Israeli strikes on Friday targeted a Syrian army position in the country's south, a war monitor said, as U.S. media reported Israel had carried out hits on its arch-rival Iran.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the strikes, which he attributed to Israel, "targeted a radar installation of the Syrian army" between the provinces of Sweida and Daraa provinces.

Explosions rocked Iran's central Isfahan province on Friday, according to state media, while U.S. officials told American news outlets that Israel carried out a retaliatory strike on the Islamic republic.

The attack comes less than a week after Tehran launched a barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles in its first-ever direct assault on Israel's soil. That unprecedented onslaught was itself a reprisal for an earlier strike in Syria widely blamed on Israel.

A senior Revolutionary Guards general threatened on Thursday to target Israel's "nuclear facilities" if it strikes Iranian atomic sites, state media reported, anticipating retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented weekend attack.

Israel's military chief has vowed a response to the Iranian aerial attack, which was mostly intercepted, while world leaders have urged de-escalation.

Hundreds of Gazans found rare respite at the beach this week from more than six months of traumatizing Israeli bombardments in the Palestinian territory.

After temperatures suddenly soared, children paddled in the sea and their friends played ball games on the sand around Deir el-Balah in the center of the coastal strip -- but the war was never far away.

Qatar’s prime minister has said that the country is reevaluating its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas.

Qatar has been a key intermediary throughout the war in Gaza. It, along with the U.S. and Egypt, was instrumental in helping negotiate a brief halt to the fighting in November that led to the release of dozens of hostages.

The head of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees is accusing Israel of trying to end its operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

Philippe Lazzarini is urging the U.N. Security Council to safeguard his agency's critical role as the relief agency for Palestinians.

Israel launched more deadly strikes on besieged Gaza on Thursday as world powers watched nervously whether the country would retaliate against a weekend attack by its arch enemy Iran.

Egyptian officials have told a Qatari news outlet that the U.S. has accepted Israel’s plan for an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in return for Israel not carrying out a large strike on Iran in response to Tehran’s unprecedented missile and drone attack.

A U.S. National Security Council spokesperson however said that the report is not true and that such a plan has never been discussed.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University

Prior to launching a barrage of drones and missiles at Israel on April 13, 2024, Iran reportedly got word to Washington that its response to an earlier strike on its embassy compound in Syria would seek to avoid major escalation. The message was conveyed via the Gulf Arab state of Oman.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country reserved the right to protect itself after Iran's unprecedented attack, and that it alone would decide how to do so.

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend in an attack that caused little damage after most of the projectiles were intercepted.