Merkel, Macron call for calm in Mideast
JERUSALEM – German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are calling for de-escalation in the Middle East after an alleged Iranian rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights prompted Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Syria.
Merkel and Macron met in Aachen, Germany yesterday on the sidelines of a ceremony where Macron was awarded a prize for contributions to European unity.
The German government said they discussed events in the Middle East and called for “level-headedness and deescalation in the region.”
Merkel alluded to the two countries’ support for the Iran nuclear deal, saying, “We know that we face an extremely complicated situation here. The escalation of the last few hours shows it is truly a matter of war and peace, and I can only call on all involved to exercise restraint.”
Syria’s military says overnight Israeli airstrikes killed three people, wounded two and destroyed a radar station, an ammunition warehouse and damaged a number of air defense units.
Syrian Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub, who read the statement on Syrian television Thursday, says Syrian air defense systems had intercepted “the large part” of the incoming Israeli strikes.
Mayhoub did not say whether Iranian forces or Iran-backed militiamen were among those killed or wounded.
Israel’s defense minister says the military struck “nearly all” of Iran’s military facilities in Syria. A Syrian war monitoring group says the strikes killed at least 23 people, including five Syrian soldiers.
The Russian military says Israel fired more than 70 missiles at Iranian facilities in Syria and that Syrian air defenses shot down more than half of them.
Israel says it struck dozens of Iranian targets overnight in response to a rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. It was the biggest Israeli strike in Syria since the 1973 war.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that 28 Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighter jets launched about 60 air-to-surface missiles during the two-hour raid early Thursday. It says Israel also fired over 10 tactical surface-to-surface missiles.
Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and has been waging its own air campaign on his behalf since 2015.
A Syrian war monitoring group says Israeli attacks on several sites in Syria have killed 23 fighters, including five Syrian soldiers.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday the overnight attacks struck several military posts for Syrian troops and Iranian-backed militias near the capital, Damascus, in central Syria and in southern Syria.
The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdurrahman, said five Syrian soldiers, including two officers, and 18 militia fighters were killed. Abdurrahman says it is not immediately clear if Iranians were among those killed.