Tensions Increase In Middle East: Arab Media - 12 Iranians Killed In 'Israeli Strike' In Syria

Arab media: 12 Iranians killed in 'Israeli strike' in Syria

Twelve Iranian military personnel were killed in an alleged Israeli air strike on an Iranian base in Syria Friday night, Arabic media reported Saturday.

According to reports on Lebanon’s Al-Mustaqbal TV and the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya network, accounts on the Telegram messaging app tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps have been reporting 12 fatalities, while also reporting the names of those killed.

There has been no official confirmation of fatalities by either Syrian or Iranian authorities.

Syria’s state-run news agency reported Israel fired several missiles at a military post near the Syrian capital of Damascus early on Saturday, causing damage.

SANA, the state news agency, claimed Syrian air defenses shot down two of the Israeli missiles.

Arab media reports said Israel fired missiles at a military base Iran has been building near the Syrian city of ​​al-Qiswa, reportedly destroying an arms depot.

Some media outlets affiliated with the Assad regime and Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah initially reported that Israeli warplanes targeted an ammunition bunker belonging to the Syrian Army. But other media outlets reported that the target was a military base that Iran is building in the area, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Israeli border, and that loud explosions were heard after the attack.

There was no immediate official Israeli comment. Israel does not, as a rule, comment on reported strikes in Syria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in a video clip published Saturday night that Israel would not tolerate an Iranian military presence in Syria.

The video was recorded Thursday, before the alleged strike, and is set to air in full on Sunday at the Brookings Institution’s annual Saban Forum in Washington, DC. But the Prime Minister’s Office saw fit to put out the short clip relating to Iranian presence in Syria on Saturday evening.

“Let me reiterate Israel’s policy: We will not allow a regime hell-bent on the annihilation of the Jewish state to acquire nuclear weapons. We will not allow that regime to entrench itself militarily in Syria, as it seeks to do, for the express purpose of eradicating our state,” said Netanyahu.

Palestinians to Kushner: Peace process ends if Trump backs Israel on Jerusalem

A delegation from the Palestinian Authority met on Friday with presidential adviser Jared Kushner to warn the Trump Administration that if it announces the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, or if President Donald Trump makes remarks acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, this would mark the end of the peace process, Israeli TV reports said.

As of Saturday night, Trump had not signed a waiver delaying the move of the embassy by another six months, and he has only until Monday to do so. A stream of media reports in recent days have indicated that the president intends to declare in a speech within days that he considers Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital, and that he may say he is instructing his team to prepare to move the embassy.

Any such steps “will kill the negotiations,” the PA delegation — which included Majed Faraj and Saeb Erekat, senior officials close to PA President Mahmoud Abbas — told Kushner on Friday, Hadashot news reported on Saturday night.

Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and/or announcing that the embassy will be moved would mark the end of the peace process, they reportedly said.

The warning was backed up by a letter from Erekat, reflecting Abbas’s anger at the anticipated US moves.

The PA delegation further said that were the US to make any such moves, the Palestinians would declare that the US could no longer be considered “an honest broker” for any Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Channel 10 News reported, saying the meeting took place at the White House.

The White House has not formally confirmed what it might do on the Jerusalem issue, saying that, for now, various options are open.

Multiple reports surfaced this week that the president would for the second time waive a congressional mandate requiring the US embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but that he would take the dramatic step of formally recognizing the holy city as Israel’s capital.

According to an Axios report on Friday, Trump is set to give a speech to this effect on Wednesday.

A White House spokesman, contacted by The Times of Israel on Friday afternoon, would not confirm the story. “The president has always said it is a matter of when, not if,” the official said. “The president is still considering options and we have nothing to announce.”

151 UN states vote to disavow Israeli ties to Jerusalem

The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to disavow Israeli ties to Jerusalem as part of six anti-Israel resolutions it approved on Thursday in New York. The vote was 151 in favor and six against, with nine abstentions.

The resolution came as the Trump Administration was rumored to be actively considering relocating its embassy to Jerusalem.

“The president has said that he has given serious consideration to the matter, and we’re looking at it with great care,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

She added that US President Donald Trump had until December 4th to make a decision on the embassy relocation or waive the matter for another six months.

In New York, only six countries out of 193 UN member states fully supported Israel’s ties Jerusalem: Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, the United States and Israel itself. 

The nine countries who abstained were: Australia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Honduras, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan and Togo.

The resolution stated that “any actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever.”