Seattle Daily Star

 Israeli surface-to-surface missiles killed three people near the Syrian capital Damascus on Friday, state media said quoting a military source. “The Israeli enemy carried out an aggression… that led to the death of three martyrs and some material losses,” Syria’s official news agency SANA quoted the source as saying. The missiles came from the Israeli-occupied Golan heights and were intercepted by the Syrian air defenses, the military source said. AFP correspondents in the Syrian capital said they heard very loud noises in the evening. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that the three people killed were officers and that four other members of the air defense crew were wounded. The Israeli strikes targeted Iranian positions and weapon depots near Damascus, the monitor said. A fire broke at one of the positions near the Damascus airport, where ambulances were seen rushing to the site of the strikes, according to the Observatory. The latest strike follows one ...

 The position was seen as a denial of the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty that gave Jordan a role in managing and supervising Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem. “ We reject any foreign interference , ” declared Bennett as he retracted agreements between Israel and Jordan on managing Al-Aqsa Mosque’s compound and preventing incursions by Jewish settlers into its courtyards. Bennett said at the beginning of a Cabinet meeting on Sunday that “decisions regarding Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem will be taken by the Israeli government.” He also claimed Israel would continue to maintain respectful treatment toward people of all religions in Jerusalem. The Palestine Committee of the Jordanian Parliament denounced the prime minister’s statements regarding Israel’s sovereignty over Al-Aqsa as “irresponsible” on Sunday, and it called on Bennett “not to test the patience of two billion Muslims.” The committee condemned Bennett’s statement as working to ignite the region in religio...

 Israeli forces have launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of an attack that killed three people in the central city of Elad. The latest incident of violence took place as the country marked its independence day. Security personnel, backed by helicopters and drones, set up roadblocks as they searched for what police described as “one or two terrorists” who remain at large hours after the attack. Defence Minister Benny Gantz announced measures to stop the attackers from “escaping and travelling” to the West Bank. No details on the alleged assailants have been released. The Magen David Adom emergency response service, which confirmed the deaths, said four others were wounded in the incident, which came after a series of fatal attacks committed by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs in recent weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said “we will get our hands on the terrorists … and ensure they pay the price”. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said “the joy of independence day had b...

  Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he had accepted the apology Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised to Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett over anti-Semitic comments made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Mr Bennett’s office said on Thursday. After a call with the Russian leader, Mr Bennett said he had accepted the apology and thanked Mr Putin “for clarifying his attitude towards the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust”. Mr Bennett also said he asked Putin to consider allowing the evacuation of the besieged Azovstal steel works in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol. The Israeli leader said he made that request following an earlier conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and that Mr Putin promised to set up a corridor for civilian evacuation. Mr Lavrov on Sunday caused a row with Israel when he said that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood”. In an interview with Italian television news, Russia’s veteran foreign minister al...