Iran’s facilities in Syria hit
• Israelis retaliate after attack on Golan Heights, delivering the heaviest barrage in Syria since the start of civil war
Israel said that it had attacked nearly all of Iran’s military infrastructure in Syria on Thursday after Iranian forces fired rockets at Israeli-held territory for the first time.
It was the heaviest Israeli barrage in Syria since the start in 2011 of its civil war, in which Iranians, allied Shia militias and Russian soldiers have deployed in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
Syria’s Army Command said three people had been killed and two injured. A war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the strikes killed at least 23 military personnel, including Syrians and non-Syrians.
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the Iranian rockets either fell short of their targets, military bases in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, or were intercepted.
Expectations of a flare-up, amid warnings from Israel that it was determined to prevent Iran’s military entrenchment in Syria, were stoked by US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that he was withdrawing from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.
The Trump administration portrayed its position against that agreement as a response, in part, to Tehran’s military interventions in the region — underpinning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tough line on Iran.
The Golan attack was “just further demonstration that the Iranian regime cannot be trusted and another good reminder that the president made the right decision to get out of the Iran deal”, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News.
Israel said 20 Iranian Grad and Fajr rockets were shot down by its Iron Dome air defence system or did not reach targets in the Golan.
The Quds Force, an external arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, carried out the launch, Israel said.
Syrian state media said Israel launched dozens of missiles and hit a radar station, Syrian air defence positions and an ammunition dump.
Russia’s defence ministry said Syria had shot down more than half of the missiles fired by Israel, RIA news agency said.
“We hit … almost all of the Iranian infrastructure in Syria,” Lieberman said at the annual Herzliya security conference in Tel Aviv. “I hope we finished this chapter and everyone got the message.”
Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said the Iranian attack was “commanded and ordered by [Quds Force chief] Qassem Soleimani and it has not achieved its purpose”.
Conricus said that Israel had responded by destroying dozens of Iranian military sites in Syria and Syrian anti-aircraft units that tried unsuccessfully to shoot down Israeli aircraft.
“We do not know yet the [Iranian] casualty count,” he said.
“But I can say that in terms of our purpose, we focused less on personnel and more on capabilities and hardware … to inflict long-term damage on the Iranian military establishment in Syria. We assess it will take substantial time to replenish,” the spokesman said.
There was no immediate comment from Iran.
In the Golan Heights, Israeli schools opened as usual on Thursday morning, after sirens sent residents to shelters during the night.
Lieberman said Israel was not seeking escalation on the Syrian front.
Tzachi Hanegbi, a cabinet minister close to Netanyahu, however, cautioned that more confrontation could come.
“I don’t think I can tell you that one blow, as effective and crushing as the one they [the Iranians] received last night, is enough to convince a regime that is usually very fanatical and determined,” Hanegbi said on Israel Radio.
The Israelis fear Iran and Hezbollah are turning Syria into a new front against them. Israel says its occasional strikes in Syria aim to foil that.
Iran vowed retaliation after a suspected Israeli air strike in April killed seven of its military personnel in a Syrian air base.
Israel, which regards Iran as its biggest threat, has repeatedly targeted Iranian forces and allied militia in Syria.
On Tuesday, hours after Trump’s announcement on the nuclear deal, Israeli rockets had targeted a military base in Kisweh, a commander in the pro-Syrian government regional alliance said.
That attack had killed 15 people, including eight Iranians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, though the commander said there were no casualties. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the attack.
Thursday’s conflagration came hours after Netanyahu returned from a visit to Moscow, where he discussed concern about Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia, like Iran, fights in Syria on the side of the Assad government.
Netanyahu said after the discussions Russia was unlikely to limit Israel’s armed actions in Syria. The Israeli military said Israel had warned Russia of its strikes on Thursday.
“There should be work to de-escalate the tension,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying by the Tass news agency.
French President Emmanuel Macron also appealed for calm.