Israel targets Iran-backed strongholds in second assault in lower than a month on outskirts of Syrian capital.
The Syrian military stated on Sunday night that Israeli-fired rockets struck components of southern Damascus in escalating assaults that regional intelligence sources stated goal Iran-linked belongings.
A Syrian military assertion stated the assault got here from the Golan Heights and that it had introduced down a lot of the missiles, within the second such assault in lower than a month on the outskirts of the capital.
An Israeli navy spokesman declined to touch upon the report.
Israel has struck a wider vary of targets than ordinary because the begin of the yr, together with a serious assault on Iranian-linked strongholds additional east, close to the Iraqi border.
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz on Friday stated Israel was taking motion “nearly weekly” to forestall Iranian entrenchment in Syria.
Regional intelligence sources stated Iran’s Quds Power and the militias it backs, whose presence has unfold in Syria in recent times, have a robust presence within the Sayeda Zainab neighbourhood of southern Damascus the place the militias have many underground bases.
Israel has commonly attacked what it says are Iranian-linked targets in Syria in recent times, and stepped up such raids this yr in what Western intelligence sources have described as a shadow struggle to cut back Iran’s affect.
Israeli Chief of Employees Lieutenant Common Aviv Kochavi stated in December Israel had struck greater than 500 targets in 2020.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities has by no means publicly acknowledged there are Iranian forces working on his behalf in Syria’s civil struggle, solely that Tehran has despatched navy advisers.
The entry of 1000’s of Shia militias, from Afghanistan to Lebanon, to combat alongside al-Assad helped the authoritarian ruler survive a widespread armed rise up that sprang from a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011.
Western intelligence sources say Israeli assaults this yr have undermined Iran’s in depth navy energy in Syria with out triggering a big improve in hostilities.
Iran has constructed underground tunnels and unfold decoys to assist mitigate the impact of repeated Israeli assaults on its elaborate navy infrastructure within the nation, Syria navy defectors have stated.
