Israeli airstrike near Syrian capital kills 11, war monitor says
Beirut, Dec 29: An Israeli airstrike in the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday killed 11 people, according to a war monitor, as Israel continues to target Syrian weapons and military infrastructure even after the ouster of former President Bashar Assad.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrike targeted a weapons depot that belonged to Assad's forces near the industrial town of Adra, northeast of the capital. The observatory said at least 11 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV also reported the airstrike but put the death toll at six. The Israeli military did not comment on the airstrike Sunday.
Israel, which has launched hundreds of airstrikes over Syria since the country's uprising turned-civil war broke out in 2011, rarely acknowledges them. It says its targets are Iran-backed groups that backed Assad. Israel also wants to remove a threat posed by weapons in Syria, which is now governed by Islamists.
Syrian insurgents who ousted Assad in a lightning offensive in early December have demanded that Israel cease its airstrikes.
Elsewhere, Turkish-backed Syrian rebels attacked near the strategic northern border town of Kobani, which is under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, following weekslong clashes.
The SDF shared a video of a rocket attack that destroyed what it said was a radar system south of the city of Manbij, which the Turkish-back group captured earlier this month.
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Contractor death: BJP claims suicide note has Minister Priyank Kharge’s name
Bengaluru, Jan 1: The BJP leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy on Wednesday charged that Minister "Priyank Kharge's name is found at three places" in the suicide note written by contractor Sachin Panchal but Chief Minister Siddaramaiah defended the minister for want of evidence.
Narayanaswamy, Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council, said the Chief Minister has been saying that Kharge’s name is not mentioned in the suicide note written by contractor Sachin Panchal, which was wrong.
"Minister Priyank Kharge’s name is mentioned at three places in the seven-page suicide note. You demand documents. Here is the one. What else should we produce?” Narayanaswamy told reporters here.
Chief Minister said there was no document to prove and hence the question of removing Priyank Kharge would not arise, Narayanaswamy noted.
ALSO READ: No evidence against Minister Priyank Kharge in contractor suicide case, says CM Siddaramaiah
“We know that you don’t have the guts to remove him because the Minister’s father Mallikarjun Kharge is the Congress president. If you touch Priyank then he would uproot you. You are afraid of losing power. You are glued to your chief ministerial position,” the BJP leader alleged.
He said everyone was initially doubting the seven-page suicide note written by Panchal but now the FSL report has confirmed that the letter was written by the civil contractor himself.
It is confirmed that this suicide note is not fake but the original one, Narayanaswamy said adding that the government has to answer to Panchal’s suicide.
The BJP leader said there is a threat to Panchal’s family and, especially five sisters of Panchal. He also alleged that Panchal suicide case has a honey trap angle too. He reiterated BJP's demand for a CBI probe in the case.
Panchal died by suicide by lying before a moving train in Bidar district. In his suicide note, he alleged that Raju Kapanur pestered him for rupees one crore, a charge which Kapanur has denied.
Panchal also alleged that Kapanur hired contract killers to eliminate BJP MLA Basavaraj Mattimud and, two other top BJP leaders in Kalaburagi and a Lingayat pontiff.
The BJP alleged that Kapanur is Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge's close aide.
