by Steve Sweeney
International editor
ISRAEL fired missiles that hit a number of targets close to Masyaf city in Syria’s western Hama province on Saturday night, its eighth attack so far this year.
The assault inflicted material damage but no casualties according to the Syrian military, which said that defence systems were able to intercept most of the rockets.
“At about 7.45pm on Saturday, the Israeli enemy launched an aerial aggression from the direction of the north of Lebanon that targeted some points in the central region as the army air defences confronted it and shot down a number of missiles,” a statement said.
VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention



