IOF: ‘Israel’ Informed Russia of Planned Strikes on Syria

There were no reports of casualties.

President Donald Trump’s decision on Tuesday to pull the United States out of the nuclear deal with Iran has given Tehran less reason to exercise caution in confronting Israel, analysts said.

Syrian anti-aircraft batteries hosed the sky with streams of fire, aimed at what appeared to be Israeli surface-to-surface missiles, while thunderclaps of Israeli artillery fire reverberated across the frontier between Syria and Israel, with the faint sound of impact echoing back moments later. This would more than likely lead to an Iranian-Israeli war and pull other countries, including the USA, into the fray, which could have awful consequences in the Mideast.

Earlier on Tuesday, there were reports of loud explosions at a military base in the area.

The incoming attack set off air raid sirens in the Israeli-controlled Golan, which was captured from Syria in the 1967 war.

Tel Aviv characterized incident “with severity” and has responded, Lt. Col. Conricus said, without providing details on what that response was.

The IDF said its defence forces in northern Israel have been put into a state of “high preparedness”.

“This event is not over”, he said.

The military source told dpa that the regime’s air defenses confronted the attack and said at least 10 missiles were fired from al-Mezze military airport in the countryside west of Damascus.

“The IDF views this Iranian attack with severity“. As British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson noted last week, “The Iran nuclear deal is not based on trust about Iran’s intentions; rather it is based on tough verification”. Israel has not commented on the strike. Pro-Syrian media said Syrian missiles then fired at Israeli forces.

An Israeli tank can be seen near the Israeli side of the border with Syria in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Israel May 9, 2018.

Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, informed AFP that the missiles had focused a weapons depot in Kissweh, “presumably belonging to Hezbollah and the Iranians”.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which nearly never confirms or denies airstrikes in Syria.

No one was injured or killed in the attack, a military chief loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said. Syria and Iran have accused Israel of carrying out a series of airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria in recent weeks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday has called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to find solutions for the Middle East crises during a meeting in Moscow.

Their talks were likely to centre on Syria and by extension, Iran. “We strongly support Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself”, he said.

Iran has increasingly strengthened its military presence in Syria, something which Israel considers a direct threat.

Late Tuesday, the Israeli-occupied section of the Golan Heights was placed on high alert due to “irregular activity by Iranian forces” across the demarcation line in Syria.

On Wednesday morning, residents of the Golan Heights were urged to return to “full civilian routine”.