Israeli fighter jets targeted Iranian weapons storehouses, intelligence facilities and a training camp near Damascus during a massive overnight bombardment, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday, accusing Iran of firing a missile at Israel a day earlier.
In addition, the Israeli Air Force bombed a number of Syrian air defense systems that fired on the attacking fighter jets, including a Russian-made Pansir S-1 battery, the military said.
“During the attack, dozens of Syrian surface-to-air missiles were fired, despite the clear warnings expressed [by Israel] to refrain from attacking. As a result, a number of Syrian air defense batteries were also attacked,” the IDF said in a statement.
According to Russia, four Syrian servicemen were killed in those strikes. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said at least seven other pro-regime fighters were killed in the Israeli raid, likely Iranian or Shiite militia troops.
The Israeli army said its series of airstrikes on Iranian targets was in response to a surface-to-surface missile that was fired by an Iranian militia at the Golan Heights a day earlier and intercepted by an Iron Dome anti-missile battery. According to Intelligence Minister Israel Katz, the missile attack was aimed at the popular Hermon ski resort, which was full of visitors at the time. Military officials, however, were more circumspect about the target of the missile, saying it could have been either a civilian or a military site on the Golan Heights.
The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported Monday that the missile carried a nearly half-ton warhead.
The missile attack on the Golan appeared to come in retaliation for an alleged Israeli strike earlier Sunday against targets in the Damascus International Airport and in the town of al-Kiswah, south of the capital.
In response to the missile attack, according to the IDF, jets bombed weapons warehouses, including at least one at the Damascus airport, an intelligence facility and a training camp, all belonging to Iran’s Quds Force, the expeditionary arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which Israel and the West accuse of trying to gain a military foothold in Syria.
All of the targets, including the Syrian air defense batteries, were located around Damascus, according to the IDF.
“The Iranian attack on Israeli territory yesterday was more clear proof of the purpose of Iran’s efforts to entrench itself in Syria, and the danger this poses to the State of Israel and regional stability,” the army said in a statement Monday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes caused casualties and extensive damage to Iranian and Hezbollah forces.
“The Israeli missiles managed to destroy weapons depots and military posts of the Iranians and the Lebanese Hezbollah in the vicinity of Damascus International Airport and the area of Al-Kiswah and Jamraya,” the group said in a statement.
A news site in the southern Syrian city of Suweida reported that eight soldiers had been brought to a local hospital with injuries sustained during the Israeli strikes, including two who died.
The Israeli assault on Syrian territory early Monday morning was one of the broadest in recent years, and certainly the most substantial since an IDF airstrike last September during which Syrian air defenses shot down a Russian spy plane, killing its 15-member crew.
The tension that incident sparked between Moscow and Jerusalem led to limits on Israeli activities in Syrian territory, and any action in Syrian airspace attributed to Israel in its aftermath drew vigorous condemnations from the Kremlin.
Monday’s operation, then, wasn’t just another airstrike. Israel was sending a message not only to Damascus but also to Moscow that rocket attacks such as Sunday’s targeting of the Hermon ski resort (which was thwarted by Iron Dome) won’t go unanswered.
The rocket from Syria, which the military attributed to Iran, was fired by one of the pro-Iranian groups operating inside Syria, likely a Shiite militia backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force expeditionary arm, commanded by Qassem Soleimani. The attack was carried out in the wake of an airstrike in the Damascus area on Sunday morning attributed to Israel.
Some Israeli pundits have argued that the Iranian attack was a response to the apparent end of Israel’s longstanding policy of ambiguity, under which Israeli officials refrained from taking explicit responsibility for airstrikes or other military operations in Syria over the years.
The rocket fire at Israel from Syria is probably better understood as an Iranian attempt to create a new balance of power on the Israeli-Syrian front — to generate the expectation that an Israeli attack in Syrian territory will result in fire on Israeli territory. In other words, it marked a new effort to create deterrence against Israel.
As of Monday afternoon, it remained to be seen how the Syrians or Iranians would respond, in turn, to the unexpectedly strong Israeli reaction. Though human rights monitors say 11 people were killed in the Israeli strikes early Monday, four of them reportedly Syrian soldiers and the rest possibly Iranians, and though Iran’s air force chief was quoted as vowing Israel’s “destruction” on Monday, it is still too soon to know if Bashar Assad and his Iranian allies plan to respond at all.
IDF says attack on Hermon with Iranian rocket, which prompted Israeli airstrikes on Iranian installations, was planned ‘months ago’ and approved by Syria
Amid fears of escalation, hours after Israeli airstrikes destroyed Iranian installations and reportedly killed military personnel in Syria, Iran’s air force chief said Monday morning the country’s military was ready to fight a war for “Israel’s disappearance.”
“We’re ready for the decisive war that will bring about Israel’s disappearance. Our armed forces are prepared for the day when Israel will be destroyed,” Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh said, according to an Iranian news site.
A former fighter pilot, Nasirzadeh was named Iran’s air chief by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in August after serving as the acting commander for several months.
According to Russia, four Syrian servicemen were killed in those strikes. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said at least seven other people were killed in the Israeli raid, likely Iranian and pro-Iranian troops.
The missile fired on the Hermon, which was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome system, appeared to come in retaliation for an alleged Israeli strike earlier Sunday against targets in the Damascus International Airport and in the town of al-Kiswah, south of the capital.
The rocket was launched “by an Iranian force from the Damascus area, from inside territory that [the Syrian government] promised would not host an Iranian presence,” he charged.
“Syria is paying a heavy price for its approval of the [rocket] operation, and the fire yesterday toward the northern Golan,” Manelis added. “The Syrians had prepared for the operation, which was planned beforehand. The attack was an Iranian attempt to strike at Israel.”
Amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran-backed forces in Syria on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning to leaders in Tehran, saying, “Anyone who tries to hurt us, we will hurt them.”
Speaking at the inauguration of a new international airport in the country’s south, Netanyahu said Israel’s air force had “delivered powerful blows to Iranian targets in Syria, after Iran fired a rocket from that area toward our territory.”
Netanyahu was referring to three waves of airstrikes by Israel early Monday that targeted first Iranian weapons storehouses, intelligence facilities and a training camp near Damascus, and then Syrian air defense batteries that the IDF said had opened fire on the attacking Israeli fighter jets.
Referring to the rocket attack, which Israel has attributed to an Iran-backed Shiite militia, Netanyahu vowed that Iran-linked forces “won’t get a pass for such acts of aggression, for Iran’s efforts to entrench itself militarily in Syria, and for Iran’s explicit declarations that it intends to destroy Israel, as Iran’s air force commander just said.”
He added: “Anyone who threatens to destroy us will have to bear the responsibility” for that threat.
The IDF said Monday it had placed troops on the Syrian frontier on high alert. The Hermon ski resort was closed to visitors, but no other special safety instructions were given to residents of the area.
Shortly after the Israeli strikes on Monday, Iran’s air force chief said the country’s military was ready to fight a war for “Israel’s disappearance.”
“We’re ready for the decisive war that will bring about Israel’s disappearance. Our armed forces are prepared for the day when Israel will be destroyed,” Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh said, according to an Iranian news site.
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