SyriaIsraeli air strike destroys Iranian missile storage facilities in Syria
An overnight Israeli air strike destroyed more than 200 Iranian mid-range missiles which Iran stored at Syrian military bases near Hama. These missiles were more accurate, and were capable of carrying a bigger warhead, than other missiles available to Hezbollah and the Syrian military. The attack killed 26 military personnel, including 18 Iranian officers. Bashar-al-Assad’s victory in the civil war in Syria has opened the door for Iran, his main ally, to try and turn Syria into an Iranian forward military base against Israel.
Bashar-al-Assad’s victory in the civil war in Syria has opened the door for Iran, his main ally, to try and turn Syria into an Iranian forward military base against Israel.
Since 2011, when the civil war erupted, Israel has conducted hundreds of air raids against Syrian targets. The overwhelming majority of these targets were warehouses in which Iran and Syria were storing advanced arms about to be shipped to the Shi’a militia Hezbollah in Lebanon – or the convoys carrying these arms from Syria to Lebanon. Israel has continued to attack targets in Syria, but in the last six months most of these targets have been Iranian military bases and Iranian missile production and storage facilities.
These attacks have been the first direct military confrontations between Israel and Syria, and a growing number of Iranian military personnel has been killed in these attacks.
Last night, Israeli air attacks destroyed several buildings and bunkers at the main base of the Syrian military’s 47th brigade near the city of Hama, and at two other Syrian army bases. There are conflicting reports about the number of casualties at the base, but the numbers quoted by news agencies say that between 16 and 26 military personnel were killed in the attack, of which between 11 and 18 were Iranian officers.
The attacks destroyed more than 200 Iranian mid-range missiles which Iran stored at the base. These missiles were more accurate, and were capable of carrying a bigger warhead, than other missiles available to Hezbollah and the Syrian military.
SANA, Syria’s state-run news agency, said that “enemy missiles” hit several military outposts in northern Syria, saying the strikes hit bases in Hama and Aleppo provinces late Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, confirmed the attacks and said at least 26 pro-government fighters, most of them Iranians, had been killed in Hama. It said four Syrians were also killed.
“Given the nature of the target, it is likely to have been an Israeli strike,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Citing “local sources,” Iranian semi-official news agency ISNA said the strike killed 18 Iranians, including a commander. However, another semi-official news agency, Tasnim, denied all reports of Iranian casualties.
The Syrian government-owned Tishrin newspaper quoted what it called “sources on the ground” as saying that the missiles were fired from American-British bases in north Jordan.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday said Israel would continue to strike targets in Syria.
“We have no intention to attack Russia or to interfere in domestic Syrian issues,” Lieberman said at a conference, according to the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz.
“But if somebody thinks that it is possible to launch missiles or to attack Israel or even our aircraft, no doubt we will respond and we will respond very forcefully,” Lieberman said, adding Israel had three problems: “Iran, Iran, Iran.”
“Iran is trying to destabilize the whole region, not only in Israel,” he said. “Look at what is happening in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria.”
