BEIRUT: Israeli jets and ground-to-ground missiles struck Syria early on Tuesday, Syria’s army said, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated he would do what was needed to stop Hezbollah gaining “game-changing” Iranian weapons.
The Syrian army said in a statement carried by state television that Israeli jets fired missiles at the Al-Qutaifa area near Damascus from inside Lebanese airspace at 2:40 a.m. (0040 GMT) and Syrian air defenses hit one of the planes.
Israel then fired rockets from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but the Syrian defenses brought them down, the army said, adding that Israeli jets fired a final barrage of four rockets from inside Israel, one of which was intercepted by Syrian air defenses while the others caused material damage.
Israel has pledged to prevent Syrian territory being used for Iran to set up bases or transfer high-quality weaponry to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, which has been helping Damascus beat back a six-year-old rebellion.
The Israeli military declined to comment. Although the Israeli air force chief last August disclosed that his corps had struck in Syria around 100 times, Israel’s policy is generally not to confirm or deny such operations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in answer to a reporter’s question about the strikes that Israel’s policy was to stop Hezbollah moving “game-changing weapons” out of Syria.
“We back it up as necessary with action,” he said, without explicitly confirming Israel carried out Tuesday’s strikes.
In its statement, the Syrian army repeated previous warnings of serious repercussions for the strikes and repeated its past accusation that Israel was using attacks to support militant groups in Syria.
A European diplomat speaking earlier this week said there was an understanding between the United States and Russia that Hezbollah and other foreign fighters would be removed from the area in Syria close to the Israeli border.
“I don’t think that has happened very much up till now and that is a source of concern,” the diplomat said.
Syria says Israel hits territory with jets, missiles
Syria says Israel hits territory with jets, missiles
Deal with Iran ‘Unimaginable,’ Pompeo tells WGS in Dubai
- UAE’s Gargash says he would like to see direct US negotiations with Tehran
DUBAI: Former US secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, told the World Government Summit in Dubai on Monday that he believed a deal between Iran and the United States was “unimaginable” under the current Ayatollah regime believing US strikes on the nation were still a possibility despite the apparent deescalation of the last few days.
“It's unimaginable that there could be a deal. To me, we've had a deal with Iranians multiple times,” he told a panel in Dubai on Tuesday.
“They have cheated and lied and avoided compliance with every deal they've signed.”
Pompeo was central to the US decision to leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal when he served as secretary during Donald Trumps first term. According to the US department of Justice, the Islamic Republic subsequently placed a $1 million bounty on his head.
Trump has in previous days said the US was seeking to srike a deal with Iran whilst simultanously ordering a large scale militray build up in the region. Pompeo said that he believed the US president could use military strikes – or at least the threat of them – to increase leverage on the regime to give up its enrichment and missiles fully, although he remained cynical of anything being achieved without regime change.
“To think that there's a long-term solution that actually provides stability and peace to this region while the Ayatollah was still in power, is something I pray for, but find unimaginable,” Pompeo said.
On Syria, Pompeo expressed cautious optimism that the interim president Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa will succeed in rebuilding his country with a lasting peace.
Al-Sharaa has previously said he was focused on consolidating power, rebuilding state institutions, integrating military factions, and restoring Syria's international relations, including with the United States, Russia, and regional powers.
Pompeo said he maintained a level of mistrust in the Syrian president – most notably due to his involvement with Al-Qaeda - but added that he hoped Al-Sharaa would do well.
“I have known of Mr. Sharaa for a long time, when I was a CIA director… we had a $10m bounty on his head. He was an Al Qaeda terrorist,” he said.
“It is important for the region to get stability in Syria and so I am rooting for him…. I hope we all do our part to help him be more successful at bringing a very fractured nation back together so that.”
He said he hoped the up to seven million people who had fled the country as refugees could one day return to their homes.
“But it is a very difficult task for anyone and someone with the history that he has, I think it makes it even more complicated for him to be successful. But he’s the leader today and we all should hope that he is able to pull off what It is he has stated his intentions are.”
Pompeo was joined on stage by former UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, who was more hopeful of a diplomatic solution to the Iranian crisis; saying the region stood firm against escalation and further prolonged military conflict.
Gargash believed that it was in the best interest of Iran to strike a deal with the US that would open the pathway to it resolving its multitude of crises.
“I think that the region has gone through various various calamitous confrontations. I don't think we need another one,” he told the summit.
“I would like to see direct Iranian American negotiations leading to understandings so that we don't have these issues every other day.”
Speaking more broadly on regional security, Gargash said resolving the Palestinian issue was still of utmost importance if the middle east was to secure a prosperous future. He said that the UAE was commiitted to seeing through the Trumps plan but ruled out rumours that the emirates was poised to take over governance of the territory.
“We have to work with the Palestinians. We have to work with the Egyptians, the Israelis, the Jordanians, and of course, American leadership is key, really, for achieving a sort of, I won't say, sustainable solution at this time, but moving on with with the part two of President Trump's plan,” he said.
On the international stage, Gargash said he bvelived the health of the China-US relationship was the biggest hinderence to peace – warning that if not managed properly it would likely lead to increasing comflict around the world. He said it was paramount that the two countries maintained a mature relationship based on competition.
