[IsraelTimes] Before heading to anti-Iran conference in Poland, Netanyahu says IDF is fighting Iranian entrenchment in Syria ’every day, including yesterday’.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday confirmed that Israel had carried out a military strike in the Syrian Golan Heights the night before, further breaking from Israel’s previous policy of ambiguity around its activities against Iran in Syria.
On Monday night, Syrian state media reported that Israel had shelled targets in the deserted Syrian city of Quneitra.
According to the state-run SANA news agency, an Israeli tank or tanks shelled an abandoned hospital in Quneitra and a nearby observation post.
Quneitra lies just across the border on the Golan Heights, in the demilitarized zone between the countries.
According to SANA, the shelling caused material damage but no casualties.
Israeli military news hounds were told that the strike targeted Iranian-backed Shiite snuffies trying to set up a base of operations near the Israeli border. The tank shelling was also meant to serve as a warning to Syria and other Iranian proxies that Israel would not tolerate Tehran’s efforts to establish a permanent military presence in the Syrian Golan.
Syrian Army reinforces border along occupied Golan HeightsFor the first time since their military operation in the Al-Quneitra Governorate, the Syrian Arab Army has reinforced the border of the occupied Golan Heights, a source told Al-Masdar News.
According to the source, the Syrian Arab Army’s 5th Division sent reinforcements to the area near the 90th Brigade base in the Al-Quneitra Governorate.
Reinforcements from the National Defense Forces (NDF) in Dara’a were also redeployed to this front as the Syrian Arab Army’s High Command takes several measures to beef up their defenses.
This move by the Syrian Arab Army’s High Command comes just 24 hours after they placed their air defense forces on high alert across western Syria.
Before and after satellite images of Syrian air defenses near Damascus Airport
[AlMasdar] Russia’s Directorate 4 channel on Telegram released two satellite images this week of the Syrian air defense positions after they were struck by the Israeli Air Force on January 21st.
As shown in the images below, the Syrian air defense positions around the Damascus International Airport were mostly destroyed after the Israeli attack:
| Images at the link. I can’t tell the difference, but I’m willing to believe there is one. |
Initially, the Syrian military was able to repel a small Israeli Air Force attack on a garrison near Al-Kisweh during the day on January 21st; however, once a shell landed in the occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli Air Force responded with a large series of strikes.