PHOTO: Jihad Imad Mughniyah (right), son of famed Hezbollah commander and a victim in Sunday’s Israeli attack, with the head of Iran’s elite Qods Force, Qassem Soleimani
LATEST: Regime Starts Delayed Destruction of Dozen Underground Bunkers Used for Chemical Weapons
MONDAY FEATURE
US Suspends Plan for Expansion of Air Operations, Blames Turkey
UPDATE 1400 GMT: The funeral procession for Hezbollah’s Jihad Imad Mughniyeh in Beirut on Monday:
Israel has dealt a blow to Hezbollah, Iran, and the Assad regime with an airstrike killing Hezbollah and Iranian commanders in Quneitra Province in southwest Syria.
Two missiles from an Israeli helicopter attack on Sunday evening killed Hezbollah commanders Mohammad Issa and Abu Ali Tabatabai, an Iranian, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Mohammad Ali Allahdadi. Among the four other Hezbollah fighters slain was Jihad Imad Mughniyeh, the 20-year-old son of famed Hezbollah military leader Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated by Israel inside Syria in 2008.
See Syria Developing: Israel Airstrike Kills 2 Hezbollah Commanders, 4 Fighters, & Iranian Commander
One vehicle was destroyed and another damaged in the operation near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The conservative Iranian site Tabnak said several other Iranians were killed.
Issa was Hezbollah’s commander of operations in Syria and Iraq, while Tabatabai was said to be in charge of special operations. Iran’s Allahdadi was the Revolutionary Guards’ primary commander for years in Syria and with Hezbollah — he was named by the US Treasury on a sanctions blacklist in 2010 for “support of terrorism”.
The Revolutionary Guards said that Allahdadi had been acting “as a military advisor to help the Syrian government and nation in the fight against Takfiri-Salafi terrorists”. It gave details on the Israeli attack, saying it was about 60 km (37 miles) south of Damascus, with two remote-controlled reconnaissance drones accompanying the helicopters.
Last week Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah had vowed to counter any “stupid” Israeli moves against Lebanon and Syria, saying that the party’s missiles can hit any area in Israel.
Hezbollah fighters have been vital to the Assad regime in the battle against the Syrian insurgency since the Lebanese organization entered the fray in 2013. Iranian commanders have been instrumental in development of Syria’s armed forces, notable its militia in the National Defense Forces, since 2012.
Regime Starts Delayed Destruction of Dozen Underground Bunkers Used for Chemical Weapons
The Assad regime has started the long-delayed destruction of a dozen underground bunkers and hangars that were used for the production and storage of chemical weapons, according to “diplomatic sources”.
The regime gave up more than 1,300 metric tonnes of toxic agents last year, in accordance with an international plan after its chemical weapons attacks near Damascus in August 2013; however, it is months behind schedule in destruction of facilities.
Last week, Al Jazeera Arabic claimed, from a “senior official in the Republican Guards”, that the regime was still using five underground sites in and near Damascus for storage of chemical weapons stocks.
Syria Feature: Is Assad Keeping Chemical Weapons in Bunkers Near Damascus?
“The work [for destruction] finally began, which is good news,” said a source. “There were some technical issues and the bad weather has slowed up the process.”
Kurdish Militia Claim Regime Using Cluster Bombs in Hasakah
In its latest statement on battles in Hasakah in eastern Syria, the Kurdish militia YPG claim Syrian warplanes are dropping cluster bombs.
The YPG claimed “heavy fighting” overnight with regime use of mortars as well as the cluster bombs. It said that, despite its “brutal attacks”, the Syrian force had suffered numerous casualties.
The Kurdish militia said five of its members and two civilians were killed, while 14 civilians were wounded.
Military Posts Names of 30 Dead in Cargo Plane Crash Claimed as “Downing” by Jabhat al-Nusra
The Syrian military has posted the names of 24 troops and 6 crew killed in the crash of a cargo plane near the besieged Abu al-Duhur airbase, south of Aleppo, this weekend.
The Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra claimed that it shot down the plane, which apparently was trying to bring reinforcements to Abu al-Duhur. It has posted footage of the downed AN-26 aircraft.
Insurgents, led by Jabhat al-Nusra, tightened their grip around the base last week, seizing a village to the southeast and cutting the supply of drinking water.
Regime Claims Evacuation of More Than 2000 Civilians From Besieged Areas in East Ghouta
The Assad regime is claiming the evacuation of 2,112 people from areas in insurgent-controlled East Ghouta, near Damascus, besieged for many months by the Syrian military.
State news agency SANA says the civilians were “fleeing the unspeakable atrocities of the takfiri terrorist organizations”. It listed the areas as Doumam al-Shifouniyeh, Mida’a, Hawsh al-Fara, Hawsh al-Dawahra, and Hawsh Nasra, as well as the Jobar section of Damascus.
Syrian forces have cut off food and supplies to the areas since they were occupied in insurgents in 2012 and 2013, leading to serious shortages of essential goods. In recent weeks, protests have been reported in Douma over the crises in food and health care.
