WarSclerotic

Report: Syria strike conducted from Lebanon – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Source in rebel unit says F-16 jets carried out three strikes as details on Israeli strike in Syria continue to emerge. Meanwhile, US sources estimate warplanes didn’t enter Syrian airspace

Yoav Zitun, Roi Kais

Hours after the first reports of an Israeli strike in Syria, details about the mysterious attack continue to emerge.

A source at a rebel intelligence unit in Damascus said that F-16 jets carried out three strikes on the road connecting Damascus and Beirut.

One of the strikes, he said, hit a site near the Syrian army’s fourth armored division in the city of al-Saboura. According to foreign sources, the jets carried out the attacks from Lebanese airspace.

The rebel source said that the attack targeted a Hezbollah -bound anti-aircraft missile convoy but according to recent estimates they were ground-to-ground missiles.

Earlier on Saturday, an Israeli official told the Associated Press that the shipment was not of chemical arms, but of “game changing” weapons bound for Hezbollah.

Another Israeli source who spoke with the New York Times said that while chemical weapons draw much attention, Israel is far more concerned about advanced conventional weapons.

Additionally, Qasim Saad al-Din, a commander in the Free Syrian Army, said he does not believe the target was anti-aircraft missiles and noted that the group has yet to confirm the exact location of the strike.

IDF tanks on Syrian border (Photo: AFP)

“We estimate they were long range missiles of some sort with the ability to carry chemical substances,” he said.

Another question that arose Saturday was whether Israeli jets had invaded Syrian airspace.

Based on initial indications, US officials told CNN they do not believe Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace to conduct the strikes. It was estimated the strike was carried out from Lebanon.

According to Reuters, Israel’s air force possesses so-called “standoff” bombs that coast dozens of kilometers (miles) across ground to their targets once fired. That could, in theory, allow Israel to attack Syria from its own turf or from adjacent Lebanon.

Ynet’s defense analyst Ron Ben-Yishai estimates the assault was not conducted from Lebanese airspace but from greater distance, possibly from over the sea. Israel’s Rafael-manufactured “Popeye” system is capable of carrying out such strikes.

Last January, it was reported that the IAF attacked a weapons convoy en route to the Syria-Lebanon border. Damascus later admitted that a military research center in the Jamraya region had been bombed.

Some believe that Syria lied about the target to disguise the fact that it supplied Hezbollah with Russian weapons and SA-17 advanced anti-aircraft missiles.

Meanwhile, the IDF ‘s Northern Command raised its alert level in response to battles in the Syrian Golan area. Syrian opposition sources in Quneitra reported loud blasts caused by shelling in the demilitarized buffer zone. According to the sources, mortar shells hit several houses in the area.

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