Strikes reported in Daraa district on Assad regime strategic stronghold; Syrian army reports interference with radars during the attack, claims it downed Israeli missiles; IDF refuses to comment on reports.

 

Israel carried out airstrikes overnight in southern Syria not far from the border with the Golan Heights. According to Syria’s SANA, the strikes targeted military positions in Tal al-Harra in the Daraa district and activated Syrian army missile defense systems, downing several Israeli missiles. They additionally reported that Israel carried out “electronic warfare” after the Syrian army experienced interference with its radars during the attack.

According to the news agency, “Syrian air defenses at about 2:00 am confronted an Israeli aggression with missiles on Tal al-Harra in the southern region and downed a number of missiles,” and that the “Israeli enemy started an electronic war as the radars were exposed to jamming.”

There were no deaths reported from the strikes, but extensive damage to the sites was confirmed. The area targeted is an Assad regime, strategic stronghold overlooking the Golan Heights. It has several anti-missile and anti-aircraft systems in place, as well as Iranian military forces.

As with the majority of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) covert operations in Syria and Lebanon, the IDF refused to comment on Wednesday’s reports. The IDF last carried out a covert operation on the T-4 airbase in Syria on June 1, reportedly targeting an Iranian drone facility and destroying a transfer vehicle and an Iranian Revolutionary Guards missile depot. The base was targeted by the IDF a year prior after an Iranian drone was launched from the site and entered Israeli airspace.

The IDF has been clear that it will continue to thwart weapons transfers to Hezbollah and to Iran’s proxies, as well as any attack or threat on the State of Israel. It has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian army and Iranian sites in Syria and has been clear that it will not allow Iran to entrench itself in Syria.

 

 

Photo: Peter R. Foster IDMA/Shutterstock.com