Satellite images show massive destruction at a giant military installation in western Syria that was the target of a recent Israeli airstrike. Bombing blew up a warehouse of hundreds of medium-range missiles for Iran-backed fighters in the country last week, according to the head of a Syrian opposition war monitor. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the Israelis hit several positions, but the main target was a giant weapons cache containing about 1,000 medium-range precision-guided missiles. He said explosions at the facility continued for more than five hours after the attack. An underground missile development facility in the area overseen by Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was not affected, possibly because it was dug deep into the mountains. Abdurrahman said the attack killed a Syrian army chief and wounded 14 other Syrians. “The explosions were among the largest since Israel began carrying out airstrikes in Syria,” he said. There was no official comment from the Israeli military.
“Deterrence Reconfirmed”
Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the top US Air Force officer in the Middle East, said he was “certainly aware” of reports that Israel targeted the weapons depot in Syria, but stressed there was “no connection” between that attack and the American airstrikes. struck Iran-linked targets in Syria last week. He said the US military’s recent actions “are completely disconnected from any other factor, whether the Israelis or anyone else.” Regarding the attacks that raised tensions between US-backed and Iran-backed militias in Syria last week, Grynkewich said he hoped “things have de-escalated and now we’ve reached a point where deterrence has been re-established.” Israeli missiles were fired over the Mediterranean and most were shot down, Syrian state media reported. After Thursday’s attack near the cities of Tartus and Hama, a fire broke out in nearby forests. The Israeli strike targeted a weapons depot and scientific research center near the central town of Masyaf, a government stronghold, Syrian opposition activists said. Masyaf is located almost halfway between the coastal city of Tartous and the central city of Hama. The Times of Israel on Sunday published images taken by Planet Labs PBC and provided by Aurora Intel, a network that provides news and updates based on open source intelligence. Aurora Intel posted on Twitter an initial analysis of satellite images showing some buildings and areas severely damaged. Areas around the Center for Scientific Studies and Research suffered “extensive fire damage due to the secondary explosions”. Images showed part of the green spaces surrounding the facility had been burned. Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on targets in government-held areas of Syria over the past decade of the civil war, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. But it has acknowledged targeting bases allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and other Iranian-backed militias. Israeli military officials have said in the past that the strikes are against an Iranian entrenchment in Syria. At least three Syrian soldiers were killed and three others wounded in “multiple” Israeli missile strikes in Syria on August 14, according to Syrian state media.
