Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Another wave of Israeli strikes targeted military sites close to the Syrian capital, Damascus, late on April 3, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The London-based monitoring group said that the strikes hit the 1st Division base close to the town of al-Kiswah, some 15 kilometers to the south of Damascus, and the 75th Brigade base in the nearby town of al-Mokaylebah. No casualties were reported.
The two bases included multiple ammunition depots. Several air defense and radar systems are also known to be deployed there.
Click to see full-size image.
Click to see full-size image.
A day earlier, a violent series of strikes hit what the Israeli military described as “remaining military capabilities” at the Hama military airport in the western Hama countryside, the T-4 Air Base in the eastern Homs countryside and a research facility close to Damascus. At least four were killed in the strikes, allegedly including three Turkish engineers.
Israeli troops also clashed with local fighters while advancing in the western countryside of Daraa, killing at least nine of them.
While Israel stepped up its operations against Syria after the fall of the Assad regime, the latest deadly attack represented a serious escalation.
The attack came following Arab media reports revealing a daring plan by Turkey to deploy air defenses and combat drones at air bases in central Syria, including the T4. Thus, the attack was seen by most observers as a direct warning to Turkey.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Syria’s new ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa after the attack that he would “pay a heavy price” if he allowed forces hostile to Israel into Syria.
“Israel will not allow Syria to become a threat to its communities and security interests,” Katz said, speaking to Defense Ministry employees at a ceremony ahead of Passover, and adding that troops would continue to maintain a presence in the buffer zone and act against threats.
“The air force’s activities yesterday at the T-4 airbase, in Hama and the Damascus area, are a clear message and warning for the future — we won’t allow harm to the security of the State of Israel.”
Later, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused Ankara of playing a “negative role” in Syria, saying that “they are doing their utmost to have Syria as a Turkish protectorate. It’s clear that is their intention.”
Responding, Turkey demanded Israel withdraw from Syria and said that it must stop harming stabilization efforts in the war-torn country.
“Israel has become the greatest threat to regional security” and is a “strategic destabilizer, causing chaos and feeding terrorism,” the foreign ministry in Ankara said.
“Therefore, in order to establish security throughout the region, Israel must first abandon its expansionist policies, withdraw from the territories it occupies, and stop undermining efforts to establish stability in Syria,” it added.
Israel, which clearly has the upper hand, will likely escalate even further in the near future. While Israel has so far justified its strikes on Syria by claiming to target weapons and facilities left behind by the Assad regime, it could soon adopt a new narrative justifying direct attacks on the forces of the Islamist-led interim government.
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i think damascus should be inside israel, not outside. or divide syria in half so that idlib would be jolani’s capital like bonn was the capital of germany. please katz, enlist the kurds in the idf.please destroy the terrorist hts.
so your hasbara office send you here to promote your greater israel propaganda plans? stfu and get the fck outta here.
too late now. katz is busy in gaza, knee deep!!
also kurds should be kurdistan. not in damascus. that has already been agreed!
so ziorats can attack countries,around unhindered and how they want without ever been attacked from these, without any critics from un?
turkey has wisely found an s-400 air defense system. with a few more isreal’s psychotic bombing spree which doesn’t make friends could end. turkey may develop the winning hand in syria so now the us taxpayers may need throw more money into the israeli money pit for what may have been a mistake in syria.
ths money gets thrown into british aerospace engineering boeing and lockheed. they profit the most .
would iran and hezbollah go to war on the side of jolani if the us and israel went to war on the side of assad? i’m just asking.
if biden s not around now to fund iran who will ?