IDF shells targets in Syria, state media reports
The IDF shelled targets Quneitra area in Syria on Tuesday night, the country reported.
A view to Quneitra, on the north Israeli border with Syria. Quneitra, Aug 9, 2018. Photo by Gili Eliyahu Adler/TPS
According to Syria’s SANA state news agency, the IDF targeted a number of points in the vicinity of Quneitra with missiles, which led to some material losses.
The attack was carried out from the direction of the Golan Heights, the report said. The Quneitra province is located adjacent to Israel’s northern border with Syria.
No casualties were reported.
The IDF has remained silent on the reports, as it usually does. This is Israel’s fourth reported attack in Syria in the past month.
Israel has previously bombed Hezbollah and Iranian infrastructure in the area.
The IDF in March 2019 announced that it had exposed a clandestine Hezbollah unit that was operating in southern Syria in the area near the border with Israel and where this latest attack occurred.
The unit’s objective is to establish another front against Israel from the Golan Heights, in addition to Hezbollah’s threat from Lebanon. The purpose of the Hezbollah infrastructure is to act against Israel at a time of deterioration. The infrastructure is at its preliminary stages and has yet to reach the level needed for operational activity and is still in the process of development and consolidation.
Iran and Hezbollah have in recent years been working to build up a military presence in Syria, a threat that remains a red line for Israel.
Over the years, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) and IDF have carried out thousands of attacks to thwart the Iranian entrenchment in the war-torn country and to prevent Hezbollah from accumulating advanced game-changing weapons.
According to the Syria Observatory for Human Rights, the IAF conducted 29 strikes in Syria throughout 2021. The attacks hit 71 targets and killed 130 people, including 125 combatants from the Syrian military, Hezbollah and Iranian-backed Shiite militias.
The Damascus area was the most attacked area in 2021, with 12 attacks out of the 29. The Damascus airport, which serves as an entry point for weapons coming from Iran on its way to Hezbollah in Lebanon, was one of the main targets.
