IDF announces fallen soldier, airstrike carried out in Damascus suburb

IAF fighter jets struck commander centers and terrorist infrastructure belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in Syria's Damascus, the military confirmed on Thursday afternoon. 

Fifteen people were killed and 16 injured in Israeli attacks on a number of residential buildings in suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, state news agency SANA reported, citing a Syrian military source.

A Hezbollah 32-barrel rocket launcher was discovered and destroyed during one of many ongoing operations in southern Lebanon, the IDF revealed Thursday in newly released footage.

The Commando Brigade, including elite units Egoz, Maglan, and Duvdevan, has been conducting targeted ground raids for weeks in Hezbollah's 'combat compounds' throughout the mountainous terrain. 

Lieutenant Ivri Dickshtein was killed in battle while fighting in Lebanon, the IDF announced on Thursday.

Lieutenant Dickshtein, 21, from Eli, served in the 51st Batallion in the Golani Brigade. 

In a targeted operation, security forces and soldiers, using Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) intelligence, eliminated the head of a terror cell in Tulkarm and another wanted individual, the military said on Thursday. 

The operation was conducted by Yamam, the Haruv Battalion in the Kfir Brigade, and the Shin Bet.

During the operation, two terrorists were eliminated, including one who led a terror cell in Tulkarm and was recently involved in terror attacks and recruiting terrorist operatives, the military said. 

Syrian state news agency SANA said initial reports indicated that an alleged Israeli strike on Thursday had targeted the Damascus suburb of Mazzeh.

IDF Spokesperson in Arabic Avichay Adraee called for the evacuation of the Shoufat al-Omrousiya and al-Ghobeiry areas in southern Beirut in a post to X/Twitter.

#عاجل انذار جديد الى جميع السكان المتواجدين في منطقة الضاحية الجنوبية وتحديدًا في المباني المحددة في الخرائط المرفقة والمباني المجاورة لها في المناطق التالية:
🔸شويفات العمروسية
🔸الغبيري

⭕️أنتم تتواجدون بالقرب من منشآت ومصالح تابعة لحزب الله حيث سيعمل ضدها جيش الدفاع على… pic.twitter.com/OvPSQre8Mf

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 14, 2024

Adraee wrote that residents were located near Hezbollah facilities, and the IDF would operate against these targets, and said to evacuate no less than 500 meters from these areas. 

Israel Air Force (IAF) fighter jets, directed by IDF intelligence, attacked Syrian regime smuggling routes on the Syria-Lebanon border that were used to transfer weapons to Hezbollah, the IDF announced on Wednesday evening. 

In recent months, the IDF conducted numerous strikes aimed at reducing weapons transfers from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the military said. 

The strike on these routes damages the capabilities of Unit 4400, which is responsible for transferring weapons from Iran to Lebanon. 

US President Joe Biden met with families of American hostages taken by Hamas on Wednesday afternoon.

According to a White House statement, the president updated the families on US efforts to secure the release of their loved ones, and assured them that the administration’s efforts to secure a deal would continue.

Biden and Trump

Earlier on Wednesday, Biden met with president-elect Donald Trump, and both agreed to work together for the common cause of releasing the hostages during the transition of power.

“We will continue to work every remaining day that President Biden has in office, that we have in these jobs, to try to bring those hostages home to their loved ones,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

The air force intercepted two drones over Syrian skies on Wednesday overnight, the IDF announced.

According to the IDF, both vessels were launched from the east and intercepted over Syria while making their way toward Israeli territory. 

Hezbollah ambushed and killed on Wednesday six soldiers and wounded four from Battalion 51 of the Golani Brigade in a structure in a village in southern Lebanon where the military had just begun new operations.

The IDF is probing whether the ambushing forces came from a concealed tunnel that allowed them to avoid prior attacks by the air force and artillery, which are supposed to clear out new areas for soldiers before they enter.

The military did kill some of the Hezbollah ambushers but was unsure how many might have escaped.

Five of the slain soldiers were named by press time: Capt. Itay Marcovich, 22, from Kochav Yair; St.-Sgt. Dror Hen, 20, from Gan Haim; St.-Sgt. Nir Gofer, 20, from Dimona; St.-Sgt. Sraya Elboim, 21, from Mehola; and Sgt. Shalev Itzhak Sagron, 21, from Sderot, and Sgt. Yoav Daniel, 19, from Nahariya.

The incident occurred around 10 a.m. Wednesday, but was kept under gag order until some of the families started announcing details of those killed. This raises to 42 the number of soldiers killed in the Lebanon invasion, which began on September 30.

IDF soldiers operate in southern Lebanon, November 13, 2024. (credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)

According to the IDF’s tally, the number of soldiers killed on or since October 7, 2023, is now nearing 800. Some 380 were killed since the start of the military’s ground operations in the Gaza Strip on October 27, 2023.

On Wednesday evening, a ramming attack took place at Deir Kadis, near Modi’in Illit. Injuries were still under gag order at press time.

Throughout the day, Hezbollah targeted large portions of the North with a mix of drone and rocket attacks. The IDF said it shot down at least three drones, with no injuries resulting from the attacks. Hezbollah targeted the Upper Galilee with rockets, including as many as around 20 rockets in one barrage. A woman was reportedly injured in Kfar Saba during a rocket siren, possibly by an accident with a motorcyclist.

Rockets at Central Israel

Later, Hezbollah fired five rockets at the Carmel and Central Israel regions. Some were shot down by the IAF, some were not. The IDF did not specify the impacts, other than to say that some penetrated air defenses.

Despite Hezbollah’s success against the IDF in some areas on Wednesday, the terrorist group still managed to fire far fewer rockets than it did earlier in the week.

Moreover, the army said it struck a large number of rocket launchers in Lebanon, including those used by Hezbollah to kill two people in Nahariya on Tuesday.

At the same time that Hezbollah maintained rocket fire and carried out ambushes, the IDF confirmed that both its 36th and 91st divisions were penetrating deeper into southern Lebanon.

Military and political sources expressed hope that expanding the ground operation would finally up pressure on Hezbollah enough to accept a ceasefire on Israel’s terms. Defense Minister Yisrael Katz on Wednesday said – for the third time in several days – that Israel will refuse a ceasefire until Hezbollah agrees both to withdraw to the Litani River and to some kind of formula for reducing its military threat.

Meanwhile, IAF fighter jets continued to strike Hezbollah targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut, after issuing an evacuation warning for six buildings in the area.

Israel said it has been carrying out strikes to reduce the transfer of weapons from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which it said spread to the town of al-Qusayr, near the Syrian-Lebanese border.

Syrian media said on Wednesday evening that air defenses intercepted “hostile” targets over the Homs countryside.

In Gaza, with Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) intelligence, the IDF targeted a Shejaia terrorist cell. Among those struck was Yasser Ghandi, identified as one of the attackers who breached Israeli territory and participated in the October 7, 2023 massacre.

From Tuesday to Wednesday, the IAF hit over 120 Hamas and Hezbollah sites in Gaza and Lebanon, the military said.

Although the IDF did not specify, generally, far more attacks are going on in Lebanon in this period, with Gaza being much quieter other than the occasional flare-up, such as in Jabalya on and off for the last five weeks.

Reuters contributed to this report.