Five terrorists were killed in an Israeli military strike on an advanced weapons shipment to Lebanon, reports from Syria indicate.
By Aryeh Savir, TPS
The IDF bombed mid-day Saturday a shipment of advanced weapons on its way from Syria to Lebanon, killing at least five terrorists, reports emerging from the country say.
Syria’s official SANA news reported that the army air defenses “repelled an Israeli missile aggression” on areas in the Damascus countryside.
A military source told SANA that the IDF launched a number of missiles from northern Israel, hitting several targets.
The attack injured two soldiers and caused some material damage, the report said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the attack occurred in the Qudsiya area, on the al-Demas and al-Bajja’ road, an area that hosts weapons and ammunition warehouses belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group and Iranian-backed militias, as well as military headquarters of the Syrian army’s 4th Division.
Five people were killed in the attack, all members of the Shiite militias and the Hezbollah organization, the SOHR reported.
The rare broad-daylight attack was carried out with surface-to-surface missiles and not an Israeli Air Force strike, reports indicate. It is the third reported Israeli attack against Iranian and Hezbollah targets inside Syria in the past month.
The IDF has remained silent on the reports, as it usually does in these cases.
If Hezbollah operatives were in fact killed, this could constitute a significant escalation, as the terror group has vowed to retaliate forthe death of any of its members.
Iran and Hezbollah have in recent years been working to build up a military presence in Syria, a threat that remains a red line for Israel.
Iran routinely attempts to arm the Lebanon-based Hezbollah with advanced weapons. Israel has exposed and thwarted multiple attempts by Iran to transfer game-changing weapons to Hezbollah, including by air shipments from Iran, through Damascus Airport.
The IAF has carried out thousands of attacks to thwart the Iranian entrenchment in the war-torn country and to prevent Hezbollah from accumulating advanced game-changing weapons.
In related news, Israel’s Home Front Command and National Emergency Authority launched a week-long drill on Sunday simulating a large-scale war, including the evacuation of civilians in the north.
United with Israel contributed to this report.