Syria

Israel has begun a bombing campaign in Syria, carrying out multiple air strikes in the country under the guise of targeting Hezbollah. According to Arab news outlets, Israeli aircraft used Lebanese airspace in order to hit a weapons cache and a convoy of military vehicles belonging to Hezbollah and the Syrian army. Ibtimes.co.uk reports: The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has neither confirmed nor denied the attacks in line with the position Israel always takes when it comes to sensitive operations. The aerial assault is believed to have taken place during the night of 29-30 November.

The Kremlin expect President Erdogan to clarify his goals in Syria after he claimed that Turkish troops were there to end the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Russian officials say that the Turkish presidents statement yesterday contradicts his previous assurances and is out of sync with Moscow’s take on the situation. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday: “The statement was indeed news, this is a very serious statement.

Turkish forces are in Syria to establish justice for the Syrian people and to put an end to President Bashar Assad’s rule, says President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. The Turkish president holds the Syrian president responsible for the death of nearly “one million” people in Syria’s civil war. RT.com reports: “We entered [Syria] to end the rule of the tyrant al-Assad who terrorizes with state terror. [We didn’t enter] for any other reason,” the Turkish president said at the first Inter-Parliamentary Jerusalem Platform Symposium in Istanbul, as quoted by Hurriyet daily.

Israeli fighter jets fired missiles on a government-held town west of Damascus according to Syrian state media. Some reports indicate that four missiles had hit Hezbollah militia targets near Al-Saboorah, a government-controlled suburb of Syria’s capital. No casualties were reported, though there have been conflicting reports over the initial target of the raid.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has admitted that the reason Turkish troops are inside Syria is to oust the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad. He said “We entered [Syria] to end the rule of the tyrant al-Assad who terrorizes with state terror. We didn’t enter for any other reason,” according to the Hurriyet daily news. Turkish troops entered Syria in August, launching operation Euphrates Shield. Ground troops and air power were deployed to northern parts of the country, with the stated goal of retaking areas held by ISIS.