Report: Israel attacked rocket factory in Syria
The Israel Air Force (IAF) reportedly carried out a massive strike against a weapons factory near Massyaf City in the Hama province in northern Syria early Saturday morning.
An Israeli Air Force Jet. Credit: Maj. Ofer via Wikimedia Commons
Syria’s official SANA news reported that the Syrian army’s air defences intercepted an Israeli aerial attack that targeted a “military position.”
A military source told SANA that the IAF conducted its airstrike from Lebanese airspace, and that the Syrian air defences “immediately intercepted the hostile missiles and downed some of them” before they struck their targets.
The source further said that the Israeli attack caused “the destruction of some buildings and the injury of three fighters.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which has assets on the ground, reported that the IAF strike hit an “accounting school,” a middle-range missiles development center in al-Zawi village, and Tala’ee camp that is being used by Iranian and the Syrian regime forces.
According to the report, 17 people were injured in the attack, and at least two people working for the Iranian forces based in Syria were killed.
The SOHR further said that Israel strikes on Iranian and Hezbollah targets in the past years have killed 232 men and caused and tens of injuries.
The IDF has not responded to the reports, as in previous cases.
Iran’s military build-up in Syria remains a red line for Israel. The IAF has carried out thousands of attacks to thwart the Iranian entrenchment in the war-torn country.
Iran uses its positions in Syria to transfer weapons and infrastructure to its terror proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, while attempting to establish another military front against Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights.
I am heartened by this report. Many years ago, I fought communism whilst in the South African Army. Pre-emptive strikes in Angola and Namibia were routinely part and parcel of all the successes we had.
As a Catholic, Judaism is the mother of my faith, and the secure future of Israel remains a non-negotiable part of my thinking and belief. A vibrant democratic state, Israel lives in a very bad neighborhood, where such vigilance and pre-emptive strategy is also non-negotiable. An implacable enemy requires implacable and pre-emptive action.
My personal view is that Israel at the very least needs to extend its sovereign territory from Golan in the north to Sinai in the south, and from the Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean in the west. The current balkanisation in the region is unsustainable.