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Hezbollah vows retaliation over commander’s killing in ‘Israeli strike’
RT,
22
December, 2015
Hezbollah
leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has promised that the group will
retaliate in a way it “sees appropriate” for the killing of
commander Samir Kuntar in a suspected Israeli airstrike in Syria.
"Samir
is one of us and a commander of our resistance and it is our right to
retaliate for his assassination in the place, time and a way we see
appropriate.
We will exercise this right, God willing," Nasrallah
said, speaking hours after Kuntar (also spelled as Quntar) was buried
in Beirut on Monday.
"We
have no doubt or question that Israel is the one which assassinated
Samir Qantar, its planes fired precision missiles on a residential
apartment [he was in]," Nasrallah dded.
Hezbollah
chief said the retaliation will take place at a time and place of the
group’s choice. Syrian loyalist groups have also said his death
would be avenged.
The
attack occurred in Damascus on Saturday evening, hitting a six-story
residential building in Jaramana. Up to eight people are believed to
have been killed.
"Two
Israeli warplanes carried out the raid which targeted the building in
Jaramana and struck the designated place with four long-range
missiles," the
Syrian National Defense Forces said on their Facebook page.
While
Israel welcomed Kuntar’s death, saying he had been preparing an
attack against Israel, it did not admit responsibility for the
airstrike.
Israeli
minister Yoav Gallant said, "I
am not confirming or denying anything to do with this matter," but
added, “It
is good that people like Samir Qantar will not be part of our world."
Syrian
Information Minister Omran al Zubi told Hezbollah’s Manar
television station that the “party
that gains most from the assassination of Qantar is the Zionist enemy
whom we have long known for these cowardly attacks."
Three
rockets have already been fired into Israel from Lebanon late Sunday
in what could be an act of retaliation after the news of Kuntar’s
death emerged. In response Israel reportedly fired artillery over the
border. Prior to Sunday’s rocket fire, the Israel-Lebanon border
has been relatively quiet.
In
January, an Israeli strike in Syria killed six Hezbollah members,
including a top commander. Hezbollah then fired missiles at an
Israeli military convoy, killing two soldiers. The acts led to
further clashes in the worst escalation since the month long
Israel-Hezbollah war of 2006.
Israel
is publically not involved in the war in Syria, but is widely
believed to have conducted strikes in Syria, which it neither
confirms nor denies. Meanwhile Hezbollah has been involved in the
conflict on the side of the Syrian government.
Kuntar
was jailed in Israel for a 1979 Palestine Liberation Front raid where
four were killed, including a four year old. Kuntar was sixteen at
the time. He was repatriated to Lebanon in 2008 as part of a prisoner
swap and kept a low public profile since then.
Syrian Army Repels Militants’ Attack on Strategic Airbase Near Damascus
The Syrian Army and its allies repelled an attack by al-Nusra Front militants on government troops’ positions in the strategic Marj al-Sultan air base in Damascus province.
The
Syrian Army and National Defense Forces foiled attempts by al-Nusra
Front terrorists to infiltrate the airbase, a source told FARS
News.
Many of the attackers, including a senior field commander, were destroyed.
"The
militant group, which faced the heavy fire of the Syrian
government forces, left behind many dead and wounded militants
and retreated from the battlefield," the source dded.
On
Saturday, the Syrian Army announced that terrorist groups has
sustained heavy losses as a result of an attack
by government forces and retreated from more areas in the
strategic region of Marj al-Sultan east of Damascus.
On
December 14, Syrian troops took control of the Marj al-Sultan
airbase, located 18 kilometers away from Damascus. The active
phase of the Syrian offensive in this area started
about two weeks ago. The air base had been under militants'
control for over two years.
Marj
al-Sultan region is home to one of the most important air
bases in Central Syria. Recently, the government forces have
taken maximum efforts to restore security to the region,
according to FARS News.
Pushing
militants from the Marj al-Sultan base is another groundbreaking
victory by the government forces after they lifted the
Daesh siege of the Kuweires air base in Aleppo in November.
Syria
has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with the
country’s government fighting a number of opposition factions
and radical Islamist groups, including Daesh (Islamic State) and the
al-Nusra Front.
The
Syrian Arab Army (SAA), Russian force and Hezbollah fighters have
mounted a major offensive to liberate Palmyra, forcing "surprised
and confused" Daesh militants to flee their fortifications and
outposts close to the iconic ancient city.
Syrian
government troops on Sunday fended off Takfiri terrorists' attack on
their positions in the direction of Wadi Abyad dam, west of the
ancient city of Palmyra in Homs province.
The
terrorists who had launched an attack from al-Hayyal Mountain
suffered a heavy death toll after the Syrian army and the country's
National Defense Forces (NDF) thwarted their attack near Palmyra in
the Central Homs province and pushed them back from the battlefield
in a counter-attack, FNA reports.
Damascus-led
forces are said to have come as close as 0.2 miles away from the
Palmyra Castle, also known as Fakhr-al-Din al-Ma'ani, and 1.2 miles
away from the Palmyra gate
"The
Syrian government forces' operation was so heavy that the ISIL
terrorists left behind their military hardware and retreated from the
battlefield," the Spuntik News reported, citing the Syrian army.
Daesh
fighters, were "surprised and confused" by the speed and
the scope of the offensive. The SAA killed scores of terrorists and
destroyed Daesh military equipment in its latest operation.
A
large-scale campaign to free Palmyra itself is expected to be
launched shortly. Prior to liberating the city, the SAA plans to take
control over al-Quaryatayn and Maheen regions.
In
another development in the same province, the Syrian army also
thwarted an attack by the ISIL on military points in the surroundings
of Maheen and Hawareen villages, killing and injuring many terrorists
and destroying their weapons and munitions.
The
government forces have deployed a large number of fresh forces,
including the army men, NDF and Hezbollah fighters in different
directions of Palmyra and are waiting for the imminent conquest of
Quaryatayn and Maheen regions to launch a large-scale operation to
end the control of the ISIL over Palmyra or Tadmur.
Earlier,
army said that the western territories of Palmyra were the scenes of
fierce clashes between the ISIL terrorists and the Syrian government
forces, leaving many of the militants dead or wounded.
The
Syrian army and its allies are resolved to push back the ISIL from
Homs province
Daesh,
also known as ISIL, captured Palmyra in May and has since partially
destroyed world-famous ruins. The terrorist group has also used the
site for mass executions.
Propaganda -
The
Syrian army is short on troops and has been unable to use Moscow’s
highly destructive campaign to its advantage
When
Russia launched an air campaign to support Bashar al-Assad, it was
banking on a ground force of Syrian troops to finish what its
warplanes started.
However,
more than 12 weeks later, Syria’s army and the large numbers of
Shia militias that back it have made few meaningful gains on the
ground. Meanwhile, Moscow’s jets have added a new layer of carnage,
reportedly killing at least 600 Syrian citizens, including 70 in
Idlib on Sunday.
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