Hamas condemns US for Israel's attack on Rafah, Syria declares readiness to fight and pay the price

Hamas has blamed the US administration and President Joe Biden for the Israeli military's attack on the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, which it said was nothing more than a continuation of genocide against the Palestinian people.

Một người dân ở Rafah, Dải Gaza. (Ảnh: AP)

A resident in Rafah, Gaza Strip. (Photo: AP)

In a statement posted on its Telegram channel, Hamas wrote: “The US administration and President Biden bear full responsibility for this massacre, along with the government of the occupying powers (Israel), because they gave the green light to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and openly supported him by providing him with money, weapons and political cover to continue his policy of genocide and mass destruction (against the Palestinians).”

According to Hamas, the above campaign was “an attack by the occupying army (Israel) on the city of Rafah, which killed at least 100 people” and “horrific massacres against children, women and the elderly who were unable to defend themselves”.

Hamas condemned the Israeli government for “continuing to disregard the rulings of the International Court of Justice, which demanded an end to all steps that could be considered acts of genocide.”

Earlier, Arab media reported major Israeli attacks on the city of Rafah, located in the southern Gaza Strip, near the border with Egypt. According to the latest data from Al Mayadeen TV channel, at least 100 people were killed and more than 230 injured in the shelling.

In another development, on February 11, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad declared that Damascus is fully ready to defend its territory in a potential military conflict with Israel, amid the ongoing regional crisis.

The statement was made by Mr. Mekdad during talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Damascus, during which the two sides discussed joint support for Palestinians in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Mekdad stressed that Syria “has been against” Israel since 1948, when the first all-out confrontation broke out between several Arab countries and Israel.

“Syria is ready to go to war, but Damascus will decide when and how,” he said, highlighting the importance of the Golan Heights, an area in southwestern Syria occupied by Israel since 1967.

Foreign Minister Mekdad said that ending the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights was “our top priority”, adding that “Syria is ready to pay the price for all these liberation operations”. The top Syrian diplomat stressed that the presence of US and Turkish forces in Syria was “illegal” and must end.

This month, the US launched airstrikes against targets in Syria in response to missile and drone attacks on US military bases in the region.

The Pentagon confirmed that Washington is targeting Iran-linked militant groups behind the January 28 attack on a Jordanian outpost known as Tower 22, which killed three US soldiers.

Damascus has condemned the attacks on Syrian territory as “illegal” under international law.

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