Tabnak – Worried over the latest achievements of the Syrian Army against the rebel and terrorist groups, the Israeli regime has apparently started a new phase of attempts to intervene in Syria. In this vein, it is reported that the Israeli warplanes have once again targeted the army positions inside Syria.
Reuters cites a commander in a military alliance fighting in support of Damascus as saying that an Israeli air strike targeted a factory south of the Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday and the Syrian army responded by firing a surface-to-air missile at the aircraft.
The commander told Reuters the air strike had hit a copper factory in the industrial town of Hisya, 35 km (21 miles) south of Homs and 112 km (70 miles) north of Damascus. The commander did not give details of any casualties.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based organization that reports on the war, said the air strike had targeted a military installation.
An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment. Israel’s Channel 10 said the aircraft were not hit and returned safely to base. The Israeli air force claims it has struck arms convoys of the Syrian military and the Lebanese Hezbollah, nearly 100 times in recent years.
In fact, during the past few years, Israel has frequently attacked military targets in Syria in what is considered as an attempt to prop up terrorist groups that have been suffering heavy defeats against Syrian government forces.
Back in April 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially admitted for the first time that the regime's military had conducted strikes in Syrian territory.
Damascus says Israel and its Western and regional allies are aiding radical terrorist groups operating inside the Arab country, while the Tel Aviv regime's military carries out such sporadic strikes against Syrian government forces. The Israeli regime has even set up field hospitals to treat wounded militants evacuated from Syria.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials have expressed alarm at Iranian influence in Syria, where pro-Iran groups have played a critical role fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad during the conflict that erupted in 2011.
In this vein, in one of the others recent Israeli interventions, the Israeli air force attacked a Syrian anti-aircraft battery earlier that week that Israel said had fired a missile at its planes while they were on a reconnaissance mission over neighboring Lebanon.
"I can't, of course, relate to reports about the Israel Forces' attack in Syria, but regardless, Israel's position is clear: smuggling arms to Hezbollah is a red line in our eyes," Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz told Army Radio on Thursday. Another red line was "Iran's consolidation in Syria", he said.
"I think the other side also understands this clearly and actions that took place in the past for which we did take responsibility, were actions that were according to these lines."
It should be noted that the border separating Syria and the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights has been tense since foreign-backed militancy gripped the Arab country in 2011, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people so far.
