New Israeli Raids Target Iranian Militias in Syria

At around 9.30 pm on June 4, a swarm of Israeli aircraft launched air strikes against military positions held by Iranian militias and Syrian regime forces northwest of Hama, north of Homs, targeting defense facilities in the countryside near the village of Al-Zawy.

Umar Al-Ahmad, an IranWire correspondent in Syria, reported that the Israeli forces carried out the strike after having flown through Lebanese airspace near Byblos, Kesrouane, and Al-Matn.

Al-Ahmad added that the targeted facility included a research center and a missile store, where the missiles were being modified, noting also that the facility is under the control of Iranian militias connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp, with its experts and generals also supervising development operations inside the facility.

According to sources close to the facility, the aircraft were targeting a meeting between leaders of the Iranian militias and officers from the Syrian regime.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the death of at least nine members loyal to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, including four Syrians, indicating that it does not know whether those killed were from regime forces or the Iranian-backed militias. It is expected that the death toll will rise given the severity of the injuries to some others. 

The AFP news agency quoted the observatory's director as saying that the Israeli strikes targeted a defense facility and a scientific research center manufacturing short-range surface-to-surface missiles in Al-Zawy in the Masyaf region of the western Hama countryside.

The official SANA Syrian news agency announced that on May 4, Syrian air defenses responded to an Israeli attack near a town in the center of the country that caused major explosions.

SANA confirmed the location of the Israeli air strike but there was no word of any injuries or damage caused by the attack.

Lebanese Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, said: "Israel has violated the sovereignty of Lebanon by land, sea, and air more than a thousand times over the past five months," according to Al-Manar TV.

Diab added that: ”Israeli aircraft breaching Lebanese airspace and launching missiles from Lebanese territory is not only a reprehensible and condemnable violation of Lebanese sovereignty, it is also in reckless disregard and contempt for the United Nations Secretary-General's call to stop armed conflict and air strikes in order to dedicate efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic."

This is not the first time that the Masyaf region has been targeted by Israeli strikes, with the Syrian regime repeatedly accusing Israel of bombing Iranian and other Hezbollah targets in the area.

This air strike is the latest in a series of Israeli attacks on Syria over the past few weeks and comes amid escalating tensions between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah in the country.

Syria has also accused Israel of carrying out at least seven air strikes in the past two months, which are believed to have targeted Iranian interests and proxies.

This year, Israel has intensified its targeting of military areas controlled by the Syrian regime and Iranian militias, especially those within the vicinity of the capital, Damascus, and Homs.

Israeli Defense Minister, Naftali Bennett, has also threatened that Israel’s defense operations against Syrian and Iranian targets will continue until Iranian forces leave Syria.

Bennett said: "There is nothing for Iran in Syria. ... We will not stop until the Iranians leave Syria," adding that Iran entered Syria during the country’s civil war, which started in 2011, to establish a presence on Israel’s border with the aim of threatening Israeli cities such as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa.

"Iran has become a burden,” Bennet said. “While in the past it was a source of strength for the Syrians, helping al-Assad against ISIS, it has now become a burden."

Israel has reiterated that it will continue to respond to what it describes as Iran's attempts to consolidate its military presence in Syria and to send advanced weapons to Hezbollah.