WarSclerotic

Israel allegedly struck a military base near Damascus on Tuesday night, according to Arab media reports. The reported strike comes amid rising regional tensions over the Iranian presence in Syria.

The reports were not corroborated by any Israeli official.

However, the Israel Defense Forces placed the country’s northern sector on high alert on Tuesday evening after spotting “irregular activity of Iranian forces” over the Syrian border.

The Syrian Arab News Agency said the Israeli Air Force struck in the Kisweh countryside south of Damascus, an area known to have numerous Syrian army bases.

Some reports said the strike targeted weapon depots and rocket launchers in Kisweh that most likely belonged to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Syria. Other reports said five different locations were bombed in northern and western Syria.

Syrian state media reported no casualties, but the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 15 people were killed including eight Iranian soldiers. Other reports put the number of casualties at between two and several dozens.

It was unclear from the Observatory’s report whether the casualties were members of the Revolutionary Guards or militias affiliated with Iran.

News of the strike came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump’s dramatic announcement that he was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, in which he called Iran a main exporter of terrorism in the Middle East.

SANA reported that Syrian air defenses intercepted two of the incoming missiles.

Lebanese media reported that IAF fighter jets targeted a Revolutionary Guards-backed Shiite militia that was gearing up to fire missiles at Israel’s north, and said there had been dozens of casualties in the strike.

Al Mayadeen, a television network affiliated with Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, also blamed Israel for the strike.

An official with the Iran-led regional alliance supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad said the strike targeted a Syrian army position but killed a Syrian couple who happened to be driving by in their car. He said there were jets in the sky but it was likely the position was targeted by surface-to-surface missiles from the Golan Heights.

Iran has vowed to retaliate for recent Israeli strikes targeting its assets in war-torn Syria.

The IDF placed Israel’s northern sector, bordering Syria and Lebanon, on high alert on Tuesday evening after spotting “irregular Iranian activity” over the Syrian border.

As a precaution, the IDF ordered communities in the Golan Heights to open and prepare bomb shelters.

The directive came “following the identification of irregular activity of Iranian forces in Syria,” the IDF said.

Later, the IDF said it was deploying air defense systems in the Golan Heights and had called up some reservists. It did not elaborate on the scale of the call-up.

“We are drafting reservists in specific cases, as required,” a military spokeswoman said.

The IDF says it is prepared for “various scenarios” and has warned that “any aggression against Israel will be met with a severe response.”

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he had spoken with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis and had “updated him on regional developments.”