Israel Strikes Iranian Targets in Syria
Regional tensions grow as Lebanon accuses Israel of launching drones across its border
By Felicia Schwartz in Tel Aviv and Nazih Osseiran in Beirut
Aug. 26, 2019
Israel said it struck a military site in Syria to prevent planned attacks from Iranian forces, raising the risk of a clash with Tehran amid a broader Israeli campaign to counter the military activities of the Islamic Republic.
Israel's military went on high alert following the strike in Syria and was preparing for possible responses, officials said. The strike coincided with signs of mounting tensions elsewhere in the region, as Lebanese officials blamed the country for two drones that fell over Beirut Sunday. Meanwhile, a drone attack in Iraq later in the day killed two members of an Iranian-aligned militia, according to a member of the militia called 45th Brigade, an Iraqi organization loosely tied to Lebanon's Hezbollah paramilitary and political group.
It wasn't immediately clear who was behind the drone attack in Iraq.
Israeli military officials declined to comment on Sunday's incidents in Lebanon and Iraq.
In recent months, Israel has stepped up a campaign to thwart potential attacks from Iran despite risks of reprisals. Iranian forces have attempted to launch rockets and missiles at Israel from Syria three times last year, they said.
Israel's military said it dispatched jet fighters late Saturday to strike facilities belonging to Iran's elite Quds Force and Shiite Iranian-backed militias in the village of Aqraba in Syria, southeast of Damascus. The strikes prevented what Israeli officials described as an Iranian attempt to launch explosives-armed drones from the Syrian military facilities at targets in northern Israel.
The use of so-called "killer drones" would have marked a significant escalation in Iran's efforts to strike inside Israel, Israeli military officials said. "These killer drones are capable of striking targets with significant accuracy," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman.
Israel's military said Sunday it had tracked Iran's attempt to launch attacks from Syria for a number of weeks. Ahead of the operation, Iran flew into Damascus International Airport drones, explosives and Iranian operatives and then used the village of Aqraba as a staging ground for the drones, which Col. Conricus said were similar to those that Iranaligned forces in Yemen had used.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli attack in Aqraba killed five people, including two Hezbollah fighters, one member of an Iranian-backed militia and two persons of unknown origin.
Video footage circulating on social media purportedly showed the funeral Sunday for the Hezbollah members at the Zeinab Shrine, a holy Shiite site in Damascus.
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and backed Israel's actions in Syria.
"The secretary expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself from threats posed by the [Islamic] Revolutionary Guard Corps and to take action to prevent imminent attacks against Israeli assets in the region," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said after the call.
Another State Department official renewed a Trump administration demand that Iran end its central role in keeping Syrian President Bashar alAssad in power.
"The Iranian regime must withdraw all forces under its command throughout the entirety of Syria for peace and stability to be restored," the official said.
Iranian military officials don't comment on defense matters to foreign media, and haven't officially addressed the Israeli allegations.
In the separate incident Sunday Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran, said two Israeli drones went down in a suburb of Beirut where the group has a strong presence. The Lebanese army said the two Israeli drones fell while violating Lebanon's airspace.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri described the Israeli drone incursion as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
"The new aggression, which was accompanied by heavy hovering of enemy aircraft over Beirut and its suburbs, constitutes a threat to regional stability and an attempt to push the situation toward further tension," Mr. Hariri said.