
An Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jet flies during an aerial demonstration. (photo credit: AMIR COHEN – REUTERS)
Late on October 21, a series of Israeli airstrikes targeted several positions in the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
A Syrian military source told the official Syrian Arab News Agency that fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force launched the airstrikes from the direction of Lake Tiberias, adding that several hostile missiles were successfully intercepted. The unnamed source said that the airstrikes resulted in material losses only.
According to unconfirmed reports, the targets of the Israeli airstrikes included two bases in the western outskirts of Damascus as well as the international airport to the south of the capital.
As usual, several Arab and Israeli news sources said that the airstrikes were meant to thwart an attempt to smuggle weapons from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon via Syria. As of now, there is no evidence to back these claims.
This was the first Israeli attack to target Syria in more than a month. The previous attack was on September 17. The attack targeted Damascus international Airport and several other positions to the south of the capital, including an alleged office of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. At least five Syrian service members were killed back then.
Just a few days before the new attack, Israeli political and security sources told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that the pause in strikes on Syria is the result of a decline in weapons smuggling through the country by Iran. The officials stressed that there has been no change in the Israeli approach in Syria.
Israel hopes that its repeated attacks on Syria could disturb Iranian weapons shipments to Hezbollah, and eventually push Iran out from the war-torn country.
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