Israel launched missiles at a site near Damascus International Airport in Syria, causing material damage, Syrian media cited a military source as saying Thursday.
Syria Confirms Israeli Missile Attacks Near Damascus Int'l Airport - Reports
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201704271053054262-syria-confirms-israeli-missile-strike-near-damascus-airport/
"One of the military facilities located to the southwest of Damascus International Airport was subjected to missile fire from hostile Israel," the SANA news service cited the source as saying.
Lebanese media reported a large blast in the vicinity of the airport early Thursday, speculating that the explosion at the fuel depot could have been carried out by Israel.
"The missiles were fired from the occupied territory, which led to explosions on the ground and property damage," the Syrian military source specified.
Israeli officials have not commented on the issue yet. However, Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz, speaking to Army Radio from the United States earlier, hinted at what had happened in Damascus.
"The incident in Syria corresponds completely with Israel's policy to act to prevent Iran's smuggling of advanced weapons via Syria to Hezbollah," he said, without explicitly confirming Israel's involvement
Hostilities between Israeli and Syrian regularly escalate, with IDF planes hitting targets in Syria in response to cross-border fire incidents while also attacking groups it deems hostile inside the country, while Syrian forces have several times claimed to have shot down IDF aircraft violating the country's airspace.
In March, the Syrian government threatened that it will retaliate should Israel continue to conduct airstrikes on Syrian territory, promising to meet further airstrikes on Syrian territory "with deadly force and retaliation strikes deep on Israeli soil."
A strike near the Damascus International Airport, which was carried out earlier on Thursday, is compatible with Israel's policy of targeting Lebanese group Hezbollah's Iranian arms supplies streaming through Syria, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said, without specifying if Israel was responsible for the incident.
Strike on Damascus Airport in Line With Anti-Hezbollah Policy - Israeli Minister
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201704271053056196-damascus-airport-strike-israel-hezbollah/
Earlier in the day, a large explosion erupted close to the Damascus airport with initial reports claiming that it was a result of an Israeli airstrike against a Hezbollah supply hub.
The incident in Syria fully fits in with Israel's policies… of countering Iranian attempts at supplying modern weapons to Hezbollah through Syria," Katz told the Army Radio.
Katz recalled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promise to continue Israeli efforts to prevent attempts to arm Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which is fighting on the side of the Damascus government forces in Syria.
The minister stopped short of saying Israel was responsible for the incident, while the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) press office turned down to comment on the matter.
A military source said Thursday that Israel has launched missiles at a site near Damascus International Airport in Syria, causing material damage.
Syria Military Source Confirms Israeli Missile Attacks near Damascus Int'l Airport
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960207000720
"One of the military facilities located to the southwest of Damascus International Airport was subjected to missile fire from hostile Israel," the source said, SANA reported.
Lebanese media reported a large blast in the vicinity of the airport early Thursday, speculating that the explosion at the fuel depot could have been carried out by Israel.
"The missiles were fired from the occupied territory, which led to explosions on the ground and property damage," the Syrian military source specified.
Israel is likely to try to retain the existing status quo in Syria since it has benefited from the ongoing conflict in the war-torn neighboring nation, political analyst Sergei Balmasov asserted, saying that Tel Aviv's combat missions are not aimed at President Bashar al-Assad, but are rather meant to prevent the crisis from being resolved.
Why Israel is 'Deeply Interested' in Continuation of Syrian War
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201703231051872236-israel-insterested-syrian-war/
"Israel is deeply interested in the ongoing standoff between the Sunnis and the Shia. Tel Aviv wants them to continue killing each other. Nothing presents a threat to Israel as long as this war is ongoing. The Israeli Air Force launches airstrikes against Shia militias in Syria, tipping the balance. This evens out the chances and the war drags on," he told RT.
Balmasov, an expert at the Middle East Institute at the Russian International Affairs Council, also suggested that Israel could use a border incident to move its forces into southern Syria.
One could not rule out that Israel does not deploy its troops to the southern buffer zone which borders the Golan Heights to create a territorial entity on the basis of Druze settlements using some kind of an incident as a pretext," he said.
Israel has largely refrained from taking an active part in the devastating Syrian conflict, but has occasionally sent its warplanes to launch airstrikes on Hezbollah in a bid to eliminate its leaders and destroy its weapons.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed that Tel Aviv will continue to carry out operations aimed at disrupting weapons transfers from Iran to Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shia movement which Israel considers to be one of the top threats to its security.
Israel Vows to Continue Launching Airstrikes on Targets in Syria
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201703221051849426-israel-airstrikes-targets-syria/
My policy is consistent," he said while on a visit to China. "We will not allow Israel to be attacked from Syrian territory and we will not tolerate the transfer of advanced weaponry [to Hezbollah] to the extent that we detect it. … It's our policy to launch strikes at convoys carrying sophisticated weaponry. … We will continue to attack whenever the Iranians smuggle advanced arms."
Netanyahu added that the Israel Defense Forces would conduct military operations if intelligence data confirms a planned weapons transfer and if the mission is "operationally feasible."
