By BelieveMedia1 / May 10, 2018
ISRAEL has blasted Iran’s bases in Syria with 70 missiles killing “at least 23 fighters” in revenge for rocket strikes on Golan Heights.
Fighter jets bombarded military bases, munitions warehouses and intelligence centres, after Tel Aviv stoked fears of a war by warning: “If it rains in Israel it will pour in Iran.”
The strikes hit “nearly every target” and were in response to “20 rockets” fired by the Iranian Quds Force, Israeli military chiefs claimed.
Five Syrian soldiers, including two officers, and 18 militia fighters were killed in the attack, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The death toll is likely to rise because some of the wounded are in critical condition, a spokesman for the group explained.
The Observatory believes the strikes targeted suspected locations of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, as well as areas where Iranian advisers are believed to be based.
The conflict came hours after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuke deal with Iran.
Tel Aviv said the missiles at the Jewish state’s defensive line, near southern Syria, were fired by Iran – who in turn were responding to strikes on Damascus.
Israel’s Iron Dome defence system intercepted some of the rockets and no one was injured, Israel military confirmed.
Israel’s minister of defence Avigdor Lieberman said: “I want to warn of arrogance. There was no sweeping victory tonight. This is not the Battle of Stalingrad.
“It was a limited confrontation and should be confined to it and not expanded.”
Theresa May has “condemned” the Iranian strikes and called on Vladimir Putin to convince his Syrian president ally Bashar al-Assad to stop plans for further attacks.
A spokesman for the PM said: “Israel has every right to defend itself.
“We call on Iran to refrain from any further attacks and for calm on all sides. We call on Russia to use its influence in Syria to prevent further Iranian attacks.”
Meanwhile angry demonstrators in the Iranian capital of Tehran burned American flags as they protested against Trump’s landmark nuke move.
Yesterday, ministers burned US paper flags in the Middle Eastern nation’s parliament as shouted “death to America”
Shortly before the suspected strikes on the Golan Heights, an annexed area occupied by the Israelis since 1967, Syria claimed that Israel had attacked targets in the Quneitra province south of Damascus.
Syria’s state media said air defences had intercepted “hostile Israeli missiles”, fired over the south west of the capital city, early on Thursday morning.
It later claimed Israeli missiles had destroyed a radar on the northern border.
The bombardment comes after missiles strikes on Tuesday were attributed to Israel following reports of “irregular activity” of Iranian forces in Syria.
Campaigners said the strikes killed at least 15 people and targeted depots and rocket launchers that likely belonged to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
The Israel Air Defence Command (IDF) had deployed the Iron Dome defence systems and opened bomb shelters in Golan Heights and in northern Israel in preparation for retaliatory strikes.
Tuesday’s attacks represent an immediate escalation in tensions in the region after US President Donald Trump walked away from the 2015 nuclear agreement Barack Obama struck with Iran.
Known officially as the JCPOA, the so-called Iran deal was designed to curb Iranian nuclear ambitions while in return easing the sanctions crippling its economy.
Israel, which almost never confirms or denies airstrikes in Syria, did not comment on Tuesday’s attack.
Last month, an IDF strike on Syria’s T4 air base in Homs province killed seven Iranian military personnel.
On April 30, Israel was said to have struck government outposts in northern Syria, killing more than a dozen pro-government fighters, many of them Iranians.
Israel did not confirm most of the airstrikes although for months it has repeatedly said it will not accept a permanent Iranian military presence in Syria.
In February, the Jewish state, which is a major ally of the US in the troubled region, shot down what it said was an armed Iranian drone that entered Israeli airspace.
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