Israel Conducts Rare Airstrike On Syria

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syria1Israel launched an airstrike inside Syria overnight near the border with Lebanon, according to regional officials.

The regional officials said Israel had been planning in the days leading up to the airstrike to hit a convoy of trucks shipping weapons bound for the Islamist terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon. They said the shipment included sophisticated, Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which would be strategically “game-changing” in the hands of Hezbollah.

A U.S. official confirmed the strike, saying it hit a convoy of trucks.

Hezbollah has committed to Israel’s destruction and has gone to war against the Jewish state in the past.

The Israeli military declined to comment, and all the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the strike.

In another incident, Syrian state TV said an airstrike hit a military research center northwest of the capital, Damascus in Jamraya. It said the strike caused material damage and the center was used to advance Syrian military capabilities.

A statement from Syria’s military said the center was responsible for “raising the level of resistance and self-defense” of its armed forces. It said the strike destroyed the center and a nearby building, killing two workers and wounding five others.

The location and strike could not be independently confirmed because of reporting restrictions in Syria.

Top Israeli officials have recently expressed worries that if desperate, the regime of President Bashar Assad could pass chemical weapons to Hezbollah or other militant groups. U.S. officials say they are tracking Syria’s chemical weapons and that they still appear to be solidly under regime control.

Among Israeli security officials’ chief fears is that Hezbollah could get its hands on Syrian chemical arms and SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles. If that were to happen, it would change the balance of power in the region and greatly hinder Israel’s ability to conduct air sorties in Lebanon.

Israel suspects that Damascus obtained a battery of SA-17s from Russia after an alleged Israeli airstrike in 2007 that destroyed an unfinished Syrian nuclear reactor.

{Matzav.com Israel with Fox News and JTT Israel}


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