Heavy Israel airstrikes kill dozens of Syrian troops, some militants
Airstrikes killed a number of soldiers early Friday near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, Syria’s state news media and an independent organization reported, in what appeared to be one of the heaviest Israeli attacks in the country in years.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that tracks Syria’s civil war, said that the dead included 36 Syrian soldiers, seven Hezbollah fighters and a Syrian from the pro-Iranian militias. The group said the attack appeared to have hit multiple targets, including a weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia that Iran supports and has a presence in Syria.
The airstrikes stoked fears that have unsettled Western officials for months: that Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip could escalate into a broader conflict against Syria, Iran and its proxies across the region, which could entangle allies of those involved, like Russia and the United States.
American officials have sought to tamp down tensions, and Iran has tried to rein in its network of militias after a drone fired by one of the groups killed three U.S. Army reservists in January. But fears of a wider conflict have persisted as Israel and Hezbollah have clashed for months along the border, and as Israel has carried out assaults on Iranlinked targets in Syria.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the Syria strikes Friday, but its defense minister, Yoav Gallant, appeared to hint at responsibility.
“We will pursue Hezbollah every place it operates and we will expand the pressure and the pace of the attacks,” he said on social media, promising more operations in Lebanon, Syria and “other more distant locations.”
Iran supports and arms a network of proxy militias that have been fighting with Israel, including Hamas, whose political leader was in Iran for highlevel meetings this week. Attacks across the borders of Lebanon and Syria have escalated since Oct. 7, when Hamas led a raid into Israel and the country responded with an intense bombardment and later ground invasion of Gaza.
The Israeli military said this month that its forces had struck more than 4,500 Hezbollah targets in Syria and Lebanon since Oct. 7. The assaults, it said, had killed over 300 Hezbollah members, though that could not be independently confirmed.
Texas voter fraud: A Texas appeals court has overturned a Fort Worth woman’s voter fraud conviction and five-year prison term for casting an illegal provisional ballot.
Crystal Mason did not know that being on probation for a previous felony conviction left her ineligible to vote in 2016, the Second District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth ruled Thursday.
Appearing near tears at times, Mason said during a Friday news conference that it has been a long seven years since the voting charge. “I’ve been out for six years on an appeal bond, one foot in one foot out, not knowing if I was going back to prison,” Mason said.
California cameras: Hundreds of high-tech surveillance cameras are being installed in the city of Oakland and surrounding freeways to battle crime, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.
Newsom, a Democrat,
said in a news release that the California Highway Patrol has contracted with Flock Safety to install 480 cameras that can identify and track vehicles by license plate, type, color and even decals and bumper stickers. The cameras will provide authorities with real-time alerts of suspect vehicles.
Opponents say the technology infringes on privacy and will lead to further police abuse of already marginalized communities.
But public safety remains a concern statewide, especially retail theft, forcing even liberal leaders of Democratic cities to embrace increased policing.
Moscow shooting: Nine people have been detained by Tajikistan’s state security service over suspected contact with the perpetrators of last week’s attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Friday.
The reported arrests came a week after the massacre
in the Crocus City Hall, in which gunmen also set the building on fire. The four suspected attackers were arrested and identified as Tajik nationals.
An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.
RIA Novosti said Friday, citing an unnamed source in Tajikistan’s security services, that those detained in the Central Asian country are suspected of having IS connections. Russian security forces were involved in the operation to detain them, according to the agency.
Northern Ireland politics:
Northern Ireland’s finely balanced power-sharing arrangements were thrown into disarray Friday as the leader of the region’s largest unionist party stepped down after being charged with nonrecent sexual offenses.
Jeffrey Donaldson told the Democratic Unionist Party he was leaving his post due to the investigation and has been suspended from the
party pending the outcome of the judicial process, the DUP said in a statement.
Donaldson, who has led the DUP since 2021, is the most powerful figure in Northern Ireland’s unionist movement, which seeks to maintain the region’s historic ties to the United Kingdom. His departure is likely to weaken the party as it prepares for U.K. parliamentary elections this year and maneuvers to fend off demands from the nationalist party Sinn Fein for reunification with the Republic of Ireland to the south.
An 8-year-old girl was the lone survivor after a bus full of pilgrims making their way to a popular Easter festival in rural South Africa slammed into a bridge on a mountain pass and plunged more than 150 feet into a ravine before bursting into flames, killing all 45 others on board.
South Africa’s roads become deadly during the Easter period, when millions crisscross the
South Africa bus crash:
country. Authorities repeatedly warn motorists of the danger and had issued multiple messages urging caution just a day before Thursday’s horrific crash.
The girl was in stable condition in the hospital after being admitted with serious injuries and was “in safe hands,” an official with the local health department said Friday. Details of her injuries were not released.
Forensic investigators retrieved what they believed were 34 of the 45 bodies but couldn’t be certain of the exact number, reflecting the gruesome nature of the crash. Many of the victims trapped inside the bus were burned beyond recognition, authorities said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the victims, who appeared to all be from Botswana, were on their way to the rustic town of Moria in Limpopo province for the Easter weekend pilgrimage that attracts hundreds of thousands of followers of the Zion Christian Church.