kerem Shalom in order to relieve congestion at the Rafah crossing.
Army won’t “stop thinking in combat” after hostage’s death
The humanitarian aid coincided with Israel’s Chief of the General Staff, Hanzi Halevi, calling on his troops in Gaza to think twice before firing. The plea comes after it became known that the three Israeli hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli troops had been holding a banner calling for help.
The killing of the three hostages “could easily have not happened (…) Use your heads. We always feel that fighting is with the hands, fighting is with the feet. I tell you, gentlemen, don’t stop thinking for a second in combat,” Halevi told troops of the 99th Division in the Gaza Strip, according to a video released by the army.
Yotam Jaim, a 28-year-old musician, Alon Lulu Shamriz, a 26-year-old computer student, and Samer Fouad al-Talalka, a 25-year-old Israeli Bedouin, were killed while being shirtless and carrying a stick with a white cloth on it.
Source : La Prensa Latina
