WarSclerotic

Satellite images released by Israeli intelligence firm ImageSat Intl. (ISI) on Thursday show the destruction of an industrial zone in Syria’s Aleppo allegedly struck by Israel in late March.

The images show destruction to two structures, a hanger and a building, in the north-western part of the Sheikh Najjar Industrial area, both approximately 70×35 meters and some 450 meters apart.

The blasts also caused an electrical blackout in Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city.

“Barriers are detected near some of the entrances to the area where the two structures are located. It is possible that the whole perimeter is under the control and use of the same entity,” ISI said in their report, adding that private vehicles and trucks are seen in the images, both parked and passing by both bombed structures.

According to local reports, the attack on March 28th also targeted Iranian ammunitions stores and the Nairab military airport used by Tehran on the outskirts of the city, the second such strike on the installation in less than a year.

But according to ISI “other structures in the same area claimed as bombed by media reports were found undamaged.”

While the Syrian military said that the strike caused only material damage, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that at least seven Iranian-linked militia fighters were reported to have been killed in the alleged Israeli strike.

While the Israeli military has not commented on the strikes, Israel’s Acting Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz was quoted as saying by Haaretz on Thursday morning that “as far as Iran knows, it’s Israel” who carried out the strikes.

Israeli officials have repeatedly voiced concerns over Iran’s entrenchment in Syria and the smuggling of sophisticated weaponry to Hezbollah from Tehran to Lebanon via Syria, stressing that both are red-lines for the Jewish State.

In January Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel has a set policy of preventing Iran’s entrenchment in Syria, and that it would be enforced whether he is in Israel or abroad.

“We have a permanent policy to harm Iran’s establishment in Syria and to harm anyone who tries to harm us…This policy is permanent.”