The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that on Wednesday it conducted “wide-scale” air strikes on Iranian targets inside of Syria. The air strikes were meant to both weaken antagonists and send a message to Iran and the Quds forces operating inside of Syria that attacks against Israel will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
The strikes were in response to a Tuesday rocket attack from Iranian forces in Syria. Four rockets were fired at Israel, specifically at the Golan Heights. The IDF reports that all four rockets were neutralized before reaching their targets.
The Quds (Jerusalem) Force is an elite off-shoot of the Iranian Army under the direct supervision of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei.
Syrian state-run media reported only two deaths from the Israeli strikes, although other sources list the death toll to be at least 23, with some Iranians being among the dead.
The IDF tweeted, “We just carried out wide-scale strikes of Iranian Quds Force and Syrian Armed Forces targets in Syria in response to the rockets fired at Israel by an Iranian force in Syria last night.”
The IDF reported that several Syrian air-defense batteries were also destroyed in the attack. “During our strike of Iranian and Syrian terror targets, a Syrian air-defense missile was fired despite clear warnings to refrain from such fire. As a result, a number of Syrian aerial defense batteries were destroyed.”
Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the ongoing Syrian civil war, denounced the air strikes. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov called the strike the “wrong move” and declared it in “stark contrast” to international law.
Syrian state news reported that “most” of the Israeli missiles were destroyed by its air defense batteries, but imageson social media seem to belie that claim.
While Syria is the place where the Israeli attacks occurred, the message that Israel is sending reaches farther east than that, all the way to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iran has been using the Syrian civil war as a means to entrench itself in Syria by building military bases and establishing an intelligence network on Israel’s doorstep. Iran also has its tentacles in Iraq and Yemen, as it continues its attempt to become the region’s top military power.
As recently as September 30, a main commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said Israel would be wiped out. “This sinister regime [Israel] must be wiped off the map and this is no longer … a dream [but] it is an achievable goal,” said Major General Hossein Salami. Since it remains Iran’s goal to “wipe Israel off the map,” you can understand the Jewish state’s reluctance to having a large Iranian military presence just over the border.
Salami added that four decades since the Iranian Revolution, “We have managed to obtain the capacity to destroy the imposter Zionist regime.”
For years, Israel has been saying that it would not allow an Iranian military foothold in Syria. The Wednesday attacks seem to signal that Israel is becoming more serious about that declaration.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled on Wednesday that the game in Syria has changed and that Iranian aggression against the Jewish state will no longer be tolerated. “I made it clear: whoever harms us, we will harm them. That’s what we did tonight,” Netanyahu said. “We will continue to aggressively protect Israel’s security.”
Israel’s new defense minister, Naftali Bennett chose to call out Iran specifically. “The rules have changed: whoever fires on Israel during the day will not sleep at night,” Bennett said. “Our message to the leaders of Iran is simple: you are no longer immune. Any place you dispatch your tentacles, we will chop them off.”
While Israel has carried out literally hundreds of attacks in Syria since the civil war broke out in 2011, the Wednesday attacks seem to signal a new paradigm. Even a small rocket attack will now, apparently, be met with overwhelming force by the IDF.
Image: Screenshot of idf.il
James Murphy is a freelance journalist who writes on a variety of subjects with a primary focus on the ongoing anthropogenic climate-change hoax and cultural issues. He can be reached at [email protected]
