Israel strikes deep in Syria, targeting military position
BEIRUT — Israeli warplanes struck a military position near the Mediterranean coast in western Syria on Thursday, killing two soldiers, the Syrian army said, in a stronghold of President Bashar Assad that is also heavily protected by the Russians and Iranians.
The airstrike targeted a facility near the town of Masyaf, in Hama province, described by some as a missile-producing factory, amid Israeli outrage over Iran’s growing influence in the war-torn country.
Other reports suggested the facility was tied to Syria’s chemical weapons program.
In a statement, the Syrian army said the Israeli warplanes fired several missiles from Lebanese air space, and warned of the “dangerous repercussions of such hostile acts on the security and stability of the region.”
“We will do everything to prevent the existence of a Shiite corridor from Iran to Damascus,” said Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who declined commenting directly on the strike in an interview with Israel’s 100FM Radio on Thursday. He said Israel isn’t “looking for adventures, and we don’t want to be dragged into this fight or another.”
“We are determined to prevent our enemies from harming or even creating the possibility of harming the security of Israeli citizens.”
Israel has carried out several airstrikes against suspected arms shipments it believed to be bound for Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which is fighting alongside Assad’s forces, over the course of Syria’s civil war, now in its seventh year.
Israel has also struck several Syrian military facilities since the conflict began, mostly near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Assad, not wanting to draw Israel into his country’s war, has never retaliated. The airstrike comes amid heightened tensions over Iran’s growing reach in Syria.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed recently that Iran is building sites in Syria and Lebanon for the manufacture of “precisionguided missiles” with the aim of deploying them against Israel.
Thursday’s air raid was seen as a message to Russia and Iran that Israel can strike anywhere in Syria. It was also a rare instance of Israel striking a Syrian government facility rather than an arms shipment and harked back to an Israeli airstrike that destroyed a suspected, partially constructed nuclear reactor in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour exactly 10 years ago.
It was not immediately clear if the facility struck Thursday was used for the production or storage of chemical arms. Syria denies having or using such weapons.