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Israeli warplanes carried out intense airstrikes on eastern Syria early Wednesday, apparently targeting positions and arms depots of Iran-backed fighters.
Dozens of fighters were killed or wounded, according to an opposition war monitor. Syria’s state news agency SANA said the strikes hit areas in and near the towns of Deir el-Zour, Mayadeen and Boukamal along the border with Iraq. It gave no further details.
The State Department will notify Congress of its intent to designate Houthi rebels as a foreign terrorist organization, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday, despite intense pushback from US diplomats and aid groups in Yemen.
“These designations will provide additional tools to confront terrorist activity and terrorism by Ansarallah, a deadly Iran-backed militia group in the Gulf region,” Pompeo said in a statement. “The designations are intended to hold Ansarallah (the Houthi rebels) accountable for its terrorist acts, including cross-border attacks threatening civilian populations, infrastructure, and commercial shipping.”
At least six Yemenis were killed and seven others were injured in a Houthi artillery shelling in southern Yemen late Wednesday, the military said.
The shelling targeted a residential area in At-Ta’iziyah district, north of Taiz governorate, the Yemeni military said in its news website SeptemberNet.
Two Saudi soldiers were killed near the Kingdom’s border with Yemen, local media reported Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia’s official SPA news agency said the soldiers were killed while on duty in the Najran region in the south of the country.
At least 9,500 people have fled their homes in Ain Issa, northeast Syria, following an escalation in clashes between the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (TSNA) and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in mid-December.
The SDF – the military forces of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava – who control Ain Issa, report daily shelling on the city from Turkish-backed forces for the past week. The sound of fighting could be heard from sunset until noon.