A notable uptick in Israeli air operations against Iran-linked targets on Syrian soil has taken place over the last month, according to regional media.
Israeli aircraft struck Aleppo Airport in northern Syria on September 6. This operation followed on the heels of an earlier strike at the same target, on August 31. According to SANA, the official Syrian regime media agency, the raid on September 6 damaged the runway, putting it temporarily out of service.
SANA reported that missiles were launched from over the Mediterranean, west of Syria’s Latakia coastline. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), meanwhile, associated with the Syrian opposition, reported that the raid targeted a warehouse used by an Iran-linked militia.
Reuters, meanwhile, cited a “commander in an Iran-backed regional alliance” as claiming that the raid took place just prior to the arrival of a plane from Iran. This latter account would seem to dovetail with a statement from Ram Ben-Barak, chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and a former senior intelligence officer, according to which: “The attack meant that certain planes would not be able to land, and that a message was relayed to Assad: If planes whose purpose is to encourage terrorism land, Syria’s transport capacity will be harmed.”
Regardless of the precise nature of the operation, it followed a series of attacks attributed to Israel to have hit Syrian targets in recent weeks. On August 25, several military sites in the western Hama countryside were hit by missiles.
Why are the attacks on Syria happening now?
SO THE question is: why is this happening now? A number of factors are worthy of attention.
The specific targeting of Aleppo Airport is almost certainly related to recent indications that Iran is relying increasingly on its “air bridge” to Syria and Lebanon, because of Israel’s successful and systematic targeting of efforts to move weaponry and equipment by land.
But the increased tempo of activity is not solely related to the specific issue of greater use of air transport by Tehran. Rather, it is part of a broader picture of increasing regional tension. There are a number of contributory factors to this emergent picture.
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