MOUNT BENTAL, Golan Heights — Israeli warplanes bombed dozens of Iran-linked military facilities in Syria, the Israeli military said Thursday, as tensions soared after Israeli positions came under fire from a barrage of rockets fired from Syrian territory

The army said in a statement that its fighter jets targeted Iranian intelligence and logistics sites around Damascus, as well as munition warehouses, observation and military posts. A top official said the strikes hit most of Iran’s facilities in Syria.

The attacks followed a wave of overnight rocket strikes directed at Israeli positions in the Golan Heights — all of them apparently intercepted — that Israel blamed on Iran. 

An Israeli military spokesman said the rockets were fired by Iran’s Quds Force, a special forces unit affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, marking the first time that Iranian forces have fired directly on Israeli troops.

From Mount Bental on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, pointed out where he said an Iranian rocket salvo was fired toward Israel just after midnight.

“We saw it was very clear what the Iranians were doing, attacking Israel from Syrian soil,” he said. 

Four of the 20 rockets were on target, he added, but were then intercepted, while the rest fell short. Israel responded by hitting 70 Iran-linked sites in Syria. “This was by far the largest strike we have done, but it was focused on Iranian sites,” Conricus said. 

Syrian air defenses were also struck after they fired on Israeli jets, he acknowledged. 

Israel and Iran have been on a collision course in Syria, as Israel has vowed not to let Iran build a presence there and has escalated attacks against Iranian targets across the border. Iran vowed retaliation after seven of its soldiers were killed by an Israeli airstrike in April.

Analysts say President Trump’s scrapping of a landmark nuclear deal with Iran means that Tehran has less to lose by retaliating. Trump’s move Tuesday has served to embolden hard-liners in the Islamic Republic who now want to show strength. The hard-liners also opposed the nuclear deal — but on grounds that Iran was giving away too much to the world powers on the other side of the negotiation.

In a statement carried by Syria’s state news agency, an unidentified Syrian Foreign Ministry official described Israel’s overnight attacks as a “new phase of aggression.”

In Washington, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders condemned Iran’s “provocative rocket attacks from Syria against Israeli citizens” and supported Israel’s “right to act in self-defense.” 

“The Iranian regime’s deployment into Syria of offensive rocket and missile systems aimed at Israel is an unacceptable and highly dangerous development for the entire Middle East,” Sanders said in a statement. “Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bears full responsibility for the consequences of its reckless actions.” The statement called on Iran and its allies, including Hezbollah, “to take no further provocative steps.” Hezbollah, a militant Lebanese Shiite organization, has sent fighters to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad, who is also supported by Iran and Russia.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain, said at least 23 people were killed in Thursday’s Israeli strikes across Syria. It said five Syrian soldiers and 18 allied militiamen died, without specifying whether any of the militiamen were Iranian. The Syrian army, however, said only three people died in the strikes and claimed that most of the Israeli missiles were intercepted. 

Russia, meanwhile, issued its own analysis of the attack, saying it was carried out by 28 Israeli fighter jets firing 60 missiles and another 10 surface-to-surface missiles, with Syrian air defenses intercepting half of them.

There were no immediate statements from the Iranian government after the Israeli strikes. On Wednesday, however, Iran’s defense minister, Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami, pledged that Iran would continue to develop its missile capabilities. Hatami, speaking to officials in Tehran, made no direct mention of Israel or other nations, but cited pressures from “enemies of Iran,” according to Iran’s Fars News Agency.

Tehran’s strong support for Assad has allowed it to deepen its foothold across Syria, but Iranian media downplayed Tehran’s role in the violence, depicting the clashes instead as between Israel and Syria. 

[The shadow war between Israel and Iran takes center stage]

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said the strikes targeted “almost all of the Iranian infrastructure in Syria.” 

An army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ronen Menalis, said Israel could inflict much more damage if it deems further strikes necessary.

“What we did tonight is only the tip of the iceberg of the Israeli army’s capability,” he said Thursday morning on Israel Army Radio.

Among the targets that were hit were a logistics headquarters belonging to the Quds Force, a military logistics compound in Kiswah, an Iranian military compound north of Damascus, munition storage warehouses of the Quds Force at the Damascus International Airport, intelligence systems and posts associated with the Quds Force, observation and military posts and munitions in the buffer zone, the Israeli army said.

Speaking at the annual Herzliya Conference on Thursday morning, Liberman said his country’s position was clear: “We will not allow Iran to turn Syria into a front-line post against Israel.”

Air raid sirens sounded in the Golan Heights early Thursday shortly after midnight. In nearby Tiberias, on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, explosions could be heard above the music of bars entertaining busloads of tourists. The explosions were followed by sporadic fire into the early morning hours.

Israeli residents of the Golan Heights reported a restless night in bomb shelters but said that life returned to normal Thursday morning. Schools were open, and farmers continued with work as usual.

Targets belonging to the Quds Force and the Revolutionary Guard throughout Syria have taken a “significant hit,” said army spokesman Menalis. “In the next few hours they will understand very well how much we have hit them.”

Both Russia and France have called for a de-escalation of the situation.

Eglash reported from Herzliya, Israel, and Loveluck from Beirut. Suzan Haidamous in Beirut, Erin Cunningham in Istanbul and Brian Murphy and John Wagner in Washington contributed to this report.

 Read more         

Regional tensions soar in Syria as Trump threatens and Iranians die in an attack  

Despite blowback over Syrian strike, Israelis say more military action needed  

Israel carries out ‘large-scale attack’ in Syria after jet crashes under fire  

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world            

 Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news         

PARIS — European leaders opened a diplomatic push Wednesday to salvage the Iran nuclear accord without the United States, opening direct talks with Tehran but also looking ahead to possible battles with Washington over European business ties with Iran.

“The deal is not dead,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, speaking on France’s RTL radio. “There’s an American withdrawal from the deal, but the deal is still there.”

The sentiment was shared in other capitals backing the 2015 accord: Brussels, Berlin, Moscow and Beijing.

President Trump on Tuesday said the United States is withdrawing from the accord — a signature achievement of President Barack Obama’s administration that placed limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions. Trump complained that the agreement did nothing to stop Iran from one day seeking nuclear weapons. The White House will now move toward reimposing sanctions.

The United States set a confrontational tone with Europe. The new U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, tweeted Tuesday, “German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.”

[Hours into his new job, Trump’s ambassador to Germany offends his hosts]

Bruno Le Maire, France’s finance minister, fired back for the European Union. Speaking on French radio, he said the United States should not consider itself the world’s “economic policeman.”

French President Emmanuel Macron — Europe’s leading interlocutor as it sought to convince Trump of the merits of the deal — planned to speak later Wednesday with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani has ordered his diplomats to engage with their European counterparts.

But Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggested the country might take a harder line in the talks by seeking a “guarantee” of European support for the deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

“I don’t trust these three EU countries either,” Khamenei tweeted in English. “If the govt. wants to make a contract, they should ask for a guarantee, or else they will all do just as the U.S. did. If there’s not definite guarantee, the #JCPOA cannot continue.”

Federica Mogherini, the E.U. foreign policy chief, said the bloc will remain “committed to the continued full and effective implementation of the nuclear deal” as long as Iran abides by its end of the bargain. The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has said Iran has not violated provisions of the accord.

Beyond the major policy break with Washington, however, another rift looms.

The U.S. plan to reimpose sanctions on Iran could impact European businesses and others that have moved into Iran since the deal took effect. If they defy the United States and continue to do business there, they may risk their access to the much larger U.S. market.

The German ambassador’s comment about winding down operations reverberated through European capitals.

About 120 German companies operate in Iran with their own staff, and 10,000 German companies do business with Iran, according to the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s incomprehensible that the activities of German companies should still suffer” given the E.U. commitment to the accord, said Erik Schweitzer, head of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry, in a statement.

For French companies, too, the economic stakes of preserving the Iran deal are high.

In December 2016, for instance, the Airbus Group, a French aviation firm, won a contract to provide Iran’s national carrier, Iran Air, with 100 airplanes for approximately $19 billion at list prices. The U.S. aviation firm Boeing also secured a contract.

But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters Tuesday that these “licenses will be revoked.” Boeing, as a U.S. company, must be in compliance with U.S. policy. And Airbus is subject to the U.S. license because it uses American-made parts in its aircraft.

[Boeing, Airbus to lose $39 billion in contracts because of Trump sanctions on Iran]

Perhaps no company has benefited as much from the Iran deal’s lifting of sanctions as the French oil giant Total, which signed a $2 billion deal to develop the South Pars oil field, shared between Iran and Qatar.

“Today, for Total, is a historic day, the day we come back to Iran,” Patrick Pouyanne, Total’s CEO, said at a signing ceremony in Tehran in July.

Oil prices rose more than 3 percent on Wednesday, hitting the highest levels in more than three years.

“The E.U. has repeatedly stressed that the sanctions lifting has a positive impact on trade and economic relations with Iran,” said an E.U. statement. “The E.U. stresses its commitment to ensuring that this can continue to be delivered.”

At the same time, European companies will likely respond to an ultimatum from Washington, political analysts said. Given the size of the U.S. market and the power of U.S. banks, European companies would have comparatively little leverage.

“The E.U. can take steps to mitigate the impact of the sanctions,” said Luigi Scazzieri, a research fellow at the Centre of European Reforms, a London-based think tank. “But overall, companies will be scared. They will also prioritize their businesses with the U.S.”

Luisa Beck in Berlin, Quentin Ariès in Brussels and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more:

Iran seeks to keep deal alive

Analysis: Trump’s reasons for leaving the Iran pact doesn’t tell full story

Why Trump torpedoed the deal

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

PYONGYANG, North Korea — Three American men who had been imprisoned by North Korea are on their way to the United States, President Trump announced Wednesday after they were released to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Pyongyang.

They were freed after Pompeo met for 90 minutes with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his second trip to Pyongyang ahead of a planned summit between Trump and Kim that could happen by next month.

Trump hailed their release in a tweet after Pompeo had left the country with the three Americans aboard his U.S. government plane. The secretary is “in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting,” Trump wrote. “They seem to be in good health.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that Trump “appreciates leaders Kim Jong Un’s action” and views it as “a positive gesture of goodwill.” She said all three Americans, Kim Dong-chul, Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song, boarded the plane without assistance.

Pompeo told reporters traveling with him that the three were given a quick medical exam by a physician who was accompanying the secretary and that their health “is as good as could be, given what they’ve been through.” He said they would be transferred to another plane, apparently at Yokota Air Base in Japan, that is better equipped to handle medical needs.

Trump indicated in another tweet that Pompeo and the three Americans are expected to land at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington at 2 a.m. Thursday Eastern time, although it was not clear if they would be coming in separate planes. Trump said he would be on hand to greet them, calling it: “Very exciting!”

The three men were turned over to U.S. custody after Pompeo’s meeting with Kim. According to a U.S. official who briefed reporters in Pyongyang, a North Korean official came to the Koryo Hotel to inform Pompeo that Kim had granted the three men “amnesty” on charges of espionage and hostile acts against the government — charges that U.S. officials have said were bogus.

Carl Risch, assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, and a U.S. doctor then went to another hotel to pick them up and brought them to the airport, according to a senior U.S. official present for the exchange.

[North Korea just freed 3 American prisoners. Here are their stories. ]

“We’re granting amnesty to the three detained Americans,” the official quoted the North Korean emissary as telling Pompeo. “We issued the order to grant immediate amnesty to the detainees.”

“You should make care that they do not make the same mistakes again,” the North Korean added, according to the U.S. official. “This was a hard decision.”

 The three detainees were treated as “prisoners of war” and had not been seen since June, when a State Department official was allowed a brief visit with them while collecting Otto Warmbier, the detained college student who fell into a coma in North Korea and died shortly after his return to the United States.

On Friday, Trump spoke to Warmbier’s family to offer emotional support. The family has sued North Korea in federal court over their son’s treatment and death.

[Pompeo arrives in North Korea as anticipation builds over Trump’s summit with Kim ]

The longest-held prisoner was Kim Dong-chul, a 64-year-old who once lived in Fairfax, Va., and was arrested in October 2015. He had been based in the Chinese city of Yanji, near the border with North Korea, and traveled back and forth to the special economic zone of Rajin-Sonbong, where he managed a hotel business.

But on his last visit, he was accused of spying for South Korea’s intelligence agencies, seeking to obtain details of the North’s military programs and trying to spread “religious” ideas — a serious crime in the North. He was sentenced in April 2016 to 10 years in prison after a sham trial.

Then, a year ago, two men associated with the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, or PUST, a private institution run by Korean American Christians, were detained. 

Tony Kim, a 59-year-old accountant, had made at least seven trips to Pyongyang, usually for a month at a time, to teach international finance and management to students at PUST, his son  Sol Kim said in an interview. 

He was stopped at Pyongyang’s airport in April 2017 and arrested for “committing criminal acts of hostility aimed to overturn” North Korea. 

Two weeks later, Kim Hak-song, an agricultural consultant who was also living in Yanji and working at PUST, was detained. He was also arrested on suspicion of “hostile acts” against North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim Dong-chul and Tony Kim were both born in South Korea, while Kim Hak-song is believed to have been born in China, although he is ethnically Korean.

South Korea’s presidential Blue House welcomed the release, both for the men and their families and for the signals it sends about North Korea’s sincerity.

“This decision made by North Korea will be a positive factor for the success of the North Korea-United States summit,” said Blue House spokesman Yoon Young-chan.

“There’s also considerable significance in the fact that all three American detainees are of Korean origin,” he said.

When Pompeo touched down in Pyongyang shortly before 8 a.m. local time, he was greeted by Kim Yong Chol, a former North Korean intelligence chief, and Ri Su Yong, the influential former foreign minister. Ri is close to Kim Jong Un, having served as ambassador to Switzerland while the young leader attended school there.

Kim Yong Chol, who is in charge of relations with South Korea, and Ri, responsible for international relations, had just returned from the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, where Kim Jong Un held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, their second meeting in China in 40 days.

Both also attended the inter-Korean summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in late last month. 

[Trump becomes more dovish toward North Korea, but surrounds himself with hawks ]

Pompeo told the officials over lunch that if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons, the country can “have all the opportunities your people so richly deserve.”

“For decades, we have been adversaries,” Pompeo told Kim Yong Chol, a man sanctioned by the United States for his involvement with the North’s nuclear program but who has emerged as one of the regime’s key interlocutors to the outside world.

“Now we are hopeful that we can work together to resolve this conflict, take away threats to the world and make your country have all the opportunities your people so richly deserve,” Pompeo said before lunch at the Koryo Hotel, a large, double-towered building in central Pyongyang. 

“There are many challenges along the way. But you have been a great partner in working to make sure our two leaders will have a summit that is successful,” the new secretary of state said. 

Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol met behind closed doors at the Koryo Hotel for about an hour Wednesday morning, before a lunch complete with poached fish, duck and red wine on the 39th floor. 

Kim Yong Chol was in an effusive mood, telling Pompeo and the dozen or so staffers traveling with him that this was a good time to be in Pyongyang because it was spring and because a good atmosphere had been established between North and South. This echoed remarks that both Korean leaders have made about a new spring arriving on the peninsula. 

“So everything is going well in Pyongyang now,” he said, adding that from now on, North Korea would be concentrating all its efforts on “the economic progress of our country.”

“This is not a result of sanctions that have been imposed from outside,” Kim Yong Chol told Pompeo, contradicting the administration’s line that Trump’s “maximum pressure” approach had brought North Korea to the negotiating table.  

“I hope the United States also will be happy with our success. I have high expectations the U.S. will play a very big role in establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula,” he said. Then he toasted Pompeo.

Pompeo stood and said the American delegation was “equally committed to working with you to achieve exactly” that. 

Fifield reported from Tokyo. Nakamura reported from Washington.

Read more:

While Korean tensions ease, 3 Americans remain ‘prisoners of war’ in the North

South Korean leader looks for ways to help North economically without violating sanctions

What did the Korean leaders talk about on those park benches? Trump, mainly.

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news