Israel Strikes Weapons Warehouse in Syria
Tense Borders: U.N. peacekeepers keep wary eye on border area between Syria, Israel and Lebanon after Israel mounted air strikes on a missile facility earlier this summer. Image by getty images
Israel was responsible for an attack earlier this month on a missile warehouse in Syria, unnamed U.S. officials said.
A New York Times report on Saturday cited the officials in saying that Israel carried out the July 5 air attack near Latakia, a major Syrian port city, targeting advanced anti-ship cruise missiles sold to the Syria government by Russia.
Israeli officials and Pentagon officials declined to comment to The New York Times on the report. Syrian rebels have said they were not behind the Latakia attack.
It would be the fourth Israeli airstrike against weapons targets in Syria in recent months.
Israel has said it will not get involved in Syria’s two-year civil war, but has indicated that it will attack weapons stockpiles in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of Hezbollah, a terrorist group.
Israel in January reportedly struck a weapons convoy in Syria carrying Russian-made missiles en route to Hezbollah. In May, Israel reportedly twice struck Syrian missile stockpiles.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the attacks, though U.S. officials have identified Israel as the attacker in all three incidents.
Russia said last month it would honor its commitment to deliver the advanced air defense missile system to Syria, despite objections from the United States, Israel and other Western nations.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
