Report: IAF attacked Hezbollah and Assad targets in Syria

Did Israel attack Syrian and Hezbollah targets again? Arab news sources are reporting that the IAF carried out several strikes against weapons intended for Hezbollah. 

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

The Israel Air Force (IAF) attacked Hezbollah and Syrian military targets in Syria on the outskirts of Damascus on Saturday, Arab news sources say.

According to one report, the IAF attacked the headquarters of the 65th and 155th regiments of the Syrian army, which specialize in long-range and tactical weapons.

Another report says that a shipment of long-range Scud missiles en route to Hezbollah was targeted.

Al-Arabiya reports that the IAF carried out a similar attack on Wednesday in the al-Qalamoun region, hitting two targets. The area is known as a Syrian military site housing weapons depots and military installations.

Neither Israeli nor Syrian or Hezbollah officials have confirmed the stories.

Similar reports emerged in December when Syrian military officials charged that Israeli fighters attacked its military installations situated near the Syrian capital and on the border with Lebanon. The targets were stockpiles of advanced Russian-made missiles on their way from the Syrian army to Hezbollah, the Shi’ite terror organization operating out of Lebanon. No one was injured in the attack.

IAF Commander Amir Eshel. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

Hezbollah has been working hard to arm itself with advanced weapons. Israel has stated repeatedly that it will not allow the terror organization to acquire advanced weaponry, which would threaten the country and compromise the IDF’s capability to maneuver in Lebanon in the event of another war.

The IDF reportedly attacked a shipment of advanced arms on its way to Hezbollah from Syria in February 2014. In November 2013, Israel allegedly launched a rocket from the sea at a Syrian naval base in Latakia. In 2007, Israel reportedly attacked the Syrian Al-Kibar nuclear facility.

Speaking to Israel’s Channel 10 last week, IAF Commander Amir Eshel warned that Hezbollah was “dragging” the area into another round of “very harsh” hostilities.

He added that civilian buildings containing weapons would be regarded as military targets and open to attack, even at the expense of civilian casualties. “They [civilians] should clear the area as fast as possible,” he said, “Lebanon will undergo an experience…[of] intensity it cannot fully comprehend.”

The IDF recently stated that its Home Front Command was preparing for a scenario of hundreds of civilian casualties and 1,000-1,500 rockets raining daily on Israeli population centers in an eventual conflict with the Hezbollah terror organization.

Amir EshelHezbollahIAFLebanonShi'iteSyria