Israel's army said it had launched air strikes on Wednesday on Iranian and Syrian targets inside Syria, calling it a retaliatory attack after it found explosive devices along its northern border.
Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said eight targets were hit, belonging to the Syrian army or Iran’s Quds Force, in areas stretching from the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights to the Damascus periphery.
They included an Iranian headquarters at Damascus international airport, a “secret military site” that hosted Iranian military delegations, and the 7th Division of the Syrian armed forces, he said.
The "Damascus airport headquarters" has now been identified as the so called "glass house," an Iranian military site which has been bombed on several occasions.
The recent escalation began on Tuesday, when Israel's military said it had discovered improvised explosive devices on its side of a border crossing point with Syria.
The bombs "were placed by a Syrian squad led by Iranian forces," an army statement said.
"In response, overnight, ... fighter jets struck military targets belonging to the Iranian Quds force and the Syrian Armed Forces," it said.
The Israeli statement said than in addition to striking military infrastructure, "Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries were struck."
Three Syrian soldiers were killed, according to state media, although the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group tracking casualties in the war, claimed that 10 personnel had been killed, including five Iranians. There was no way to verify their claims.
Israel has carried out hundreds of air and missile strikes on Syria since the civil war broke out in 2011, targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces as well as government troops.
The Israeli Defence Ministry rarely acknowledges individual strikes, but has done so when it says it is responding to specific attacks on Israeli territory.
Images of the Iranian IEDs, tweeted by security analyst Emanuel Fabian, showed crude looking devices and it was not clear what tactical aim the Iranians had, or what message they were trying to send, by planting the bombs, given the scale of retaliation.
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz, on a visit to the northern border on Tuesday, said Israel would not tolerate the planting of explosives in the Golan, territory captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.
"We cannot turn a blind eye to this. It's a grave incident," Mr Gantz told reporters.
Israel has repeatedly attacked Iranian targets in Syria and those of allied militias, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Mr Gantz said Israel held Syria responsible for "everything that occurs on [Syrian] territory".
"What is going on at the Golan border is an exchange of messages," said Joe Truzman, an analyst with US website The Long War Journal, a website affiliated with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies which tracks terrorist violence globally.
"Israel has repeatedly stated they would act against malign activity by any Iranian-backed proxy on its borders. In early August a four-man team were caught on the Alpha Line planting explosives. All four were killed and the IDF took an additional step by bombing Syrian army bases near Damascus the following day. The message the IDF conveyed after the August event was the same as the message conveyed yesterday: We hold the Syria government responsible for all activities on its soil," he added.
The most recent campaign of Israeli air strikes in Syria began in 2013, when Hezbollah stepped up the movement of equipment into the country, including long range missiles to bolster its vast arsenal of weapons on the Lebanese border.
As President Bashar Al Assad's government floundered amid an increasingly powerful rebellion, Iran and its allies stepped up assistance to the Syrian regime, with Tehran seeing an opportunity to entrench itself in Syria and potentially, open up a new rocket front along the Syrian-Israeli border. The purpose of this second front was to complement Hezbollah's positions in southern Lebanon, which bristle with an estimated 100,000 rockets.
"Israel's concern is that its border with Syria does not turn into a Lebanon 2.0," said Mr Truzman.
"The Palestinian factions in Gaza on its southern border and Hezbollah on its northern border has kept Israel in a state of conflict for decades. They don't want a third front," he said.
As the risk of a three front war grew, the Israeli air campaign soon escalated, at times killing Iranian military advisors, members of Hezbollah and pro-Iran Iraqi militias.
According to Mr Truzman, the pattern of sporadic attacks and Israeli counterstrikes will not diminish any time soon.
"Iran and its proxies have so far not been deterred from continuing to operate in southern Syria against Israel," he said.
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Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, second leg:
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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The specs: 2018 Genesis G70
Price, base / as tested: Dh155,000 / Dh205,000
Engine: 3.3-litre, turbocharged V6
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
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Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Bio
Born in Dibba, Sharjah in 1972.
He is the eldest among 11 brothers and sisters.
He was educated in Sharjah schools and is a graduate of UAE University in Al Ain.
He has written poetry for 30 years and has had work published in local newspapers.
He likes all kinds of adventure movies that relate to his work.
His dream is a safe and preserved environment for all humankind.
His favourite book is The Quran, and 'Maze of Innovation and Creativity', written by his brother.
Essentials
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes.
Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes.
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
