FILE PHOTO An Israeli F-16 fighter jet © Amir Cohen / Reuters
On July 2 morning, Israeli fighter jets carried out a series of heavy airstrikes on the western Syrian governorate of Tartus.
In a statement to the Syrian Arab News Agency, a Syrian military official said that the airstrikes targeted several poultry farms in the outskirts of the town of the al-Hamidiyah, which is located less than eight kilometers to the north of the border with Lebanon.
“At around 6:30 this morning, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression with several missiles from over the Mediterranean Sea, to the west of [the Lebanese city of] Tripoli, targeting several poultry farms in the vicinity of the town of al-Hamidiyah, to the south of Tartus,” the official said.
According to the official, two civilians, including a woman, were wounded as a result of the airstrikes, which also caused losses in civilian properties.
Photos from the scene of the Israeli airstrike showed two large craters and debris in the area where the poultry farms were located.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights alleged that Lebanon’s Hezbollah used to store weapons at the targeted poultry farms before smuggling them into Lebanon. The London-based monitoring group didn’t present any evidence to back these claims.
The Israeli airstrikes on al-Hamidiyah came just a few hours before the arrival of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Syria on a visit. Right after landing in Damascus International Airport, the minister condemned Israel’s repeated attacks on Syria.
An Israeli aerial attack that took place on June 10 knocked Damascus International Airport out of service. The airport was able to resume operations only on June 23.
Israel’s recent attacks on Syria were a part of what officials in Tel Aviv call the “War-Between-Wars,” a military campaign that is meant to push Iran and its allies out of Syria as well as to prevent them from developing their offensive capabilities. None of these goals have been achieved as of yet.
