Syrian state TV: Drone destroyed

over Damascus suburb

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian state TV is reporting that a drone was destroyed over a suburb of the capital, Damascus.

The broadcast gave no further details about Thursday night’s incident over the suburb of Aqraba.

No one claimed responsibility for the sending the drone, but Aqraba is the suburb where an Israeli airstrike killed two members of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group last month.

Israel frequently conducts airstrikes and missile attacks inside war-torn Syria but rarely confirms them. Israel says it targets mostly bases of Iranian forces and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Syria.

In neighboring Lebanon, a government investigation concluded Thursday that two Israeli drones were on an attack mission when they crashed in the capital last month, one of them armed with 4.5 kilograms (10 pounds) of explosives.

NGO: Forest fires in Bolivia

burn Switzerland-sized area

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — An environmental group says that forest fires have consumed more than 3.1 million hectares (12,000 square miles) in just over a month in Bolivia, including areas in the South American nation’s Amazon region.

The Friends of Nature Foundation says the burned area is the size of Switzerland and its estimates are based on satellite images. In its report, it said that since January fires have burned 4.1 million hectares, including 3.1 million hectares since farmers and ranchers began burning pastures in August.

Bolivia neighbors Brazil, where fires raging in the Amazon have caused international anger and led to criticism of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s environmental policies.