In the face of the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and the West Bank and following the truce between Israel and Lebanon that took effect on 27 November, Ahram Online provided you with live updates of the most recent developments across the Middle East on Wednesday, 4 December as they unfolded.
22:55 The Palestinian health ministry in the occupied West Bank accused Israeli forces of raiding a hospital in Nablus and arresting a patient.
The ministry, in a statement, called it "a flagrant violation of all international laws and conventions that stipulate the protection of treatment centres and patients".
22:04 The rebels surrounded Syria's key central city of Hama "from three sides" as they pressed on with a lightening offensive on government-held territory, a war monitor said.
The rebels "have surrounded Hama city from three sides, and are now present at a distance of three to four kilometres (1.9 to 2.5 miles) from it, following violent clashes with the government forces which are left with only one exit towards Homs to the south," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources in Syria, said the government forces were "left with only one exit towards Homs to the south".
Key to the rebels' successes since the start of the offensive last week was the takeover of Aleppo, which in more than a decade of war had never entirely fallen out of government hands.
However, a Syrian military source told AFP denied the reports, asserting that the army is stationed in its positions near and far from the city in all directions.
The source stated, "The reports circulated by terrorist-affiliated pages and some media outlets claiming that terrorists have entered the city of Hama from any direction are false. The situation throughout the city of Hama is completely normal and stable."
Earlier, the head of the militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which led a rebel offensive that captured Syria's second city, Aleppo, last weekend, visited its landmark citadel.
Images posted on HTS's Telegram channel showed Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani waving to supporters from an open-top car as he visited the historic fortress.
Jolani previously led the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of the Al-Qaeda group, before announcing in his first public appearance in 2016 that his group had cut ties with the terrorist group.
21:39 Turkey said it expects many of the three million Syrian refugees currently on its soil to speed up their returns if rebels hold the city of Aleppo, which last week they prised from Damascus' control.
But a government minister cautioned the time may not yet be ripe for large scale population movements to Aleppo.
"We know those from Aleppo love Aleppo very much. We meet them and they are extremely enthusiastic," said Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, according to AFP.
"But to those who say they wish to go back now we say, 'wait, it's not safe for the moment'," said Yerlikaya.
"Everyone hopes to return to his homeland as soon as they see or detect peace and security," he added, noting that 42 percent of Syrians -- amounting to 1.25 million people -- now living in Turkey hail from the Aleppo region.
"There will be strong interest" in a return, a burning issue in Turkey, he predicted after rebels last week took over Aleppo, Syria's second city, which in more than a decade of war had never fallen out of government hands.
Some 880,000 Syrians have taken refuge in the Turkish provinces of Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Hatay which border Syria.
Another 500,000 are registered in Istanbul according to official statistics.
21:26 Qatar’s prime minister says the incoming US administration wants a Gaza ceasefire deal secured “now, today even.”
We are trying to coordinate with them our efforts, and all of us agree and are hoping to get over this situation before the president (Donald Trump) comes to the office,” he was quoted as saying by Sky News.
The prime minister added that Doha was cautiously optimistic about its renewed efforts to secure a deal but said it required “maximum pressure” by those involved to end the fighting.
He also defended Hamas having a political office in Doha and said it was set up “with full transparency and coordination, and at the request of the US and Israel at that time to have this as to be used as a negotiation platform.”
20:33 Al Jazeera correspondent reports that Israel killed at least 76 Palestinians in the ongoing bombing since dawn.
An Israeli airstrike on the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City evening killed 10 Palestinians, WAFA news agency reported.
We reported earlier that an intense Israeli bombing of the Al-Mawasi refugee camp northwest of Khan Younes in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 17 Palestinians.
The toll has risen to over 21 charred bodies and dozens injured, mostly women and children.
The toll is expected to increase as more patients in critical condition are in the operating theatre, likely to succumb due to a lack of medical care, supplies, and insufficient staff.
Israeli aircraft struck a sprawling tent camp housing displaced Palestinians, setting off fires in the coastal tent city that Israel has designated a humanitarian zone but which has been repeatedly targeted.
The strike Wednesday in Muwasi, a desolate area with few public services that holds hundreds of thousands of displaced people, also wounded at least 28 people, according to Atif Al-Hout, the director of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
The footage being shown is deeply distressing. Videos and photos show flames and a column of black smoke rising into the night sky, as well as twisted metal tent frames and shredded fabric. Palestinian men searched through the still-burning wreckage, shouting “Over here guys!” Further away, civilians stood at a distance, observing the destruction.
20:15 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in a statement Wednesday that the body of a captive was brought back from the Gaza Strip in a special operation, according to a statement released by his office.
18:56 Israeli bombing of the Al-Mawasi area, northwest of Khan Younes city in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 17 Palestinians and injured others, according to local sources, as reported by WAFA.
The aerial bombardment targeted makeshift camps for displaced Palestinians in the so-called Israeli-designated "humanitarian zone" in al-Mawasi, also wounding dozens.
Emergency and rescue crews retrieved a body following Israeli bombardment that targeted the al-Gneinia neighborhood, east of Rafah.
Meanwhile, journalist Wael Abu Zeina was injured in the Israeli bombing of his house in Jabalia in the northern Strip, while several people were injured in Israeli artillery shelling that targeted the al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Strip.
18:05 Israel continues its disinformation campaign against UNRWA, the agency said. Using commercial advertisements, including billboards in several cities around the world and paid Google ads on multiple websites, the Government of Israel has stepped up its disinformation campaign against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
These ads are part of a broader campaign by Israel, which has repeatedly called for the dismantling of the agency.
The recent global effort to label a UN agency as a terrorist organization may amount to hate speech, utilizing corporations meant to promote commercial products, the UN agency said in a statement.
The campaign is causing significant reputational damage to UNRWA, which is currently the largest humanitarian provider for people in Gaza enduring the ongoing war.
"These ads can put the lives of UNRWA personnel at serious risk," the agency warned.
Since the start of the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, Israel has killed 251 UNRWA team members, and two-thirds of the agency's buildings in Gaza have been damaged, many of them directly hit multiple times.
UNRWA emphasized that those responsible for spreading disinformation, including advertising companies, must stop and be held accountable. "Regulations must be put in place to control the spread of such damaging and potentially dangerous messages," the agency stressed.
17:52 Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said that Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza was attacked again last night, injuring a nurse, an X-ray technician, and an administrative employee.
He emphasized that continued Israeli attacks on the hospital and Gaza's health system are depriving people of lifesaving care. "We call for protection of all health workers, patients and health facilities, and an immediate ceasefire."
17:41 Israeli terrorist settlers wounded a Palestinian and set fire to buildings while raiding two villages in the occupied West Bank following the eviction of a nearby settlement outpost by Israeli forces, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources.
Nahi Hanani, deputy head of the Beit Furik council, told AFP that dozens of settlers attacked the village "setting fire to a truck in front of one house and another vehicle." "They also set fire to a grocery shop in the village and another house was slightly damaged," he said.
The Israeli occupation army reported that settlers entered the village of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, where they "set property on fire and hurled stones." Local authorities told AFP that the attacks occurred early in the morning.
The army said the Israelis also "set property on fire and threw stones" in Huwara, a town to the south of Nablus.
Rana Abu Hania, spokeswoman for Huwara's town hall, confirmed to AFP that one resident was injured when terrorist settlers attacked the town early today. "They burned two cars and the house of one citizen... The army also demolished a used car lot," said Abu Hania.
The Israeli army explained that the settlers' attacks were in retaliation to Israeli forces' operation against "illegal construction by Israeli civilians" near Beit Furik on Tuesday night, which led to clashes in which two policemen were injured by stones.
Yusef Awadi, a resident of Huwara, said settlers burned his brother's house. "They set fire to the Jeep and the car outside… They entered the house, set it on fire, and then left," he told AFP, adding that his brother, Tayseer, was hospitalized after being hit on the head. "Had his family not been awake, they would have all burned with the house," he said.
In a joint statement, the Israeli army and police confirmed the arrest of eight suspects in connection with the Beit Furik and Huwara attacks, "for assaulting security forces, engaging in friction, and causing damage to property."
Israeli forces and terrorist settlers committed 1,396 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, their land and properties in November, according to the Head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Minister Mo'ayyad Sha'ban.
The monthly report published Tuesday said the Israeli military committed 1,086 violations during November, whereas the Israeli settlers carried out 310 attacks. It said that 273 attacks took place in Ramallah, 253 in Hebron and 204 in Nablus.
The violations included armed attacks on Palestinian villages, land confiscation, field executions, property destruction, uprooting of trees, closures and the erection of checkpoints that fragmented Palestinian territories, according to WAFA.
The report documented 310 attacks carried out by settlers, including 77 in Ramallah, 73 in Hebron, 63 in Nablus and 34 in Salfit.
Among these attacks were attempts to establish eight new settlements outposts, primarily in Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus and Jericho, many designated colonial pastures.
A Palestinian man inspects his damaged house following a reported attack earlier by Israeli settlers in Huwara town south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. AFP
17:02 Qassam Brigades reports hitting Israeli soldiers, and tanks in north Gaza
The armed wing of Hamas says its fighters reported hitting two Merkava tanks of the Israeli army with RPGs and an explosive device at an intersection in central Beit Lahiya.
Meanwhile, Hamas says bombings of Palestinians’ homes in Beit Lahiya and attempts to displace them, along with the targeting of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north, are “an insistence on the ongoing war” and Israeli “genocide” in Gaza.
The group said in a statement that Israel is showing it plans to keep disregarding international law, “in light of the shameful failure of the international system to put an end to these horrific crimes”.
Hamas said Israeli actions “are carried out under the full cover and protection of the American administration and some Western capitals”.
17:00 “Yes it’s a genocide,” A huge anti-Israel banner was unfurled outside the British Parliament by pro-Palestinian protesters.
The protest, organised by Donkeys, the political campaign group, saw the 40 x 40-metre banner, marking one of the most visible protests against Israel's war in Gaza to take place directly outside the Houses of Parliament.
In a statement to coincide with the protest, Prof Amos Goldberg, an Israeli historian, said: “Yes, it’s a genocide. And once you come to this conclusion, you cannot remain silent.
“It does not need to look like the Holocaust to be a genocide. Each genocide looks different, and not all involve the killing of millions or the entire group.
“The United Nations Genocide Convention explicitly asserts that genocide is the act of deliberately destroying a group in whole or in part. Those are the words. But there does need to be a clear intent.”
Prof Goldberg said the Israeli government, military and media had shown “clear indication of intent to destroy Gaza”.
16:32 Israeli tanks pushed into northern parts of the Khan Younis area in the south of the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian medics said Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 20 people across the Strip.
Residents said tanks advanced, with rockets being launched.
With shells falling near residential areas, families left their homes and headed westward towards the nearby humanitarian-designated area of Al-Mawasi.
"Drones are dropping bombs filled with shrapnel that injure and anyone that dares to move," Abu Safiya told Reuters. "This situation is extremely urgent."
In the north, residents of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun said Israeli occupation forces blew up dozens of houses.
The Israeli occupation army, which claims its operations are aimed at preventing Palestinian fighters from regrouping, is accused of using forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. Medics reported that 11 people, including six children and one medic, were killed in three airstrikes on areas in central Gaza. Five of the victims had been queuing outside a bakery.
Another nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli tank fire in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said.
Israeli occupation forces also fired on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza for the fifth successive day, hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya said. Three medical staff members had been wounded, one critically, on Tuesday night attacks.
15:45 Israel has killed at least 44,532 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, and 105,538 wounded, since October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Of those, 30 Palestinians were killed and 84 wounded in the latest 24 hours, the ministry added.
15:30 The death toll from last week's militant offensive in northwestern Syria has risen to 704, according to a war monitor.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the toll includes 361 militants, 233 Syrian Army and allied forces, and 110 civilians.
15:20 US President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, will meet with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer on Wednesday, Axios reported.
Waltz and Dermer are expected to discuss the efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal, an Axios reporter said on X, citing a source familiar with the meeting. They would also discuss Iran's dossier.
15:00 An Israeli delegation, headed by Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar, will arrive in Cairo on Thursday to discuss ideas and proposals related to a ceasefire deal in Gaza, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper reported citing informed sources.
The Qatari-owned, London-based outlet said the Israeli delegation will include “a special envoy” from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
According to the report, Egypt prepared a new draft proposal that could serve as a basis for talks, following "strong indications" by Hamas of its seriousness to reach a deal.
14:45 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ceasefire in Lebanon was "holding" despite a series of violations.
"The ceasefire is holding, and we're using the mechanism that was established when any concerns have arisen about any alleged or purported violations," Blinken told journalists on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels.
This comes as the ceasefire monitoring committee is expected to hold its first meeting on Friday at the headquarters of the international forces in Naqoura, led by U.S. General Jasper Jeffers, Lebanese Army Representative Brigadier General Edgar Lawendas, and French Representative General Guillaume Bonchan.
U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that the team leading the ceasefire monitoring mechanism in Lebanon will be operating at full capacity in the coming days.
The Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, said on Wednesday that diplomatic efforts are ongoing to halt Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement and secure Israel's withdrawal from the Lebanese border towns.
14:30 The Syrian Ministry of Defense announced that the siege imposed by terrorist groups on the Assad Academy in Aleppo has been lifted and that the students were safely evacuated through Syrian-Russian military coordination.
"Through joint Syrian-Russian military and political coordination, the siege imposed by terrorist groups was lifted, and the students were safely evacuated to the city of Homs, where they received necessary care and medical treatment for the wounded and injured.", the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces said in a statement.
14:15 Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty reaffirmed, during a phone call with his Syrian counterpart Bassam Sabbagh, Egypt's steadfast support for Syria and its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
During the call, both foreign ministers addressed the situation in northern Syria and its grave repercussions on the security and stability of the country and the whole region, a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs read.
FM Abdelatty emphasized the urgency of protecting civilians amid the latest developments.
The statement added that they also explored ways to enhance Arab support for the Syrian state amid the current conflicts, particularly under the Arab League.
13:50 Families in the repeatedly bombed central parts of the Gaza Strip and other parts continue to face “dire conditions” on a daily basis, according to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
The organisation said an immediate ceasefire and “unhindered access to humanitarian aid” are urgently needed as hundreds of thousands of people struggle to get basic necessities for survival.
13:30 The Israeli court approved the government's decision to extend the closure of Al Jazeera's office and ban its operations in Israel for an additional 60 days.
13:15 Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said the toll in more than a year of Israeli war on Lebanon had reached 4,047 dead, most of them since September.
"Until now... we have recorded 4,047 dead and 16,638 wounded," Abiad told reporters a week after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect.
Most of the deaths occurred after September 15, he said, adding that "we believe the real number may be higher" due to unrecorded deaths.
13:00 Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ali Hamieh, announced that flights from Arab and foreign airlines will resume regularly starting from the 15th of December.
"By the middle of this month, most flights from Arab and foreign airlines will be regular, ahead of Christmas and New Year's," Hamieh said, pointing out that "the ports have been operating tirelessly during and after the war, and the ministry continues to work with the same approach, providing fast services to all traders across the country.
He added that "all airlines requested to resume flights to and from Beirut, and we are granting approvals on the same day, having started issuing these approvals since last Wednesday.", Lebanese National News Agency cited Hamieh as saying.
12:30 A Syria war monitor said that the Syrian army repelled an attack by US-backed militants in Deir Ezzor province, a day after deadly clashes in the eastern region bordering Iraq.
In the area of clashes in Deir Ezzor, partially controlled by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a "cautious calm" prevailed on Wednesday after the Syrian Army staved off the advance of SDF-allied militants, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.
The clashes since Tuesday morning, accompanied by US air strikes, were in a cluster of seven government-controlled villages located east of the Euphrates -- the only ones outside SDF control on the river's eastern bank in the area, the Observatory told AFP.
12:00 Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, has divested from Israel’s Bezeq because it provides telecoms services to the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the fund said.
The decision comes after the fund’s ethics watchdog adopted a new, tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in Gaza and the West Bank. Bezeq is Israel’s largest telecoms group.
“The company, through its physical presence and provision of telecom services to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, is helping to facilitate the maintenance and expansion of these settlements, which are illegal under international law,” the Council on Ethics says in its recommendation to divest.
11:30 Israeli tanks rushed into northern parts of the Khan Younis area in the south of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.
Residents said tanks advanced one day after the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders, saying there had been rocket launches from the area.
With shells falling near residential areas, families left their homes and headed westward towards the nearby humanitarian-designated area of Al-Mawasi.
In northern Gaza, Israeli forces have stricken the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya for the fifth successive day, hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya told Reuters, adding that three of his medical staff had been wounded, one critically, on Tuesday night.
Residents in three towns, Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun, said Israeli forces had blown up dozens of houses.
11:00 Russia, Iran, and Turkey are in "close contact" over the conflict in Syria, Moscow said.
"The foreign ministers of the three guarantor countries — Russia, Iran and Turkey — are in close contact with each other," Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Wednesday.
10:45 Israeli occupation forces have detained at least 22 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, including two children, a woman, and former prisoners, WAFA news agency reported.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Society and the Prisoners' Affairs Commission stated that the occupation continues to carry out field interrogations in several towns, turning citizens' homes into military barracks.
Since the beginning of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, Israeli forces have detained at least 11,900 Palestinians from the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
10:30 At least four children were among five Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a gathering of civilians near a food distribution centre and a local bakery in Al-Nuseirat camp, in the central Gaza Strip, according to WAFA news agency.
In a separate incident, two more people were killed in a strike on a group of citizens in the Al-Zuhour neighbourhood, north of Rafah city in southern Gaza.
Medical sources reported that Israeli bombardments on central and southern Gaza since early Wednesday have killed 18 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children.
10:15 The Syrian television reported that the army carried out airstrikes on militants' weapons depots and vehicles in Idlib and its countryside, noting that the army is engaged in intense clashes northeast of Hama.
It added that the Syrian army successfully managed to push militants back 20 kilometres from the city of Hama in western Syria, noting that the military operations are continuing.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory told Al-Arabiya that the Syrian forces' counterattack pushed factions 10 kilometres away from Hama.
The Syrian army also stated that it had deployed what it described as the largest military convoy to the Hama countryside to support forces stationed on the frontlines and secure the perimeter of Division 25's command and the entirety of Hama city.
This comes in conjunction with the Syrian army conducting intense airstrikes on the Idlib and Aleppo countrysides, supported by Russian aerial cover.
Additionally, the Syrian army announced that it had killed at least 200 members of armed factions of foreign nationalities since the battles began, adding that it successfully destroyed more than 20 drones launched by the armed factions.
10:00 A Syrian war monitor said the government forces have launched a counteroffensive near Hama, pushing back Islamist-led militants seeking to advance into the key central city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that "after midnight, regime forces launched a counterattack" with air support on Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) rebels and allied factions near Hama, adding that government forces pushed HTS away from the provincial capital by about 10 kilometres (six miles).
9:40 Russia's ambassador to the United Nations accused Ukrainian intelligence services of aiding militants fighting Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's government, saying some insurgents were "openly flaunting" the association.
Militants fighting with the Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) "have not only concealed the fact that they are supported by Ukraine, but they are also openly flaunting this," Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council.
The envoy said there was an "identifiable trail" showing Ukraine's GUR military intelligence service was providing weapons to fighters in northwest Syria.
"Ukrainian military instructors from the GUR are present ... training HTS fighters for combat operations," including against Russian troops in Syria, said Nebenzia.
Nebenzia also criticized UN officials for being "unable to summon the courage to call a spade a spade and to condemn these terrorist attacks" against Syria.
Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood refuted the criticism, saying: "The fact that HTS is listed as a terrorist organization by the US and UN does not justify the further atrocities by the Assad regime and its Russian backers."
9:30 An Israeli court has ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the stand next week in his long-running corruption trial, ending the many delays.
Netanyahu’s lawyers had filed multiple requests to put off the testimony, arguing first that the war in Gaza prevented him from properly preparing for his testimony, and later that his security could not be guaranteed in the court chamber.
In Tuesday’s decision, judges in the occupied Jerusalem district court said that following a security assessment, his testimony will be moved to the Tel Aviv district court. Israeli media said the session would take place in an underground chamber.
His testimony in the trial began in 2020 and is expected to start on 10 December and last at least several weeks.
Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes in three separate scandals involving powerful media moguls and wealthy associates. He denies wrongdoing.
9:15 The UN General Assembly called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories and pushed for the creation of a Palestinian state, convening an international conference in June to try to jumpstart a two-state solution.
In a resolution passed by a 157-8 vote, with the United States and Israel among those voting no, and seven abstentions, the Assembly expressed "unwavering support, in accordance with international law, for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine."
Palestinian UN Representative Riyad Mansour attends the General Assembly 46th plenary meeting on the Question of Palestine. AFP
The Assembly said the two states should be "living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders, based on the pre-1967 borders."
It has called for a high-level international meeting in June 2025 in New York, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, to breathe new life into diplomatic efforts to make the two-state solution a reality.
The assembly called for the "realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, primarily the right to self-determination and the right to their independent state."
The United Nations considers the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip to be unlawfully occupied by Israel.
9:00 US forces destroyed truck-mounted rocket launchers, a tank, and mortars in eastern Syria, the Pentagon said.
The weapons "presented a clear and imminent threat to US and coalition forces," Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists, referring to the international coalition against the Islamic State armed group.
"We're still assessing who was operating these weapons, but do know that there are Iranian-backed militia groups in the area that have conducted attacks" in the past, he said.
The US military has around 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq as part of the coalition, which was established in 2014 to combat the Islamic State group.
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