ISRAEL-SYRIA(IRAN) ESCALATION MAY 9th 2018
Last night, at least 20 rockets were launched from southern Syria at positions of the Israeli military in the Golan Heights. The rocket was reportedly aimed at the following Israeli targets:
- A HQ of the border brigade 9900
- A HQ of the border brigade 810
- A technical and electronic survey facility
- A HQ of the EW jamming facility
- A communication and transmission facility
- A helicopters airfield
- An outpost at Hermon Mount
- Alpinist unit HQ
The Israeli side accused Iran of conducting this attack, which some experts viewed as Teheran’s response to the recent Israeli strikes on the T4 airbase in Syria where some Iranian servicemen were killed.
Some pro-Russian Telegram channels spread a following pic as an example of the damage caused by the rocket shelling. It is fake.
In response, the Israeli military shelled positions of the Syrian Arab Army and the National Defense Forces near Hadar and Khan Arnabah in the southern Syrian governorate of al-Quneitra.
Later Israel carried out strikes on 35 targets across Syria, including areas in the southern part of the country, the Damascus countryside and the province of Homs.
An Israeli map showing the alleged locations of the strikes on Syria:
According to the Syrian state-run news agency SANA, the Syrian Air Defense Forces intercepted tens of the Israeli missiles “preventing most of them from reaching their targets”. However, a part of the missiles hit “a number of air defense battalions, radars, and an ammo depot”.
The Lebanese military said that 4 Israeli warplanes had violated Lebanese airspace at the same time when Israel was carrying out strikes on Syria.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman claimed that nearly all Iranian infrastructure in Syria had been destroyed.
“We will not allow Iran to turn Syria into a frontline base for activity against Israel. This is our clear policy, and we follow it,” he said. “If we have [missiles] rain, they will have a flood,” he sid. “The Iranians attempted to attack Israeli territory, but not a single missile hit Israel. Some fell in Syria, and some were shot down by the Iron Dome. We have hit almost all the Iranian infrastructure in Syria.”
The US publicly supported the Israeli actions.
“This just further shows that the Iranian regime cannot be trusted. Israel absolutely has a sovereign right to defend itself and we support them in whatever efforts they have in order to defend themselves,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News. “Again, I think this activity and this action is just further demonstration that the Iranian regime cannot be trusted and another good reminder that the president made the right decision to get out of the Iran deal.”
The current escalation took place following the May 8 announcement by President Donald Trump that the US is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal.
Syrian troops and parts of the intercepted missile:
