Netanyahu: Israel attacked Iranian arms depots in Damascus airport
In order to prevent Iran from reinforcing its military position in Syria, Israel is prepared to increase its attacks against Iranian facilities in the neighboring country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday during a visit to the northern regions of the Hebrew state.
“[On Friday night] Israel attacked an Iranian warehouse with weapons at the Damascus International Airport. This reflects our resolve to prevent Iran’s military consolidation in Syria. If necessary, we are prepared to intensify such attacks,” the chancellery cited the prime minister as saying.
“During the same period of time, the Israeli army discovered a sixth tunnel which had been excavated into Israel by Hezbollah militants, the largest of all. This is a successful conclusion to operation Northern Shield, which was conducted for the security of Israel,” Netanyahu said after meeting with participants in the military operation.
Operation Northern Shield was begun on December 4 on the Lebanese border with the purpose of eliminating the underground passages excavated by Hezbollah.
Earlier, during a weekly Knesset session, Netanyahu acknowledged that the Israeli Air Force had attacked Iranian targets in the Damascus International Airport “in the last 36 hours”. He also said that the IDF had attacked Iranian and Hezbollah targets “hundreds of times”.
The Syrian Arab News Agency reported that Israel had attacked a storage facility in the region of the Damascus airport on Friday night. According to the TV channel Al Hadath, Israeli aircraft attacked Iranian military warehouses which were being used by the Shiite militia “Hezbollah”, who fight for the Syrian government. The last time Israel admitted to an attack in Syria was on December 25.