Israel strikes Syria, US pounds Houthis in Yemen

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese viallge of Kfar Tibnit on Oct. 17, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Israel bombed a target in a Syrian coastal city on Thursday, and the United States conducted strikes in Yemen nearly a month into Israel's war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Syria, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza all belong to the so-called axis of resistance led by Iran, which on Oct. 1 conducted a missile strike on Israel.

Israel has vowed to retaliate for Iran's strike, sparking concern around the world that what is already a war on multiple fronts could morph into an all-out regional conflict.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief on Thursday warned Tehran would hit Israel "painfully" if it attacks Iranian targets.

"If you make a mistake and attack our targets, whether in the region or in Iran, we will strike you again painfully," Hossein Salami said in a speech.

Salami was speaking at the funeral of a Guards general who was killed in an Israeli strike on south Beirut last month that also killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

According to Syrian state media, an Israeli strike on the city of Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad, wounded two civilians.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the Israeli raid targeted a "weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah."

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike.

Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria in recent years, including multiple attacks recently along the Lebanese border that seek to cut off Hezbollah's main weapons and equipment supply route from Iran to Lebanon.

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