Syrian air defence batteries responding to what the Syrian state media
said were Israeli missiles targeting Damascus, in a picture taken early
on January 21st, 2019.
(photo credit: STR / AFP)
Twelve soldiers belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in
Sunday's Israeli air strikes on Syria, the UK-based NGO Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed on Tuesday.
The
report said a total of 21 people were killed in the strikes, among them
six Syrian soldiers and 15 non-Syrian nationals, 12 of whom were IRGC
soldiers, making it the deadliest attacks by Israel so far in the
war-torn country.
Israel’s security cabinet will meet Wednesday to discuss the increased
tensions in the North following the latest confrontation between the two
enemy states, Ynet news reported on Tuesday.
The meeting will be the first for new IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi.
Israel’s
military made a rare admission of responsibility as it was carrying out
the strikes, writing on Twitter at 1:42 a.m. that “We have started
striking Iranian Quds targets in Syrian territory. We warn the Syrian
Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory.”
IDF
fighter jets struck Iranian and Syrian military targets, air defense
batteries and Quds Forces positions throughout Syria in the predawn
hours of Monday, targeting military targets belonging to Iran's Quds
Force in Syria, including weapons storage sites, a site at Damascus
International Airport, an Iranian intelligence site and an Iranian
training camp.
The IDF said that jets struck several Syrian air
defense batteries after dozens of anti-aircraft missiles were fired
toward the Israeli jets despite the warning.
Israel’s military said the widespread air strikes came as a response to
a surface-to-surface missile that was launched towards the Golan Heights by Iranian forces in the vicinity of the Syrian capital of Damascus.
The
missile, reported to be carrying a half-ton warhead and aimed at
deterring Israel from conducting further airstrikes in Syria, was
intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
The IDF
Spokesperson’s Unit also said in a statement that “the Iranian attack on
Israeli territory yesterday is yet another clear proof of the intention
behind the attempts to establish Iran in Syria and the danger they pose
to the State of Israel and regional stability. The IDF will continue to
act decisively and firmly against the Iranian establishment in Syria.”
Following
the strikes, Syria’s SANA news agency reported that the Assad regime
sent two identical letters to the UN Secretary General and the Head of
the Security Council calling on them to take immediate steps to prevent
further Israeli air strikes and to hold it accountable for “its crimes
against the Syrian and Palestinian people.”
“This aggression
attempts to raise the morale of the remaining terrorist hotbeds that are
subservient to the Israeli occupation, in addition to being an attempt
by the occupation authorities to avoid their escalating internal
problems,” the report said, adding that “Syria affirms that Israel’s
persistence in its dangerous aggressive behavior wouldn’t be possible
without the unlimited support of the US administration and the immunity
provided to it by the US and other Security Council member states.”
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