Israel’s military struck Syria in three separate attacks in a span of four days starting on Thursday, including killing multiple members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) acting as military advisors in the country, according to Syrian media sources and Iran’s Mehr News Agency. The assault follows a recent terror bombing in Israel carried out by the Iran-sponsored Hezbollah group.
While Israel does not confirm specific attacks in Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday indirectly commented on the counterterrorism response—and warned Israel’s enemies in the process. “We are acting against terrorism with all means… We are exacting a high price from the regimes that support terrorism, beyond Israel’s borders,” said Netanyahu in comments published by Israel.
Israel has recently experienced massive political protests, but Netanyahu made it clear that would not prevent the nation from defending itself from outside threats. “I suggest that our enemies not err. Israel’s internal debate will not detract one iota from our determination, strength and ability to act against our enemies on all fronts, wherever and whenever necessary.”
Amos Harel suggested in an analysis published by Haaretz that the targeting of Iranian forces in Syria in the last week may have been intentional, with Israel in that scenario believing that Iran was involved in the Hezbollah attack in Israel a few weeks ago. On March 13, a terrorist planted an explosive device near the Meggido Junction in northern Israel. According to the IDF Twitter feed, one Israeli civilian was seriously injured in the terror attack, with Israeli security forces killing the terrorist. The Twitter posts said the assumption is that neutralizing the terrorist—armed with multiple weapons and an explosive belt—prevented another attack.
Meanwhile, the details of Israel’s attacks in Syria provided by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) indicated that Israel hit Syrian targets on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) clarified that on Sunday an attack struck a Hezbollah weapons warehouse in Syria and killed two “Iranian-backed militiamen”. SOHR reported that was the 9th Israeli attack against Syria this year so far.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kan’ani said Friday’s attack killed two IRGC members and warned that Iran had the right to respond against Israel, according to the Mehr News Agency. “It is obvious, the blood of these great martyrs will not go in vain,” Kan’ani was quoted in the report as saying. The IRGC is a powerful paramilitary group in Iran and has been involved in international terrorism as well as backing the brutal Syrian regime in that country’s civil war.
Israel over the years has carried out numerous attacks in Syria to prevent the country from being used as a staging ground for attacks on Israel, as well as to prevent advanced weapons from reaching Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. Iran has maintained forces in Syria while conducting an ongoing simmering conflict with Israel, with the sides even engaging openly across the Syrian border.
Iran also sponsors multiple terror groups that have killed Israeli civilians, while Israel has reportedly engaged in espionage, assassinations and sabotage against Iran’s nuclear program in an effort to prevent the Iranian regime from obtaining nuclear weapons.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, April 2, 2023)