Syrian State Media has reported that Israel on August 17, 2021, carried out a missile attack on Southwestern Syria targeting an unspecified military position. There was no comment from the Israeli Government.
The State Media reported that the explosions were heard in Quneitra province in Southwestern Syria near the border with Israel. It is an area where the military defectors say Iranian-backed militias are dug in.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, informed that the missiles struck areas where Iran-backed fighters are based.
The area where the United Nations peacekeepers maintain a long-standing ceasefire between Israel and Syria has a strong presence of Iranian-backed militias led by the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Where Israel has fired missiles in Syria? |
The report by the Syria State Media did not specify if there were any casualties due to the missile attack.
It mentioned that two missiles were fired towards the military position near the Southern town of Quneitra, on the edge of Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The pro-Damascus Mayadeen television channel reported that Israeli missiles struck an area near the Druze frontier town of Hadr. It is a particularly sensitive zone as it lies next to the Golan Heights which was captured by Israel from Syria in 1967.
Conflict between Israel and Syria:
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked military targets in the war-ravaged Syria over the years. However, the country has rarely acknowledged or discussed such operations.
Israel has viewed Iranian entrenchment on its northern frontier as a red line. It has repeatedly struck the Iran-linked facilities and the weapons convoys destined for Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
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Israel expands airstrikes on Syria: Over the last two years, Israel has dramatically expanded its airstrikes on the suspected Iranian targets in Syria in order to repel what it sees as a stealthy military encroachment by its regional arch-enemy. Israel says that it will not allow Iran and its militias to establish a permanent military presence along with its borders that will allow Hezbollah to pose a major threat to its security. |
Hezbollah Group:
Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and the militant group which is led by Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. The idea of the militant group had arisen among Lebanese clerics after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.