Israel attacked Iranian positions in Syria
The Israeli military carried out airstrikes on Iranian positions near Damascus on Wednesday morning, the Israeli military said, in retaliation for missile attacks on Israel from Syrian territory the previous day.
The Israeli military confirmed that it had targeted Iranian and Syrian positions near Damascus on Wednesday, November 10. The Israeli military stressed that the attack on “terrorist targets” was in retaliation for missile attacks on Israel from inside Syria on Tuesday.
The Israeli Defense Ministry blames Iran for Tuesday's attacks and has stated that Damascus bears responsibility for the attacks because they were launched from inside Syrian territory.
Syrian state media had previously announced that the country's air defenses had prevented a "heavy attack" over the capital by Israeli aircraft in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Syrian state news agency, SANA, meanwhile, announced that two civilians were killed and several others were injured as a result of these missile attacks.
Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has repeatedly launched air and missile strikes against Iranian positions on Syrian soil, but has rarely commented on these attacks.
The Israeli Defense Ministry wrote on its Twitter page: "We carried out extensive strikes against the IRGC Quds Force and the Syrian army inside Syria in response to missile attacks on Israel by Iranian forces in Syria last night."
The Israeli Ministry of Defense adds that during the attack, "despite Israel's warnings," Syrian defenses began firing, and as a result, the Syrian government's missile defense system was targeted, destroying a number of Syrian "air defense batteries."
The Israeli military also said: "We hold the Syrian regime responsible for attacks launched from within Syrian territory and warn the country against allowing further attacks on Israel."
The Israeli army added: "We will continue operations against Iranian positions inside Syrian territory firmly and decisively for as long as necessary."
An AFP reporter in Damascus heard several explosions in the early hours of Wednesday.
"Our air defense force faced a heavy attack and intercepted the enemy missiles and was able to neutralize most of them before they reached their target," the Syrian state news agency SANA quoted a source in the country's military as saying.
The news agency added that the attacks were carried out from “Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.” Israel sometimes carries out its attacks on Syria by flying aircraft over the skies of neighboring Lebanon.
The airstrike on Wednesday came a day after Israeli forces intercepted four missiles launched from Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles fired on Tuesday were fired from positions around Damascus held by forces loyal to the Syrian government.
The Syrian crisis has become more complicated with Bashar al-Assad's suppression of domestic protests in Syria and the intervention of foreign forces.
Tensions in the region and around the Gaza Strip have risen in recent weeks with Israel attacking areas in the Gaza Strip and killing a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad group, which is allied with Damascus and Tehran.
In the second attack after this one on Damascus, which has not yet been confirmed by Israel, a leader of the Islamic Jihad group, along with his son and another person, were killed.
Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks on Iranian positions or positions of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, an ally of the Islamic Republic, inside Syria. Iran and Hezbollah are enemies of Israel and both provide military and advisory support to Bashar al-Assad.
The war in Syria has so far resulted in more than 370,000 deaths and millions of refugees.
Source: DW
