Gain a global perspective on the US and go beyond with curated news and analysis from 600 journalists in 50+ countries covering politics, business, innovation, trends and more.</s>BEIRUT - Syria's army staged a counterattack in northeastern Damascus on Monday, but there were conflicting accounts of how much ground it regained after Sunday's rebel assault.

A Syrian military source and a war monitor said the army had recaptured all the positions it had lost, but rebels said they were still holding on to some of their gains despite heavy aerial bombing that had forced them to retreat.

The army's advance involved heavy fighting and intense air strikes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a military media unit run by the army's ally Hezbollah said.

A Reuters witness saw war planes circling in the sky above northeast Damascus, mortar fire, and a street with a line of burned-out cars from the fighting in the Jobar and al-Qaboun districts.

The Observatory, a British-based war monitor that collects information from a network of sources across Syria, said heavy fighting continued and that the army had unleashed more than 500 air raids and artillery strikes. The Hezbollah-run military media unit said that air raids were aimed at rebel supply lines. Rebels had attacked in Jobar to relieve military pressure after their loss of ground in nearby Qaboun and Barza, a commander from the Failaq al-Rahman group which is fighting there said on Sunday.

The intensity of the Syrian army's counterattack forced the rebels to retreat on Sunday night from at least 60 percent of the areas they captured that day in an industrial area that separated Qaboun from Jobar, a rebel spokesman said.

"Today the clashes are difficult and there is no progress in the face of this ferocious bombardment that is not just limited to the frontline but all night the regime was shelling the cities and towns in Eastern Ghouta in retaliation," Wael Alwan, the spokesman for Failaq al Rahman, told Reuters.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his army, along with allied Russian, Iranian and Shi'ite militia forces, have put rebels on the back foot with a steady succession of military victories over the past 18 months, including around Damascus.

For rebels, however, their first such large scale foray in over four years inside the capital signalled they were still able to wage offensive actions despite their string of defeats.

"This battle gave hope we can stand up to the regime's military machine ... It was again us going back to a sort of balance of force and not just defending ourselves," Alwan said.

Rebels still hold a large, heavily populated enclave in the Eastern Ghouta district of farms and towns to the east of the capital, as well as some Damascus districts in the south, east and northeast of the city.

The most recent fighting has focused on the areas around Qaboun and Barza, which the army has isolated from the rest of the main rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta and the eastern districts of Damascus.

Meanwhile, Russia's foreign ministry on Monday said it had summoned Israel's ambassador over air strikes close to Moscow's forces near the historic Syrian city of Palmyra.

Deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Interfax news agency that Ambassador Gary Koren was summoned on Friday and "asked about" the strikes.

The ministry "expressed concern" about the action taking place near Russian military locations, Bogdanov said.

Russia - which is conducting its own bombing campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad - said earlier this month that more than 180 of its troops have started demining around Palmyra's ancient monuments.

Russia and Israel have set up a "hotline" aimed at avoiding air clashes over Syria and Bogdanov said Moscow "would like this channel to work more effectively" to ensure no "misunderstanding on who is doing what."

Israeli warplanes struck several targets on Friday, prompting retaliatory Syrian missile launches, in the most serious incident between the two countries since the war began six years ago.

Israel's military said it had been targeting weapons bound for Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, which backs Assad in Syria.

Syria's military said it had downed an Israeli plane and hit another as they were carrying out pre-dawn strikes near Palmyra, the famed desert city it recaptured from militants this month.

The Israeli military denied that any planes had been hit.

On Sunday, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to destroy Syria's air defence systems "without the slightest hesitation" if there was a similar incident.

Russia has deployed its own high-tech missile defence systems to Syria to protect its forces there.</s>The Shia movement "is a reliable ally of the Syrian Arab Army in its anti-Daesh efforts. For instance, Hezbollah fighters took part in the operation aimed at recovering Russian pilot Konstantin Murakhtin, whose plane was shot down by the Turkish Air Force in 2015. They were also actively involved in both Palmyra campaigns and took part in liberating Aleppo," Andrei Veselov wrote for RIA Novosti.

For its part, Israel views Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and has occasionally carried out anti-Hezbollah missions in Syria, saying that they are aimed at preventing Iran from delivering advanced weapons systems to the group.

"Israel has previously violated Syrian airspace," Veselov said. "These missions were primarily aimed at infrastructure facilities, leaders and fighters of Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is active in Syria. In December 2015, one of Hezbollah's military commanders Samir Kantar was killed in Damascus in a missile strike launched by the Israeli Air Force. In May 2016, Israel eliminated another commander, Mustafa Badreddine."

The latest incident took place on Friday when the Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes on several targets near the Syrian city of Palmyra, prompting Damascus to fire three anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli warplanes. One of them was intercepted by the Arrow missile-defense system.

This has been the most serious incident between Tel Aviv and Damascus since the 2011 foreign-sponsored uprising in Syria morphed into a large-scale conflict.

On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman pledged that a tough response would follow should a similar situation occur in the future. "The next time the Syrians use their air defense systems against our airplanes, we will destroy all of them without thinking twice," he said.

The same day, both the Syrian Defense Ministry and Hezbollah announced that they shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the province of Quneitra located in southern Syria on the border with Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. The Shia movement identified the drone as the Skylark, a device used for tactical surveillance and reconnaissance.

Netanyahu further said that he made Israel's stance clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting on March 9. "Therefore we need this personal connection [with Putin], which is important for Israel's national security," Netanyahu added.

Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!</s>In this Monday, March 20, 2017 photo provided by the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows what it says is an Israeli military drone that was shot down by the Syrian military on the outskirts of Quneitra, Syria. The Israeli military has confirmed that a drone crashed in Syria earlier this week in unclear circumstances. In a statement, the military said the "Skylark" went down on Sunday and that the incident was being investigated. Arabic reads, "The Zionist drone that was shot down by the Syrian Arab Army air defenses. Central Military Media, Quneitra, Syria." (Syrian Central Military Media, via AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has concluded that Hezbollah's top military commander was killed in Syria last year by rivals within the Shiite militant group, Israel's military chief said Tuesday.

The explosive announcement was the latest sign of an escalating feud between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group sworn to Israel's destruction.

Israel considers Hezbollah to be a potent enemy, with over 100,000 rockets and missiles aimed at the Jewish state. But it also believes the group has been weakened and demoralized after years of fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria.

Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, told an academic conference on Tuesday that the death of Mustafa Badreddine last May illustrated "the depth of the internal crisis within Hezbollah."

He also said it reflected "the extent of the cruelty, complexity and tension between Hezbollah and its patron Iran."

An Israeli military official said Israel believes the order to kill Badreddine was given by Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Israeli intelligence believes Badreddine had been feuding with Iranian military commanders in Syria over the heavy losses his group had suffered on the battlefield. Both Iran and Hezbollah are backing Syrian government forces.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a confidential intelligence assessment.

Hezbollah had no immediate comment.

At the time of his death last year, Hezbollah said Badreddine had been killed by insurgent shelling in Syria. He was considered Hezbollah's top military official and was among five members on trial in absentia at a court in the Netherlands over the bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others in Beirut in 2005.

Badreddine was a student of Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's previous military chief, who was considered one of the world's most-wanted terrorists by Israel and the United States. Mughniyeh, who was Badreddine's brother-in-law, was killed in a 2008 car bombing in Damascus that Hezbollah blamed on Israel.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006 that ended in a stalemate. Israeli officials say that Hezbollah is far stronger than it was back then and battle-tested after years of fighting in neighboring Syria. They frequently warn that it is only a matter of time before another war breaks out.

But Israeli officials also say the group does not want a confrontation with Israel right now. Hezbollah has gotten bogged down in the Syrian fighting and is believed to have lost hundreds of fighters.

Israel is not actively involved in the Syrian fighting. But it keeps close tabs on the battlefield actions of its enemies, Iran and Hezbollah. Israel is believed to have carried out numerous airstrikes in Syria aimed at suspected weapons shipments destined for Hezbollah.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military confirmed that a "Skylark" surveillance drone crashed in Syria earlier this week. It gave no cause for the crash and said the incident was being investigated, but said there was "no risk of a breach of information."

Hezbollah's media arm published photographs of what it said was a drone it had shot down in Syrian airspace in the Golan Heights.

Last week, Israel shot down a Syrian anti-aircraft missile fired at an Israeli aircraft carrying out an airstrike on a suspected Hezbollah weapons convoy in Syria.</s>BEIRUT, LEBANON (5:35 A.M.) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin that his air force will continue to conduct airstrikes in Syria.

“If there is feasibility from an intelligence and military standpoint – we attack and so it will continue,” the Israeli Premier stated during his official state visit to China this week.

Netanyahu added that he informed President Putin of Israel’s intentions to continue their air operations inside Syria, regardless of Russia’s disapproval.

This statement by Netanyahu comes just five days after the Israeli Air Force attacked the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the Palmyra countryside, claiming they were targeting Hezbollah.</s>"Some in Lebanon say the resistance (Hezbollah) has nothing to do with Syria," Nasrallah told supporters via a television link from a secret location in South Lebanon.

He justified sending his forces to a foreign war by saying that Sunni rebel groups would "eliminate everyone in Lebanon" if they won in Syria.

"The problem in Lebanon is not that Hezbollah went to Syria, but that we were late in doing so," he said. "This resistance will remain solid, with its head hung high, protecting its people and its nation."

Established nearly 30 years ago to confront Israel's occupation of south Lebanon, Hezbollah once won praise from Sunnis and Shi'ites across the Middle East. But its fight alongside Assad has lost it much domestic and international support.

Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah fighters have helped turn the tide for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the military struggle against rebels. Assad now has a firm hold on much of central Syria around the capital and the Syrian-Lebanese border.

But the three-year-old conflict in Syria has fuelled Sunni-Shi'ite tensions in neighbouring Lebanon and across the wider Arab world. Syria's rebels are mostly Sunnis, while Assad belongs to the Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Syrian rebel groups and Lebanese supporters have carried out several suicide bombings in Hezbollah-controlled areas in Beirut and elsewhere, killing dozens of people. They have vowed to keep attacking Hezbollah until it withdraws its forces from Syria.

Nasrallah said he first sent "tens of Hezbollah" fighters to Syria to protect a Shi'ite shrine and "avoid larger sectarian strife". Since then, Hezbollah fighters in Syria have increased significantly but exact figures are not known.

Hezbollah and Assad share the same patron, Iran, which has supported the Syrian leader throughout the revolt.</s>Jerusalem - Israel's military chief says Israel has concluded that Hezbollah's top military commander was killed in Syria last year by rivals within the Shi'ite militant group.

Lt Gen Gadi Eisenkot told a news conference on Tuesday that the death of Mustafa Badreddine illustrated "the depth of the internal crisis within Hezbollah."

An Israeli military official says Israel believes the order to kill was given by Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Israeli intelligence believes Badreddine had been feuding with Iranian military commanders in Syria. Both Iran and Hezbollah are backing Syrian government forces.

Israel and Hezbollah are bitter enemies and fought a month-long war in 2006.</s>BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian government forces launched a counter-attack against rebels in Damascus on Tuesday, following a rebel suicide car bombing and another insurgent assault earlier in the day in the country's capital, media reports said.

It was the second attempt by rebels in three days to penetrate Damascus' defenses.

Rebels have been trying for years to break into the heart of Damascus, at times in conjunction with al-Qaida-linked militants. Al-Qaida-affiliated suicide bombers have been targeting government security installations since the early days of the conflict.

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, damaged and blocked street where clashes erupted between the Syrian government forces and rebels, near the Abbassiyin square, east Damascus, Syria, Monday March 20, 2017. Syrian government forces on Monday regained control of parts of Damascus that were attacked and captured by rebels and militants the previous day, with the two-day fighting leaving dozens dead on both sides, the military and an activist group said. (SANA via AP)

Early on Tuesday, Syrian rebels detonated a car bomb in an eastern neighborhood of Damascus and launched a renewed attack from the city's opposition-held Jobar neighborhood, according to the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. There were no immediate reports on casualty numbers in those attacks.

Hezbollah is heavily invested in defending Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country's civil war. Its military media arm said fighting was underway Tuesday in Jobar, which Syrian government forces had held under siege since 2013.

Syrian state media later said the military responded with airstrikes and artillery fire and that government forces repelled the attack.

Sounds of blasts and artillery fire shook Damascus, and smoke clouded the skies over the eastern Jobar and Qaboun neighborhoods, where fighting had also broken out on Sunday.

Syria's SANA news agency said government forces encircled the "terrorist groups." It said 15 people were wounded in shelling across the capital.

A rebel blitz spearheaded by Syria's al-Qaida branch shook the eastern parts of Damascus on Sunday, with fighters managing to seize a neighborhood before pro-government forces pushed them back on Monday. It was the most serious insurgent incursion into Damascus since 2012.

The insurgent gains in Damascus, though short-lived, come against the backdrop of months of steady rebel losses to government forces across Syria. It appeared to be an attempt by al-Qaida's affiliate to mount sophisticated attacks against high-value targets to portray itself as the main force capable of fighting the government.

Associated Press writer Albert Aji Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.</s>Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot declared on Tuesday that Hezbollah’s top military commander Mustapha Badreddine was killed in Syria last year by men within Hezbollah.

Eisenkot’s comments were made during a security conference whereby he said that intelligence information gathered had led Israel to this conclusion that matched earlier reports.

Badreddine's death showed "the depth of the internal crisis within Hezbollah," Eisenkot added.

He also noted that Israel "believes that he was killed by his own officers."

He also said it reflected "the level of the cruelty, complexity and tension between Hezbollah and Iran."</s>BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces launched a counter-attack against rebels in Damascus on Tuesday, following a rebel suicide car bombing and another insurgent assault earlier in the day in the country’s capital, media reports said.

It was the second attempt by rebels in three days to penetrate Damascus’ defenses.

Rebels have been trying for years to break into the heart of Damascus, at times in conjunction with al-Qaida-linked militants. Al-Qaida-affiliated suicide bombers have been targeting government security installations since the early days of the conflict.

Early on Tuesday, Syrian rebels detonated a car bomb in an eastern neighborhood of Damascus and launched a renewed attack from the city’s opposition-held Jobar neighborhood, according to the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. There were no immediate reports on casualty numbers in those attacks.

Hezbollah is heavily invested in defending Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country’s civil war. Its military media arm said fighting was underway Tuesday in Jobar, which Syrian government forces had held under siege since 2013.

Syrian state media later said the military responded with airstrikes and artillery fire and that government forces repelled the attack.

Sounds of blasts and artillery fire shook Damascus, and smoke clouded the skies over the eastern Jobar and Qaboun neighborhoods, where fighting had also broken out on Sunday.

Syria’s SANA news agency said government forces encircled the “terrorist groups.” It said 15 people were wounded in shelling across the capital.

A rebel blitz spearheaded by Syria’s al-Qaida branch shook the eastern parts of Damascus on Sunday, with fighters managing to seize a neighborhood before pro-government forces pushed them back on Monday. It was the most serious insurgent incursion into Damascus since 2012.

The insurgent gains in Damascus, though short-lived, come against the backdrop of months of steady rebel losses to government forces across Syria. It appeared to be an attempt by al-Qaida’s affiliate to mount sophisticated attacks against high-value targets to portray itself as the main force capable of fighting the government.

Associated Press writer Albert Aji Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.
The Israeli Air Force resumes bombing against suspected Hezbollah-related targets in Syria, with a fourth round of bombings occurring near military sites near Damascus.