BICOM

The Syrian army has accused Israel of attacking an arms depot at a military base near Damascus early this morning.

The Syrian opposition-affiliated Qasioun website reported that four Israeli planes carried out the attack in al-Qutayfah, a base used by the Syrian military’s 155th Artillery Regiment.

The pro-regime al-Mayadeen news outlet reported that multiple strikes occurred between 02:40 and 04:15 and were carried out by aircraft operating in Lebanese airspace and surface-to-surface missiles.

In a statement, the Syrian army said:  “Two ground-to-ground missiles fired once again from the occupied Golan territory at 3:04 am were intercepted by our air defence system. At 4:15 am, the enemy fired four missiles from Tiberias, which were also intercepted by our air defence system. Some property was damaged as a result of the interception of one of the missiles near one of the military posts.”

It claimed that the attacks were “further proof that Israel supports the armed terror organisations in Syria, in their desperate attempt to raise their morale in light of their defeats in Harasta and Ghouta al-Sharqiya in the Damascus suburbs, alongside the Syrian army’s crushing victories in Idlib”.

The Syrian army also warned Israel of “serious ramifications of such aggressive acts” saying that it “sees Israel as fully responsible for its moves. We are prepared to deal with these attacks and we will continue our war against the terror organisations. We will cut off Israel’s arms of terror and restore security and stability on all Syrian lands”.

Israel did not comment on the reports. In an interview in August 2017, outgoing Israel Air Force chief Amir Eshel said Israel had hit Syrian and Hezbollah arms convoys nearly 100 times over the last five years in order to prevent the transfer of sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah.

On Sunday, Israel’s Channel 10 news reported that the Security Cabinet was holding a series of meetings to assess the military threat from Iran in Syria. Senior Israeli officials expressed concerns over developments on the northern border because of Iran’s growing influence in the region. Asked about the meetings on Monday, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Army Radio: “The Middle East is raging around us, and what concerns us the most are Iranian efforts to establish military bases in Syria. The Prime Minister is leading a multifaceted campaign to stop this entrenchment.”