BICOM

The airstrike on the Tiyas (T4) base near Homs in Syria on 9 April targeted a ‘Tor’ Iranian air-defence missile system rather than drone equipment, according to the Wall Street Journal.  

The report stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strike after conferring with US President Donald Trump. The aim was to prevent Iran from using the new anti-aircraft system against Israeli aircraft.

Iran is reported to have been working on improving its air defence capability after Israeli airstrikes on 10 February destroyed Iranian and Syrian air defence systems after Iran sent a drone into Israeli airspace and was shot down.

The Wall Street Journal claims that following the February exchange of fire, Israel tracked an Iranian plane flying a Tor missile system from Tehran to the Tiyas base. Israel moved quickly to destroy the new system before it became operational.

As Israelis celebrated their 70^th Independence Day thousands of Israeli reservists from the 98th Division were mistakenly called up for reserve duty. The notice sent read: “An emergency call-up has been activated. Report immediate to the location … We remind you to bring the gas mask kit in your possession and your military equipment.”

An hour later the Israel Defence Forces sent a cancellation notice, saying: “Following an error, a call-up dialer for reservists was activated yesterday morning. We would like to clarify that this was a mishap that will be examined. The IDF clarifies that there is no call-up of reserves.”

Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Alex Fishman argued that a number of events in the past week represents a policy by the IDF. According to Fishman, a “slip of the tongue” by a high-ranking Israeli officer in the New York Times, dozens of Syrian anti-aircraft missiles fired at non-existent targets, and a reservist call up on Independence Day were not “accidental”. “So many ‘mistakes’ in one week — that is already a policy,” Fishman argues, saying that “it is difficult to shake the impression that someone wishes to put the Iranians off balance”.

He added: “This Israeli response is supposed to apply leverage to key power brokers in Syria – the Iranian regime, the Russians and to a certain degree the Syrian regime – in order to block the deployment of the Quds Force in Syria and to make it clear that it is not worth their while for all these players to continue to ignore the Israeli interests in Syria.”