Unidentified aircraft conducted two separate bombardments in Syria last night, both of which Damascus officials have attributed to the Israeli Air Force.
Both strikes were reportedly conducted around the same hour, at 10:30 pm. The first aerial attack targeted an institute for scientific research near the city of Al-Safira, situated in the southeastern countryside of Aleppo governorate.
Intelligence sources confirmed to TV7 that the targets were Syrian installations and military warehouses, including the so-called scientific research institute – dubbed ‘Branch 247’.
While the alleged Israeli strike caused extensive destruction to what are believed to be a number of ‘weapons caches of the Damascus regime and its allied Iranian-backed proxies’; no injuries have yet to be reported.
Shortly after the first attack, a number of explosions were reported in the al-Mayadeen desert, which is situated in the rural Deir ez-Zor governorate. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, unidentified aircraft – that are believed to be Israeli – targeted positions belonging to Iranian militias.
It is important to mention that limited information on this attack has emerged. Nevertheless, the area targeted is known as a smuggling-corridor adjacent to the Syrian border with Iraq. According to verified intelligence reports, the referred to territory is currently controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its most loyal Iraqi proxy, Kataib Hezbollah of the Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic.
Last night’s reported strikes were the fourth such bombardments against Iranian controlled installations and proxy arms warehouses in less than two weeks, all of which allegedly conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces. And while the IDF Spokesperson’s unit refused to confirm nor deny its involvement; Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett seemingly confirmed Israel’s claimed activities.
Speaking last Tuesday, one day after the first of four reported attacks, Israel’s top Defense Official highlighted in a statement that “We have moved from blocking Iran’s entrenchment in Syria to forcing it out of there, and we will not stop.” Minister Bennett further stressed that the IDF will continue to “take the fight to the enemy’s territory” as Jerusalem “will not allow more strategic threats to grow just across (Israel’s) borders without taking action.”