BICOM

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have carried out 800 targeted airstrikes in Syria since the start of the civil war, Israel’s military revealed yesterday.

A report submitted by IDF Chief of Staff, Gadi Eizenkot on the readiness of Israeli military capability, said 200 of those attacks have occurred in the last year and a half. They have mainly targeted advanced weapon systems and infrastructure sites belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, located in Syria.

Last night Syrian state news, SANA, accused Israel of bombing Iranian targets in the Hama and Tartus countryside. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three people were killed and 23 wounded, 14 Syrians and nine Iranians. Explosions were heard in the area between Masyaf and Wadi al-Uyoun in Hama and in the city of Baniyas in the Tartus region.

Syrian army sources said Israel attacked Syrian naval missile bases and warehouses off the Syrian coast. The sources told a Russian news outlet that the planes had also attacked S-200 anti-aircraft launchers. Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot said one of the targets was a factory where the Iranians and Syrians intended to build precision guided missiles.

Last Thursday, satellite photos published by ImageSat International purported to show the construction of an Iranian surface-to-surface missile factory in the area of Wadi al-Uyun. Masyaf is also home to the Scientific Studies and Research Center, known as the chemical weapons manufacturing facility, CERS, which Israel is alleged to have bombed several times in recent years.