Israel strikes Iranian targets in Syria
> Region’s major powers on brink of full-scale war
DAMASCUS: Israel has launched its most intensive attack on Iranian positions in neighbouring Syria since the civil war began in 2011, bringing two of the region’s major powers to the brink of full-scale armed conflict.
The early morning bombardment came in response to what the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said was the first ever direct Iranian rocket attack on their troops, in the occupied Golan Heights.
The confrontation yesterday marks the most significant military confrontation between the two enemies to date amid a backdrop of escalating regional tensions.
Civilians in Golan Heights and the Damascus countryside were kept awake by the sound of low-flying military jets and explosions.
Israel has been on heightened alert recently in anticipation of an Iranian attack after Tehran vowed retaliation for recent Israeli strikes in Syria which have targeted and killed at least 13 Iranians.
The IDF said 20 missiles were fired by the Iranian Quds Force at its positions in the Golan Heights border area, several of which were intercepted by Israel’s missile defence systems. No Israeli was injured.
The blistering Israeli response targeted weapons storage sites as well as logistics and intelligence centres used by elite Iranian forces in Syria, as well as Syrian air defence systems.
“We hit nearly all the Iranian infrastructure in Syria,” defence minister Avigdor Lieberman told a security conference yesterday.
“They need to remember the saying that if it rains on us, it’ll storm on them.
“I hope we’ve finished this episode and everyone understood.”
Syria’s state news agency Sana quoted a Syrian military official as saying Israeli missiles hit air defence positions, radar stations and a weapons warehouse, but claimed most incoming rockets were intercepted.
Hezbollah, the Iran-allied Lebanese militant group also fighting in Syria on behalf of President Bashar al Assad, said the Golan Heights attack was instigated by Syrian troops rather than Iran.
Iranian officials offered no immediate comment on Israel’s claim about the missile fire.
It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties on the Iranian or Syrian sides.
Israel has largely managed to stay out of the complex seven-year-old conflict next door, although the Golan Heights is restive and authorities have retaliated to occasional stray rockets with reprisals.
Around 100 Israeli air strikes in Syrian territory in the last few years have aimed to prevent weapons smuggling to Hezbollah.
As Assad has slowly regained control of the country, however, tensions between Iran and Israel have ratcheted up, with Israeli officials warning they will not accept a permanent Iranian military presence in Syria. – The Independent/AFP