Golan Heights

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Strike Kills 11 Children Playing Soccer in Golan Heights

Hezbollah denies attack, but Netanyahu threatens to exact 'a heavy price'

(Newser) - A rocket strike Saturday at a soccer field killed at least 11 children and teenagers, Israeli authorities said, in the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country's northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. It raised fears of a broader...

Rockets Fly After Israel Kills Hezbollah Commander

Lebanese group launches 200 rockets in retaliation, with many intercepted

(Newser) - The Lebanese Hezbollah group says it has launched more than 200 rockets at several military bases in Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed one of its senior commanders. The attack by the Iran-backed militant group on Thursday was one of the largest in the monthslong conflict along the...

Family's Souvenir Causes Airport Panic

US travelers in Israel had unexploded shell in their luggage

(Newser) - A US family's trip to the Middle East ended in chaos when airport screeners found an unexploded shell they'd found and kept as a souvenir. Reuters reports on the Thursday incident at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, where the family showed up for their trip back to the...

Israel Strikes Dozens of Iranian Targets in Syria

Country says it was retaliating for rocket attack

(Newser) - The Israeli military said it struck dozens of Iranian targets in Syria in Wednesday, carrying out a "wide-scale" strike in response to rocket fire on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights the day before. The military said its fighter jets hit multiple targets belonging to the elite Quds force, including surface-to-air...

Trump Could Be Getting His Own Settlement in the Golan

Netanyahu wants to name a neighborhood after him

(Newser) - President Trump recently made a massive shift to the US' policy on Israel, and in return, he might be immortalized in the Levant. Newly re-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was touring the Golan Heights with his wife and sons Tuesday, a month after Trump said the US would recognize Israeli...

Trump Tweet Signals Big Change to US' Israel Policy

Netanyahu, facing re-election, welcomes recognition of Israeli control

(Newser) - President Trump said Thursday that it's time for the US to recognize Israel's control over the disputed Golan Heights, signaling a shift in policy ahead of the Israeli prime minister's visit next week to the White House . The administration has been considering recognizing Israel's sovereignty over...

Israeli Military: Iran Just Set Off Event of 'Great Severity'

IDF says Iranian forces fired 20 'projectiles' directly at Golan Heights from Syria

(Newser) - Residents in the Golan Heights are taking shelter after a report from Israel's Defense Forces that Iran on Thursday fired about 20 "projectiles" from Syria directly at the Israeli military in the occupied territory—the first time Israel has accused Iran itself (not one of its proxies) of...

Israel Downs Syrian Fighter Jet in Its Airspace

First such interception since 1980s: reports

(Newser) - Israel has shot down a Syrian fighter jet that entered Israeli airspace, Haaretz reports. The pilots appear to have parachuted to safety in the incident, which saw a Patriot missile hit the Sukhoi-24 jet over Golan Heights. It was the first time since the 1980s that Israel has shot down...

45 Peacekeepers Held Captive in Syria Are Freed

Qatar says it helped broker release

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda-linked militants have released 45 Fijian peacekeepers captured two weeks ago in Syria , ending the UN's fourth crisis over abducted soldiers in the Golan Heights since March 2013. The Fijians were captured on the Syrian-controlled side of the contested buffer zone between Syria and Israel by fighters from the...

Peacekeepers Pull Off 'Greatest Escape' From Syria Militants

They were outnumbered in Golan Heights

(Newser) - Under cover of darkness, 40 Filipino peacekeepers escaped their besieged outpost in the Golan Heights after a seven-hour gunbattle with Syrian rebels, Philippine officials said today. Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents still hold captive 44 Fijian troops .The getaway, combined with the departure of another entrapped group of Filipino troops, marked a major...

44 Fiji Peacekeepers Captured by Syria Rebels

Militants force members of UN mission from Golan Heights post, also trap Filipino troops

(Newser) - The UN says that 44 of its Fijian peacekeeping troops have been captured by militants in Syria, while 75 of its Filipino peacekeepers are surrounded by insurgents who want them to surrender their weapons, reports the AP . All of the soldiers are said to be alive, and leaders from both...

Kidnapped US Journalist on the Way Home

Qatar helped free Peter Theo Curtis from Nusra Front

(Newser) - The US has confirmed that a kidnapped American journalist has been freed by his captors —and John Kerry says he is "relieved and grateful" that Peter Theo Curtis is on the way home. Relatives tell the New York Times that Qatar helped free the Massachusetts native after nearly...

Syria Rebels Free 21 UN Peacekeepers

Rebel faction held them 4 days, gave in to pressure

(Newser) - Syrian rebels today freed 21 UN peacekeepers after holding them hostage for four days, ending a sudden entanglement with the world body that earned those trying to oust President Bashar Assad a flood of negative publicity. The Filipino peacekeepers, part of a force that has spent four decades monitoring an...

No Release for Seized UN Monitors

Their release had been expected today

(Newser) - The Philippine government was under the impression that Syrian rebels would release 21 UN monitors today—but that hasn't happened, it says. Officials say the rebels maintain that they won't release the monitors until Syrian government forces exit the Jamlah area, near the Golan Heights. "I don'...

Now Syrian Rebels Claim They Rescued UN 'Guests'

Video making demands for their release pulled offline

(Newser) - You got it all wrong, a Syrian rebel group protested today. They weren't abducting UN peacekeeping troops in the Golan Heights yesterday, they were rescuing them. The rebel group, known as the Yarmouk Martyrs' Brigade, has pulled down a video they'd posted on Facebook saying they wouldn't...

Syrian Opposition Detains 20 UN Peacekeepers

They had been monitoring Israel-Syria ceasefire

(Newser) - The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the detention of more than 20 peacekeepers monitoring the ceasefire between Israel and Syria by armed members of the Syrian opposition and demanded their immediate and unconditional release. Russia's UN Ambassador, the council president, says talks are underway between UN officials and...

Nervous Israel Plans Syria Border Fence

Extremists moving to border area, Netanyahu warns

(Newser) - Israel is building a new security fence along the entire length of its disputed border with Syria in the Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced. With an election less than three weeks away, Netanyahu's Likud-Beiteinu ticket is losing votes to the far-right Jewish Home party and he...

Israel Fires Warning Shot at Syria

First foray into fighting after mortar shells hit Golan Heights

(Newser) - The Israeli military has fired a missile into Syria, the first time Israel has been drawn into the fighting in the neighboring country. The military said it fired the missile as a warning shot today after a stray mortar from Syria hit a military post in the Golan Heights. The...

Syrian Tanks Enter Israeli Frontier Zone

As Islamic militants attack strategic government airbase

(Newser) - Three Syrian tanks entered the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights today, Israel said, raising concerns violence from Syria's civil war could heat up a long-quiet frontier that has not seen such an incursion in nearly 40 years. Israel complained to UN peacekeepers present in the area, a relatively...

Olmert: Israel Must Leave West Bank

Nation must relinquish land for lasting peace, says exiting PM

(Newser) - Israel must give up nearly all the land it seized in 1967 to forge peace with the Palestinians, said outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The nation must relinquish most of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights—or compensate the Palestinians and Syrians with Israeli territory, said...

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