At least 11 “fighters” were killed in Israel’s predawn airstrikes in Syria Wednesday, seven of them likely Iranians, according to a Syrian war monitor.
The Israel Defense Forces launched the strikes against Iranian and Syrian targets around the capital of Damascus and on the Syrian Golan Heights in response to a Tuesday morning rocket attack.
The military said it targeted dozens of sites connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, including a facility at the Damascus International Airport, which Israel says was used to coordinate the transport of military hardware from Iran to Syria and on to other countries in the region.
“We struck a building staffed by Iranians at the Damascus airport. We assess that there are Iranians killed and injured,” a Israeli senior defense official said Wednesday, on condition of anonymity.
Israel also targeted a number of Quds Force facilities on Syrian military bases. When Syrian air defenses fired on Israeli jets, the IDF also targeted those batteries, the army said.
Israel has repeatedly warned Syrian dictator Bashar Assad to not intervene during IDF strikes on Iranian targets in his country or else his military will also be targeted, as was the case Wednesday.
According to the Britain-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 11 people were killed in the strike, and seven of them were foreigners. Though presumed to be Iranian, that could not be immediately confirmed by SOHR.
Four civilians were wounded, it added.
Video footage from Syria appeared to show a Syrian air defense missile crashing to the ground in a heavily populated area shortly after launching, which may account for some of the casualties.
Russia on Wednesday condemned Israel for the strikes. Moscow backs the Assad government and has criticized previous Israeli strikes in the country, especially those that target Syrian military bases in addition to Iranian facilities.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said the strikes were a “wrong move” that is in “stark contrast” to international law, Interfax reported.
He added that Moscow had reached out to its allies regarding the incident, the report said.
On Wednesday morning, the IDF said it had coordinated its airstrikes with Russia.
Following its reprisal raids, the Israeli military said it was preparing for a potential Iranian retaliation.
“We are preparing for defense and attack, and we will respond to any attempt to retaliate,” IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman told reporters first thing Wednesday morning.
“We are ready for three scenarios: no response, a minor response, and a more significant response,” he said.
Israel has repeatedly said that it will not accept Iranian military entrenchment in Syria and that it will retaliate for any attack on the Jewish state from Syria.
Zilberman said the military targeted both “the host, Syria, and the guest, Iran.”
“Our message to the leaders of Iranian is simple: You are not immune anymore. Wherever you send your octopus arms — we will hack them off,” said newly installed Defense Minister Naftali Bennett.
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday morning said it was girding for several possible Iranian responses to its overnight airstrikes on the Islamic Republic’s Quds Force in Syria, from total calm to a full-scale attack.
“We are preparing for defense and attack, and we will respond to any attempt to retaliate,” IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman told reporters first thing Wednesday morning.
Save for minor air defense reinforcements, there were no significant changes to the IDF’s deployments in northern Israel on Wednesday morning. The IDF Home Front Command also did not put in place any safety restrictions on residents of the north.
In the predawn hours of Wednesday morning, the Israeli Air Force launched a large reprisal airstrike operation, targeting dozens of Iranian and Syrian military sites in Syria in response to a rocket attack on northern Israel the day before.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that at least 11 people were killed, including seven “foreigners” who were likely Iranian, and that others were injured during the overnight strikes.
Video footage from Syria appeared to show a Syrian air defense missile crashing to the ground in a heavily populated area shortly after launching, which may account for some of the casualties.
“The attack was carried out in response to the launching of the rockets by the Iranian Quds Force from Syrian territory,” the army said in a statement.
Israel has repeatedly said that it will not accept Iranian military entrenchment in Syria and that it will retaliate for any attack on the Jewish state from Syria.
Zilberman said the military targeted both “the host, Syria, and the guest, Iran.”
Hi
ReplyDeleteIt seems Isaiah 17 is near...
I completely agree - we are right on the threshold
ReplyDelete