SyriaIsrael destroys another missile shipment from Syria to Hezbollah
Israeli warplanes on Friday destroyed a Syrian military convoy carrying advanced missiles to Hezbollah. The air strike was approved in a secret meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet on Thursday night. The target of Israel’s Friday attack were remotely operated missiles, with a range of about 950 miles, which were manufactured in China and upgraded in Iran. This is the fifth Israeli attack in which shipments of advanced weapons from Assad to Hezbollah were destroyed. The earlier four attacks took place on 30 January, 3 May, 5 May, and 5 July.
The usually reliable Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida, with a track record of offering scoops with details which, to discerning eyes, appear to have been provided by the Israeli Mossad, reports that Israeli warplanes on Friday destroyed a Syrian military convoy carrying advanced missiles to Hezbollah.
The air strike was approved in a secret meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet on Thursday night.
Over the weekend, Syrian state television reported a series of powerful explosions on the outskirts of Damascus, and quoted analysts who claimed that Israeli rockets had struck a military facility just north of the Syrian capital.
The sophisticated missiles destroyed in the attack were part of an arrangement between the Assad regime and Hezbollah, encouraged by Iran, which called for Assad to bolster Hezbollah’s military capabilities in exchange for Hezbollah sending thousands of its fighters to help the Syrian military in its war against the Syrian rebels.
Al Jarida quotes a senior Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, but Israel has officially neither confirmed nor denied the story.
This is the fifth Israeli attack in which shipments of advanced weapons from Assad to Hezbollah were destroyed. The earlier four attacks took place on 30 January, 3 May, 5 May, and 5 July.
Al Jarida on Friday reported that Israel has information on the storage locations inside Lebanon of long-range missiles already transferred from Syria to Hezbollah, and that the Israeli military is mulling various options to destroy the weapons. The missiles are stored in the Bekaa Valley, inside Lebanon just across from the Lebanon-Syria border.
Haaretz reports that the Kuwaiti paper, relying on source close to Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, said the target of Israel’s Friday attack were remotely operated missiles, with a range of about 950 miles, which were manufactured in China and upgraded in Iran.
Israel has stayed aloof from the Syrian civil war, but said that it would allow the Assad regime to transfer “game changing” weapons to Hezbollah.
“Our policy is to stop, as much as possible, any leaks of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations. We will continue to act to ensure the security interests of the citizens of Israel,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stressed earlier this year.
Defense Minister Ya’alon, speaking at a public forum yesterday, said:
On the matter of activity in Syria in general, we are still keeping our red lines. We will not allow the transfer of qualitative weapons from Syria to terrorist organizations, with emphasis on Hezbollah. We will not allow the transfer of chemical weapons to any hostile entity, and of course we will not allow the violation of our sovereignty in the Golan Heights. There has yet to be any attempt with regards to the chemical issue so far, and with the other things, every such attempt was met with our activity.”
