by Lilach Shoval, Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Israel dispenses with policy of ambiguity, says it hit multiple Iranian Quds Force targets in response to Iranian missile fire
Iranian structures (in red) inside a Syrian military base
Photo: IDF Spokesperson
In an extraordinary statement, the IDF
confirmed early Monday that it attacked multiple Iranian military
targets in Syria on Sunday after the Iron Dome missile defense system
intercepted a missile fired by Iranian forces at the Golan Heights on
Sunday afternoon
The Iranians fired at Israel in response to
a rare daylight Israeli airstrike near Damascus International Airport
earlier Sunday. IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said the
Iranians had been planning to fire at the Golan Heights for months as
part of an effort to establish deterrence against the Jewish state.
"We have started striking Iranian Quds
targets in Syrian territory," the IDF statement said, appearing
referring to the force charged with carrying out Iran's Revolutionary
Guards' overseas operations.
The statement appears to mark an end to Israel's years-long policy on ambiguity regarding activities in neighboring Syria.
"We warn the Syrian Armed Forces against
attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory. The Iranian attack on
Israeli territory [on Sunday] is further, clear proof about the
intentions behind Iran's entrenchment efforts in Syria, and the danger
it poses to the State of Israel and to regional stability. The IDF will
continue to act in an aggressive and determined manner against Iranian
entrenchment in Syria," the army statement said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said 11 people were killed in the Israeli strikes early
Monday. Russian media reported that at least four of the dead were
Syrian soldiers.
Manelis said some of the Iranian targets were located " inside Syrian bases."
"Iran is exploiting Syria, and Syria is paying the price," Manelis said.
Syrian state media cited a Syrian military
source as saying Israel launched an "intense attack through consecutive
waves of [laser] guided missiles" shortly after 1 a.m, but that Syrian
air defenses had destroyed most of the "hostile targets."
Witnesses in Damascus said loud explosions rang out in the night sky for nearly an hour.
The IDF said its targets included an Iranian weapons warehouse, an intelligence outpost and a training base.
Arab news outlets said the IDF fired 29 air
and land-based missiles at Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Damascus
and south of the Syrian capital.
On Monday, Iran's state-run news outlet
reported the head of Iran's air force responding to the massive Israeli
strike, saying the country was eager to fight Israel and destroy it.
"The young people in the air force are
fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate
it from the Earth," Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh was quoted as saying.
Until now Israel has largely refrained from
public admissions of its covert military operations in neighboring
Syria, in order to avoid large-scale involvement in the eight-year civil
war.
Two hours after the reports that Iron Dome
had intercepted Iranian missiles over the Golan Heights, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on a state visit to Chad, issued a
statement: "We have a defined policy: to harm Iranian entrenchment in
Syria and to harm anyone who tries to harm us."
In a Twitter post, Rivlin wrote that the Iranian missile attack was "living proof" that the Iranians were gaining a military foothold in Syria and the region as a whole.
"We will not demonstrate tolerance in the face of the safety of the citizens of Israel being violated. We will counter any attempts to attack us with determination and whatever power is necessary," Rivlin wrote.
Recently, Israeli warplanes have used
Lebanon's airspace to strike deep inside Syria, including attacking a
warehouse near Damascus International Airport earlier this month,
according to Syrian state media.
Netanyahu recently confirmed that Israel has struck hundreds of targets in Syria linked to Iran and Hezbollah, including a weapons facility two weeks ago.
Due to the heightened tensions, the Mount
Hermon ski resort on the Golan Heights will be closed throughout Monday.
As of Monday morning the IDF Home Front Command had not issued any
directive to civilians to alter their daily routines in light of rising
tensions in the north.
Lilach Shoval, Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/01/21/israel-confirms-strikes-on-iranian-targets-in-syria-11-dead/
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