Damascus condemns a new strike as Israel Katz rebukes the US envoy
The Beit Jinn road strike sharpened Damascus's sovereignty dispute. Israel Katz rejected the US envoy's Idlib-base criticism, while Netanyahu's office answered Ankara's arrest request with a personal attack.
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A truck driver was wounded in the Beit Jinn road strike
Several people were wounded when a drone struck a vehicle on the Beit Jinn road in the western Damascus countryside. Al Jazeera reported that a truck driver was taken to hospital with a wound to his right hand and was in stable condition. Israel's military said it targeted a fighter whom it accused of being in the final stages of preparing an attack on its forces. Syria's foreign ministry called the strike a clear breach of its sovereignty and international law; Qatar and Jordan also condemned it. A Syrian diplomatic source said Damascus still sought a US-mediated security arrangement based on the 1974 disengagement agreement.[1]
Israel Katz rejected Tom Barrack's Idlib criticism
US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack called the 18 August strike on a disused Idlib air base an unnecessary escalation and said it may have been intended to provoke Turkey. The Straits Times reported that Israeli defence minister Israel Katz described Barrack's remarks as full of inaccuracies. Katz said authorised parties in the United States had received intelligence before the strike. Israel accuses Turkey of seeking to use the base, while Ankara denies having a military presence there. Barrack's description of the Golan Heights as occupied territory also formed part of Katz's objection.[2]
Turkey said it had sought an international arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the interception of an aid flotilla bound for Gaza. Free Malaysia Today reported that Netanyahu's office answered with personal accusations against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and said Israel would act against initiatives it considered threats to its security. The statement also returned to Syria's accusation that Israel bombed a disused air base near the Turkish border. Ankara denied having a military presence at the base and said it would continue supporting Syrian sovereignty.[3]
