BEIRUT: Israeli jets and ground-to-ground missiles struck Syria early on Tuesday, Syria’s army said, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated he would do what was needed to stop Hezbollah gaining ground. The Syrian army said in a statement carried by state television that Israeli jets fired missiles at the Al Qutaifa area near Damascus from inside Lebanese airspace at 2:40 am and Syrian air defences hit one of the planes.
Israel then fired rockets from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but the Syrian defences brought them down, the army said, adding that Israeli jets fired a final barrage of four rockets from inside Israel, one of which was intercepted by Syrian air defences while the others caused material damage.
Israel has pledged to prevent Syrian territory being used for foreign powers to set up bases or transfer high-quality weaponry to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
The Israeli military declined to comment.
Although the Israeli air force chief last August disclosed that his corps had struck in Syria around 100 times, Israel’s policy is generally not to confirm or deny such operations.
Netanyahu said in answer to a reporter’s question about the strikes that Israel’s policy was to stop Hezbollah moving “game-changing weapons” out of Syria.
“We back it up as necessary with action,” he said, without explicitly confirming Israel carried out Tuesday’s strikes.
In its statement, the Syrian army repeated previous warnings of serious repercussions for the strikes and repeated its past accusation that Israel was using attacks to support militant groups in Syria.
A European diplomat speaking earlier this week said there was an understanding between the United States and Russia that Hezbollah and other foreign fighters would be removed from the area in Syria close to the Israeli border.
“I don’t think that has happened very much up till now and that is a source of concern,” the diplomat said.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Syrian army was striking moderate opposition forces in Idlib province and this was undermining efforts to reach a political solution to the war.
Turkey has been fiercely opposed to Syrian President Bashar al Assad during his country’s six-year-old civil war but has recently been working with his allies Russia and Iran for a political resolution to the conflict.
The three countries agreed last year to establish a “de-escalation zone” in the opposition-held Idlib province and surrounding region, which borders Turkey, but Syrian forces have since launched an offensive in the area.
“Syrian forces are hitting the moderate opposition with the excuse that they are fighting Nusra. This attitude scuppers the political solution process,” state-run Anadolu news agency quoted Cavusoglu as telling reporters. — Agencies
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