ISRAELI INTERCEPTS SYRIAN ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILE AMID HEIGHTENED TENSIONS
Israel’s message to Iran and Hezbollah: We will not permit change of status quo.
March 22, 2017
Ari Lieberman
On Monday, Arab media
reported that Israeli Air Force jets struck another Hezbollah weapons convoy snaking its way to Lebanon from Syria. Israel refused to comment on the report but if accurate, it would represent the third Israeli strike against targets in Syria in as many days.
Less than 24 hours earlier, an Israeli drone
liquidated Yasser al-Sayed, while he was driving along the Damascus- Quneitra road near the town of Khan Arnaba. Lebanese media reported that he was a Syrian air defense commander. Other Arab media reported that he was a pro-Assad militia commander who was coordinating planned attacks against Israel with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Hezbollah of course, claimed he was a civilian.
Israel remained silent on the circumstances of al-Sayed’s death but has in the past bluntly informed its enemies, including Assad, Iran and Hezbollah that it would not remain idle in the face of threats emanating from Syria and elsewhere and would act when necessary to preserve its security interests.
Underscoring this doctrine, On Friday, the Israeli Air Force launched a series of airstrikes targeting a Hezbollah weapons convoy and other military facilities believed to be housing weapons slated to be delivered to the terror group. The airstrikes focused on a Syrian airbase known as T4 near the ancient Syrian city of
Palmyra.
...
Israel’s flurry of military activity against Hezbollah and Iranian interests in Syria conveys a clear message that it will not tolerate the transfer of sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah. It will also not permit Hezbollah or Iran to establish military bases near the Golan Heights that threaten Israel. The liquidation of Yasser al-Sayed,
Samir Kuntar,
Jihad Mughniyeh, Gen. Mohammad Ali Allahdadi and a
laundry list of others at the hand of Israel, underscores this fact. Moreover, the strike against Iranian targets at T4 near Palmyra demonstrates that the IRGC and their Shia mercenaries are not immune from attack even when hiding behind Russian skirts.
Israeli Intercepts Syrian Anti-Aircraft Missile Amid Heightened Tensions