Israeli jets targeted military research center: Syria

Zeenews Bureau

Damascus: The Syrian Army has confirmed that Israeli Air Force fighter planes carried out strikes in its territory, but denied reports of a convoy carrying weapons to Lebanon was bombed. The Syrian Army statement says that the IAF jet fighters’ target was a military research centre near the border with Lebanon. Two people have been reported to be dead and five others injured in the attack. The Israeli military officials are yet to comment on the incident. Earlier, the regional officials had said Israel had been planning in the days leading up to the airstrike to hit a shipment of weapons bound for the Islamist militant 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. Hezbollah has committed to Israel`s destruction and has gone to war against the Jewish state in the past. 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. US 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. Earlier this week, Israel moved a battery of its new "Iron Dome" rocket defense system to the northern city of Haifa, which was battered by Hezbollah rocket fire in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. The Israeli army called that move "routine." The military in Lebanon, which shares borders with both Israel and Syria, said Wednesday that Israeli warplanes have sharply increased their activity over Lebanon in the past week, including at least 12 sorties in less than 24 hours in the country`s south.