The United States says it has struck more than 85 Iranian-linked targets in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for attacks that killed American soldiers.
Here's what happened on Saturday, February 3, 2024:
regional tensions
- The US military announced that it had struck more than 85 Iranian-linked targets in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the deaths of three American soldiers in a drone strike in Jordan.
- The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 18 Iranian fighters were killed in the overnight airstrike. The death toll could not be independently verified, and U.S. officials said only that there were casualties in the attack.
- The White House said it notified Iraq before conducting domestic airstrikes. The Iraqi military called the attack a “violation of Iraq's sovereignty,” adding that it “could lead to dire consequences for Iraq and the region.”
Human influence and combat
- According to UNICEF, almost all of Gaza's 1.2 million children need mental health support.
- The agency also said about 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or separated from their families during the conflict.
- More than a million displaced Palestinians fear a new Israeli military onslaught after Israel's defense minister promised an attack on Rafah, once considered a “safe zone.”
- The United Nations said 112 Palestinians were killed and 148 injured in the Gaza Strip between Thursday and Friday afternoon.
- The Palestinian Authority says at least 27,131 people have been killed and 66,287 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. Israel's revised death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack was 1,139.
diplomacy
- Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Beirut, said the multi-stage proposal submitted this week by officials from Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the United States is unacceptable because it does not include a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit Israel, the occupied West Bank, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar, where he is expected to call for the release of prisoners held in the Gaza Strip and a moratorium on hostilities.
- Germany's foreign minister has warned Israel about a planned military attack in Rafah, dpa news agency reported.
- The United States announced new sanctions and charges targeting Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
- Some 800 European and US officials have sent a letter to their governments condemning Israel's war in Gaza, calling it “one of the worst human disasters of this century.”
occupied west bank
- Two Palestinian men in their 20s have been hospitalized after being beaten by Israeli forces during a raid near the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported.
- Israeli military attacks were also reported in the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, the towns of Rujib and Burka in Nablus governorate, the city of Tubas northeast of Nablus, and the villages of Beit Tamar and al-Arji east of Bethlehem.
