Israeli Airstrikes Hit Iranian Targets in Syria, Kill 3 Soldiers
The Israeli Air Force hit Iranian targets in Syria in several missile strikes on Sunday, sources in Syria said. Earlier, the Syrian army said three of its soldiers were killed and three were wounded in two simultaneous Israeli attacks – one launched from over the Mediterranean and hitting targets south of the port city Tartus, and another from the direction of Beirut and hitting the outskirts of the capital Damascus. Two Syrian military defectors familiar with the region said Israeli strikes on the northeastern outskirts of Damascus hit outposts operated by the Lebanese pro-Iranian armed group Hizbullah, Reuters reports. The news agency also quoted a Syrian military officer in the Tartus region who, speaking on condition of anonymity, said airstrikes targeted an Iranian base near the village of Abu Afsa, south of the port city, as well as a nearby air defense and radar station.
Russia’s only naval base outside of the area of the former Soviet Union is in Tartus, an area that Israel has mostly avoided while allegedly staging hundreds of airstrikes on the military infrastructure of Iran and its proxies in Syria. Moscow’s major Hmeimim air base is in the adjacent Latakia Governorate. Israeli and regional military experts say the latest strikes represent an escalation in the low-intensity conflict aimed at limiting Iran’s entrenchment in Syria and its arms transfers to Hizbullah and other forces that threaten the Jewish state.
Israeli-Russian relations have become strained due to growing Israeli criticism of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and efforts by the Kremlin’s Justice Ministry to shut down the local branch of the Jewish Agency for Israel, which supports Jewish communities in the Diaspora and aids individuals who wish to immigrate to the Jewish state.
Israeli Air Force jets in Syrian airspace came under Russian anti-aircraft fire in May, in a clash that Israel described as a “one-off incident.”
