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[...]

"The Israeli enemy struck a massive air and ground attack with several 'waves' of guided missiles. Our air defense systems immediately began to repel the attack of enemy missiles. A significant part of the missiles destroyed before they reached the targets", the source said.

State broadcaster Ikhbariya reported that air defense forces had shot down "tens" of Israeli targets. The broadcaster noted that various types of weapons had been used in the attack and that the missiles had been launched from the airspace of Lebanon, as well as from the northern part of the Israeli region of Galilee and from the area of Lake Tiberias.

[...]

Later in the day, the Israeli Air Forces struck, in response to an a attempt of an alleged missile attack on Golan Heights, several air defense targets in Syria, including alleged Iran's Syria-based arms depots, reconnaissance facility and a training camp, the IDF claimed in a twitter statement on Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's press office said on Sunday that "our permanent policy is to oppose Iran's attempts to gain a foothold in Syria and to hurt those who is trying to hurt us".

That's quite a telling statement: Netanyahu wants to actively hurt those who (in his paranoia addled mind) are trying (how he defines that isn't so clear) to hurt them.

Earlier in January, Netanyahu vowed to continue confronting military activities in Syria allegedly conducted by Iran.

"Our position is clear. We will continue to act against the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, including at present, and we will act against any element that undermines, or attempts to undermine, the security of Israel", Netanyahu said.

The Israeli military estimated the number of air strikes over the past two years at 200. Tel Aviv, Tehran's long-time regional opponent, has repeatedly expressed security concerns over an alleged Iranian military presence next to its borders in Syria.

Israel has officially taken a neutral stance on the seven-year Syrian civil war, however, and Tel Aviv claims the IDF has been conducting air raids in Syria allegedly against the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah and also to counter what it claims is alleged Iran's military presence in the neighboring country.

Hezbollah has been reportedly supporting the Syrian government in the civil war since 2012. Hezbollah has repeatedly claimed that its troops came to Syria after receiving an invitation from Damascus and were ready to leave the country as soon as the government asks.

Tel Aviv has a bellicose relationship with Damascus' Lebanese ally Hezbollah and Iran, and repeatedly strikes its alleged targets in the conflict-torn country. According to Tel Aviv, Iran allegedly seeks to turn Syria into a military foothold and Israeli activities in Syria are aimed to curb Tehran's aspirations. Tehran has repeatedly stressed that only its military advisers operate in Syria.

A bomb blast has hit Damascus on January 20, in a rare attack in the Syrian capital.

A war monitor reported a "huge explosion" near a military intelligence office in the south of the city that left a number of people dead and wounded.

The blast was followed by shooting, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

The state news agency SANA reported that the "bomb blast" hit southern Damascus "without leaving any victims," and said a "terrorist" was arrested.

The explosion came as a bomb in the northern Syrian city of Afrin killed three people and wounded nine others, according to the Observatory, on the first anniversary of the start of a military operation by Turkey and allied rebels in the Kurdish-majority region.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts in Damascus and Afrin.

Meanwhile, Israel said it intercepted a rocket fired from Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights after Damascus accused the Jewish state of carrying out air raids on the south of the country.

Israel claims to have intercepted one rocket - and there's no reason to believe these claims - meanwhile it sent "waves" of rockets to Syria in the dead of night.

Syrian air defenses destroyed seven projectiles after four Israeli F-16 military planes "fired rockets into Syrian territory," according to the Russian military.

Israel's military declined comment on the air strike.

Russia and Iran have given Syrian President Bashar al-Assad crucial military and diplomatic support throughout the nearly eight-year war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.

Israel has pledged to stop Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, carrying out hundreds of air strikes there against Iranian targets and those of Lebanon's Shi'ite militant group Hizballah.

Such attacks are possible only thanks to the unlimited support provided by the US administration, the immunity from investigations extended to Israel by a number of countries in the UN Security Council, as well as the complete silence regime that these countries have imposed in the UN Security Council to prevent this body from fulfilling its role in repelling these criminal attacks

"Failure to deliver Brexit would produce a yawning gap between Parliament and the people, a schism in our political system with unknowable consequences."

"Parliament has not got the right to hijack the Brexit process because Parliament said to the people of this country we make a contract with you, you will make the decision and we will honour it"

May says there were six issues that came up when she conducted cross-party discussions on the best way forward for Brexit negotiations.

The first concerned the issue of a no-deal Brexit. She insists the best way to avoid such a scenario is by approving a deal.

The second issue, May says, was on a second referendum pushed by certain opposition leaders. She claims a 'people's vote' would be voted down by MPs in the house of commons.

The PM insisted that there could be some progress on the other four issues. On the Irish backstop, May ruled out reopening the Good Friday agreement. She told parliament that she needed to find out what MPs wanted changed on the backstop.

May revealed that her government has decided that the £65 fee for EU nationals applying for settled status in the UK is to be abolished.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn responded to the PM's statement by saying that her attempted cross-party talks were a "sham" - adding that May was in denial about the severity of the defeat of her Brexit deal in parliament last week.

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