An Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jet flies during an aerial demonstration. (photo credit: AMIR COHEN – REUTERS)
Early on December 16, a series of Israeli airstrikes targeted positions in Syria’s southern region, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
“At around 12:50 of today’s morning, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression with several salvos of missiles from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some positions in the southern region,” a Syrian military source told the state-run agency. “Our air defenses engaged the hostile missiles, shooting down most of them.”
The source acknowledged that the airstrikes claimed the life of a Syrian Arab Army service member and inflicted some material losses.
Syrian activists claimed that the target of the Israeli airstrikes was Damascus International Airport. However, this is yet to be confirmed. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is known to be present and active at the airport, which was targeted by Israel on several occasions in the past few years.
This was the second Israeli attack on Syria in December. The first attack, which took place on December 7, targeted the Port of Lattakia. Several containers, which were stored in the port’s main shipping yard, were destroyed in the attack. However, there were no casualties.
The recent attacks on Syria were all a part of Israel’s “War-Between-Wars” military campaign, which is meant to hinder Iranian entrenchment in the war-torn country. So far, the campaign has failed to achieve its objective. Iran’s military presence in Syria never been stronger.
