Report: Two Hezbollah operatives killed in Sunday's alleged IAF strikes in Syria
Al Arabiya reports causalities in alleged IAF strikes, IDF remains mum.
By ARIEL BEN SOLOMONAlleged IDF bombing of targets in Syria(photo credit: ARAB SOCIAL MEDIA)
Alleged Israeli air strikes near Damascus killed at least two Hezbollah members, including a senior official, according to sources quoted by Al-Arabiya TV on Monday.Various reports littered the Arab media on Monday regarding the target and damage of Sunday’s alleged Israeli strikes.According to sources quoted by the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper on Monday, which is considered to be close to Hezbollah, “the Israeli action was intended to preserve the rules of the game” and not force Syria or its allies into a response.According to the report, Israel deemed the weapons, if passed to Hezbollah, as upsetting the current balance of forces.Eight Israeli fighter jets attacked two sites, one located near the Damascus airport and the other at another airport in Dimas, Al-Akhbar quoted security sources as saying.Syrian state TV had claimed no casualties after attacks, but did say the attacks targeted the same two areas.Meanwhile, a senior source in the Syrian opposition claimed on Monday that one of the warehouses attacked had anti-aircraft missiles and another site contained drones belonging to Hezbollah, Channel 2 reported.A separate report in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, which is also close to the Shi’ite terrorist group, quoted Syrian sources on Monday as saying that the attacks were meant to target weapons warehouses near the Syrian-Lebanese border.The IAF has reportedly struck Syria several times since the start of the three-year-long Syrian civil war, mostly destroying weaponry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.Syrian President Bashar Assad has made strong threats in the past warning Israel against attacking, but his regime has not backed them up with action.
Instead, proxy attacks using Hezbollah could be carried out in the future. Earlier this year, Hezbollah accused Israel of carrying out an air strike on one of its bases on the Lebanon- Syria border and vowed to respond.In March, in what was seen as a retaliation, a bomb was detonated near an Israeli patrol, injuring four soldiers along a fence on the Golan Heights.At a meeting on Monday between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem, Zarif criticized Israel’s alleged strike.“As my brother, Walid Moualem, and I have said, this shows that they are making moves [Israeli air strikes on Damascus] to strengthen the spirit of terrorist groups who have suffered very serious blows at the hand of the Iraqi and Syrian people’s resistance, and we have already condemned these offensive actions by the Zionist regime.”This line was echoed by Syria’s official news agency following the attacks on Sunday.“The general command said this attack proves Israel’s direct involvement in supporting terrorists in Syria against which the armed forces are fighting,” reported SANA.Jerusalem Post staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
