BICOM

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) is reported to have destroyed a military facility in western Syria last night.

According to a report on Syrian state television, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) carried out four sorties against the facility outside the town of Al-Qusayr, which is 35 kilometres south of Homs, near the Lebanese border.

A commander in the Syrian army said the target was a copper factory whilst a Syrian human rights organisation claimed that the target was a military installation. Lebanese Al Mayadeen news, which is closely affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that Israel attacked a munitions warehouse in the region.

Syrian opposition sources says the target was a weapons warehouse and a number of explosions followed the airstrike.

In response, the Syrian army’s 72nd Brigade fired anti-aircraft missiles at the Israeli aircraft. Israel’s Channel 10 new said the aircraft were not hit and returned safely to base.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Office declined to comment on the reports.

In a rare public statement in August, the outgoing commander of the IAF, Amir Eshel, said Israel has attacked arms convoys of the Syrian military and its Lebanese ally, the Iran-backed Hezbollah, nearly 100 times in recent years. In September, Israel bombed a Syrian chemical weapons facility associated with April’s lethal chemical weapon attack in Khan Sheikhun that killed more than 80 people.

Last month, the IAF bombed a Syrian anti-aircraft battery after it fired an interceptor missile at an Israeli reconnaissance plane that Israel says was flying over Lebanon.

Speaking on Army Radio this morning Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz refused to confirm that Israel was behind the strike but emphasised that Israel’s policies are clear: “We have acted in the past and will act in the future to prevent weapons transfers.”