Israeli airstrike on "Iranian weapons and ammunition depot" near Damascus
In the early hours of Thursday, May 27, the Israeli army targeted an arms and ammunition depot near the airport in Damascus, the Syrian capital. Reuters reports that the depot belongs to Iran.
Reuters news agency quoted an "unnamed regional intelligence official" as saying that the weapons and ammunition depot, located near Damascus airport, was under the control of Lebanese Hezbollah forces.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera news network, citing its sources in the Syrian opposition, says that a total of "five attacks" were carried out on the warehouse, which is located 25 kilometers from Damascus.
AFP, citing Lebanese Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV, describes the "probable" cause of Thursday's "large" explosion as an "Israeli airstrike."
Al-Manar described the target of the attack as "a warehouse and fuel tankers," but did not say which group it belonged to.
Al Jazeera also quoted Israeli Army Radio as saying that the country's intelligence minister confirmed the attacks.
Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz, who is currently in the United States, said that the new attacks were carried out in line with "Israeli policy to prevent Iran from smuggling advanced weapons to Hezbollah."
The Israeli minister did not provide further explanation on the matter, and according to Al Jazeera, the country's military spokesman also refused to comment on the matter.
On the other hand, as Reuters reported, the warehouse targeted on Thursday morning is the final destination of a "significant portion" of the weapons and ammunition that Iran sends to Syria "by passenger and military aircraft."
Officials of the Islamic Republic and Syrian government officials have not yet responded to this issue.
During the Syrian civil war, which is still ongoing after six years, there have been several reports of Israeli attacks on Hezbollah and Iranian warehouses and forces, but in no case has Israel clearly claimed responsibility for these attacks.
For example, in January 2014, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that one of its commanders had been killed in an attack by an Israeli helicopter in the Quneitra region of Syria.
A day earlier, on January 18, Lebanese Hezbollah announced that a commander and five members of the group had been killed in an Israeli helicopter attack on the Golan Heights.
In this context, the Israeli ambassador to Russia had previously threatened that if Iran or Iranian proxy groups in the region wanted to create a "second front" against Israel from the Golan Heights in Syrian territory, Israel would take action against them "without delay."
Source: Radio Farda
