WarSclerotic

Israel attacked several targets in the Damascus International Airport on Saturday night, Syrian state media said, adding that Syrian air defenses intercepted some of the incoming missiles.

A war monitoring group said the attack targeted an arms shipment meant for Iranian forces or the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group.

According to Syrian reports, the target of the strike was a weapons depot in the airport that contained weapons delivered from Iran. Additional reports suggested that the strike destroyed a Russian-made S-200 Syrian missile defense battery.

Additional reports noted underground explosions, which were heard across Damascus. The state news agency SANA posted pictures showing what appeared to be air defenses firing into the air.

“Our air defense systems thwarted an Israeli missile aggression on Damascus International Airport,” Syrian state news agency SANA cited a military source as saying.

Witnesses at a major trade fair in the capital Damascus said they saw flares shooting up into the night sky.

An IDF spokesperson declined to comment, saying that Israel does not discuss foreign reports.

However, in a possible message to Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday morning that the Jewish state’s red lines were “sharper than ever.”

Speaking before the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, the prime minister added: “We must do everything to prevent war. Its victims destroy families and are an open wound in the heart of the nation. At the same time, if war is forced upon us, we must do everything to win it with minimum losses.

“Israel is always working to prevent our enemies from arming themselves with advanced weapons. Our red lines are sharper than ever and our determination to enforce them is stronger than ever,” he said.

On Sunday morning, Israel’s Hadashot TV reported that an Iranian Boeing-made cargo aircraft was targeted in the attack, along with several hangars disguised as belonging to the United Nations and global courier company DHL, in an effort to conceal their true purpose from Israeli intelligence.

Israel rarely acknowledges attacks inside Syria, but has said it would use military action to prevent weapons transfers to its enemies.

Earlier this month, an Israeli military official said the Jewish state has struck over 200 Iranian targets in Syria over the past 18 months.

Israel is widely believed to have been behind a series of airstrikes mainly targeting Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria that have joined the country’s war fighting alongside the regime.

An Israeli official said earlier this month that the targets were connected to Iran’s elite Quds force and included air force components, support infrastructure, and weapons storage and manufacturing facilities.

U.S. and Israeli officials have repeatedly insisted that Iran and Hezbollah withdraw from Syria, which shares a border with Israel.