Second Israeli strike hits Damascus, says Syrian media
· RTE.ieIsrael has carried out attacks on the Mazzeh suburb of Damascus, Syrian state news agency SANA said, a day after a wave of deadly strikes on what Israel said were militant targets in the Syrian capital.
Explosions were reported earlier today in the vicinity of Damascus.
"Israeli aggression targets Mazzeh area in Damascus," SANA said in a news flash. It gave no other details.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Commanders in Lebanon's Hezbollah armed group and Iran's Revolutionary Guards based in Syria have been known to reside in Mazzeh, according to residents who fled after recent strikes that killed some key figures in the groups.
Mazzeh's high-rise blocks have been used by the authorities in the past to house leaders of Palestinian factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Yesterday, 20 people were killed in Israeli strikes on residential buildings in Mazzeh and Qudsaya suburbs, state media reported. Israel said the attacks targeted military sites and the headquarters of Islamic Jihad.
Separately, the Israeli military said that yesterday it had attacked transit routes on the Syrian-Lebanese border that were used to transfer weapons to Hezbollah.
Syrian state media reported that an Israeli attack completely destroyed a bridge in the area of Qusayr in the southwest of Syria's Homs near the border with northern Lebanon.
Iran backs Lebanon truce talks
Iran backs any decision taken by Lebanon in talks to secure a ceasefire with Israel, a senior Iranian official has said, signalling Tehran wants to see an end to a conflict that has dealt heavy blows to its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.
Israel launched airstrikes in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, flattening buildings for a fourth consecutive day. Israel has stepped up its bombardment of the area this week, an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire.
Two senior Lebanese political sources told Reuters that the US ambassador to Lebanon had presented a draft ceasefire proposal to Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri the previous day. Mr Berri is endorsed by Hezbollah to negotiate and met the senior Iranian official Ali Larijani today.
Asked at a news conference whether he had come to Beirut to undermine the US truce plan, Mr Larijani said: "We are not looking to sabotage anything. We are after a solution to the problems."
"We support in all circumstances the Lebanese government. Those who are disrupting are Netanyahu and his people," Larijani added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hezbollah was founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, and has been armed and financed by Tehran.
A senior diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, assessed that more time was needed to get a ceasefire done but was hopeful it could be achieved.
The outgoing US administration appears keen to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon, even as efforts to end Israel's related war in Gaza appear totally adrift.
World powers say a Lebanon ceasefire must be based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended a previous 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. Its terms require Hezbollah to move weapons and fighters north of the Litani river, which runs some 20km north of the border.
Israel demands the freedom to act should Hezbollah violate any agreement, which Lebanon has rejected.
In a meeting with Mr Larijani, Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati urged support for Lebanon's position on implementing 1701 and called this a priority, along with halting the "Israeli aggression", a statement from his office said.
Mr Larijani stressed "that Iran supports any decision taken by the government, especially resolution 1701", the statement said.
Israel launched its ground and air offensive against Hezbollah in late September after almost a year of cross-border hostilities in parallel with the Gaza war. It says it aims to secure the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis, forced to evacuate from northern Israel under Hezbollah fire.
Israel's campaign has forced more than one million Lebanese to flee their homes, igniting a humanitarian crisis.