According to Syrian state TV and other Arab media outlets, an Israeli air strike on Sunday night targeted Iranian forces at the T-4 base in Syria’s Homs province.
By: World Israel News Staff
On Sunday, Syria’s official state television network SANA reported that the T-4 airbase near Homs had been struck with missiles attributed to the Israeli Air Force (IAF).
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a civil war watchdog, Iranian troops and non-Syrian pro-Iranian forces were the strike’s intended targets.
Following the attack, Israel issued no comment confirming or denying the Jewish state’s role in the incident, in line with official policy.
Iran’s presence in Syria remains a red line for Israel, which has carried out dozens of attacks to thwart Iranian military entrenchment in the war-torn nation.
While Iran plays a key role propping up the regime of brutal Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, it also uses its positions in Syria to transfer weapons and infrastructure to its terror proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, a sworn enemy of Israel.
Prior to the strike on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again demanded that Iran retreat from Syria, a position he will pursue when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.
“At the meeting I will reiterate the two basic principles of Israel’s policy: First, we will not tolerate the establishment of a military presence by Iran and its proxies anywhere in Syria, not close to the border and not far away from it. Second, we will demand that Syria, and the Syrian military, strictly uphold the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement,” explained Netanyahu.
Attacks on the T-4 based mark a new phase in Israel’s defense against Iranian provocation, which has included in the past sending an armed drone into Israeli airspace.
Israel responded to that incident with a strike on Syrian territory that killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force members, including the officer who led the drone program at T-4.