Damascus<span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">: Israel has hit 64 military targets in Syria by far this year, killing 45 servicemen and pro-government fighters in the bordering country, a war monitor reported.&nbsp;
<span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, 57 others were injured in the 21 airstrikes and rocket attacks by Israel, Xinhua news agency quoted the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as saying.&nbsp;
<span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">The Britain-based watchdog group said Israel has intensified its missile strikes on military sites in Syria since 2018 under the pretext of targeting pro-Iran militias.&nbsp;
<span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">In the latest attack on August 25, one military officer was killed and 14 civilians injured in the attack targeting a weapons depot allegedly operated by pro-Iran militias in the city of Masyaf.&nbsp;
—IANS

Israel has hit 64 military targets in Syria by far this year, killing 45 servicemen and pro-government fighters in the bordering country, a war monitor reported. 

Israel hit 64 targets in Syria in 2022: War monitor

Middle East

Gaza City:&nbsp;An Israeli airstrike killed a senior commander in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, the fighters said on Sunday, their second leader to be slain amid an escalating cross-border conflict.The killing late Saturday of Khaled Mansour, who led the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad's operations in the southern Gaza Strip, came a day after another Israeli strike killed the militant's commander in the north.Already, the fighting has killed at least 29 Palestinians and seen rockets fired toward Israel in the worst violence between Israel and Palestinian militants since the end of an 11-day war in 2021.Meanwhile, tensions could escalate as Jews mark a holy day that will see ultranationalist Israeli lawmakers visit a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.Such visits can be a frequent flashpoint for violence between Israel and the Palestinians.The Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad confirmed on Sunday that the airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed Mansour and two fellow militants.The militants said the strike also killed civilians as it flattened several homes.On Sunday, Gaza's Health Ministry said 29 people had been killed in the fighting so far in the coastal strip, including six children and four women. It said at least 253 people had been wounded.Israel estimates its airstrikes have killed about 15 militants.Militants from Islamic Jihad continued firing rockets toward Israel and the Israeli military continued airstrikes on Gaza, though the intensity of the exchange appeared to decrease early on Sunday.On Sunday, Jews marked Tisha B'av, a somber day of fasting that marks the destruction of the biblical temples and brings thousands to Jerusalem for prayer. By early morning, Israeli police said several hundred Jews had already ascended the Temple Mount, or Noble Sanctuary.Police described the situation as calm as Jews held prayers at the Western Wall, which is considered the holiest site where Jews can pray.In Palestinian cities and towns in the West Bank, Israeli security forces said they detained some 19 people on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic Jihad during overnight raids.Israeli forces said their troops suffered no injuries in the raids, which saw them use riot dispersal methods as Palestinians threw rocks and improvised bombs, as well as shot at their forces.The fighting began with Israel's killing of a senior Islamic Jihad commander in a wave of strikes Friday that Israel said were meant to prevent an imminent attack.Hamas, the larger militant group that rules Gaza, appeared to remain on the sidelines of the conflict for now, keeping its response limited.Israel and Hamas fought a war barely a year ago, one of four major conflicts and several smaller battles over the last 15 years that exacted a staggering toll on the impoverished territory's two million Palestinian residents.The Israeli military said an errant rocket fired by Palestinian militants killed civilians, including children, late Saturday in the town of Jabaliya, in northern Gaza.The military said it investigated the incident and concluded without a doubt that it was caused by a misfire on the part of Islamic Jihad. There was no official Palestinian comment on the incident.A Palestinian medical worker who spoke on condition of anonymity as they had not been granted permission to speak to journalists said the blast killed at least six people, including three children.Israeli airstrikes on Saturday killed a 75-year-old woman and wounded six others as they were preparing to go to a wedding.Airstrikes have also destroyed several houses in the Gaza Strip, some of them belonging to Islamic Jihad members.The lone power plant in Gaza ground to a halt at noon Saturday due to a lack of fuel.Israel has kept its crossing points into Gaza closed since Tuesday. With the new disruption, Gazans can use only four hours of electricity a day, increasing their reliance on private generators and deepening the territory's chronic power crisis amid peak summer heat.—PTI

An Israeli airstrike killed a senior commander in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, the fighters said on Sunday, their second leader to be slain amid an escalating cross-border conflict

Israeli airstrike kills 2nd top Islamic Jihad commander

Tel Aviv:&nbsp;Israel has decided to withhold 600 million shekels ($176 million) in tax revenues it has collected for the Palestinian Authority to offset the latter’s compensation for “attackers” against the Jewish state.The Israeli security cabinet voted to deduct in phases the same amount from the tax revenues as the Palestinian Authority has paid to the families of killed or wounded attackers, Xinhua news agency quoted the state-owned Kan TV as saying.Israel sees the stipends as “indirect support of terrorism” and charges they “encourage” Palestinians’ attacks against Israelis.However, Palestinians say the stipends are welfare payments for families in need, the report adds.Israel collects a large proportion of tax revenues on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and transfers them to the latter on a regular basis.In July 2018, the Israeli Parliament passed a law to deduct from tax revenues an amount equal to what the Palestinian Authority pays to families of prisoners.The move is expected to increase tensions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.Israel seized the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in a 1967 war, and has since controlled or blockaded the two regions despite international criticism.—IANS

Israel has decided to withhold 600 million shekels ($176 million) in tax revenues it has collected for the Palestinian Authority to offset the latter’s compensation for “attackers” against the Jewish state.

 Israel decides to cut $176 mn from Palestinian tax revenues

Islamabad (Pakistan): Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday said that Pakistan is getting weaker after the country's Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa sought help from the US to secure an early loan dispersal from the International Monetary Fund.PTI chief said that it was not the job of the Army Chief to deal with economic matters, Geo TV reported."If the news of Pakistan Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa contacting the United States officials for early dispersal of loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was true, it means we [Pakistan] are getting weaker," he added.He also questioned whether the US will demand anything in return if it decides to help Pakistan.According to a report by Nikkei Asia on Friday, Bajwa has urged the United States to help Islamabad secure an early dispersal of loan from the IMF.Bajwa requested the White House and Treasury Department to urge the lender to expedite the bailout process and immediately release the nearly USD 1.2 billion that Pakistan expects to receive under a resumed loan programme, Geo TV reported.Commenting on the development, the former prime minister said that neither the Washington-based lender trusts the government nor do other countries, "I think that's why the army chief has taken the responsibility now." Pakistan's Geo TV reported citing sources that the army chief reached out to the US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on a phone call earlier in the week, as Pakistan faces the risk of debt default due to dwindling foreign reserves.Speaking of the poor economic condition in the country, Khan said, "At this moment, the most alarming thing is the lack of trust of the market, somebody has to be held accountable for the current situation."&nbsp;He reiterated his demands for early elections and said that political stability can only be seen when fair and transparent elections are conducted."Those sitting in power are afraid of the elections," he said, recalling that when he was ousted from the office, he did nothing except for approaching the public."If the coalition government had announced early elections, today the country would have been saved from this disaster," the PTI chairman said, citing the absence of a future roadmap by the coalition government as one of the reasons behind the economic crisis, Geo TV reported.I don't have any personal grudges with anybody. I had healthy relations with Nawaz and [late] Benazir Bhutto; however, my problem is corruption as they come into power and make money for themselves," he highlighted.Earlier this month, the IMF reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan authorities for the conclusion of the combined seventh and eighth reviews of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).Despite the agreement, the ongoing political and economic turmoil in the country has raised concerns among investors, Pakistan's Business Recorder reported.Since the start of 2022, the rupee has lost over 30 per cent of its value, according to the Foreign Exchange Association of Pakistan.This downfall of Pakistani rupees comes as Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings said they expect Pakistan to secure the USD 1.2 billion bailouts from the International Monetary Fund.—ANI

According to Foreign Exchange Association of Pakistan, the rupee has lost over 30 per cent of its value since the start of 2022


Not the job of Army Chief to deal with economic matters: Imran Khan 

Sanaa:&nbsp;A total of 13 children were injured in an attack carried out by the Houthi militia against a residential neighbourhood in Yemen's southwestern province of Taiz, a security official said."Mortar shells were fired randomly by the Houthis on residential houses of a densely populated neighbourhood in the southwestern part of Taiz during the past hours," the official told Xinhua news agency."A total of 13 children were injured as a result of the shells that landed indiscriminately on the residential area controlled by the government," he said.The attack coincided with the arrival of a high-ranking UN delegation to Taiz, the third largest city in Yemen, to push the warring sides in Yemen to extend the truce that expires on August 2.During the past days, Yemen's Houthis carried out a series of attacks against various areas of the war-ravaged Arab country, as UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg stepped up his effort to extend the Yemeni truce.Several rounds of negotiations between the government and the Houthis were conducted under the auspices of the UN but failed to achieve any progress toward ending Yemen's years-long military conflict.The Houthi militia backed by Iran set new conditions to accept the UN proposal to extend the truce with the Saudi Arabia-led coalition for another six months.As hopes for truce extension begin to fade, political observers said that the possible failure to break the years-long political stalemate on Yemen's issue will badly affect the Yemeni people aspiring for permanent peace.The truce in Yemen, first enforced on April 2 and renewed for another two months on June 2, will expire on August 2."An extended and expanded truce will increase the benefits to the Yemeni people," Grundberg's office said in a statement, adding that the truce will also provide a platform to build more confidence between the parties and start serious discussions on economic priorities.Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed government out of the capital Sanaa.The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 4 million, and pushed the poor Arab country to the brink of starvation. —IANS

A total of 13 children were injured in an attack carried out by the Houthi militia against a residential neighbourhood in Yemen's southwestern province of Taiz, a security official said.