Overnight Israeli air raids on targets around the capital. The operation in response to the rockets fired yesterday at the Israeli Golan Heights. Syrian sources speak of intercepted rockets. The Israeli army says it has hit targets belonging to the Iranian Quds special forces.
Damascus (AsiaNews / Agencies) - At least two civilian victims and several wounded are the still provisional toll of a series of missile attacks by Israel in Syrian territory and concentrated around the capital, Damascus. Israel confirmed the "large scale" military operation that took place during the night, in response to the rocket launches the day before towards the Israeli Golan Heights.
Avichay Adraee, spokesman for the Israeli army, reports that the attacks centered Syrian and Iranian military positions in Syria. The official Sana agency confirmed the activation of the missile defense system, which would have intercepted most of the rockets from Israeli fighters flying over Damascus before they could reach the targets set.
According to the Israeli army the fighters hit several targets belonging to the Iranian special forces Quds, including surface-to-air missiles, weapons and ammunition depots and military bases. Syrian anti-aircraft defense systems were also targeted.
These latest reprisal attacks are a further confirmation of the long-running shadow of war between Israel and Iran, fought on Syrian territory. The rockets directed at Syrian Golan came in a context of deep and growing tension between the two historical rivals in the Middle East, who are fighting a proxy war on several fronts.
In recent weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had denounced an attitude of increasing hostility on the part of Tehran and its allied groups. He is echoed by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, who recently said that "the rules have changed: anyone who shoots Israel by day will not sleep the following night". "Our message - he added - is simple for Iranian leaders: you no longer have immunity".
The violence of the last 24 hours comes one week after the Israeli attack against a high-level Palestinian militant based in Syria, Akram al-Ajouri, exiled member of Islamic Jihad, a group already targeted by Israel in the Gaza Strip. In the past, Israel had struck Iranian interests in Syria, but last week's operation marks a further level in the war, with a targeted assassination attempt on a Palestinian militant refugee in Damascus.