BEIRUT: A wave of Israeli strikes on suspected military positions in Syria this week killed 42 people, including at least 19 Iranians, a Syria war monitor reported Saturday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll from attacks early Thursday has risen from 23 to 27, including at least 11 Iranians and six Syrian soldiers, including three officers.
Late Tuesday, Syrian state-run media said Israel struck a military outpost near the capital Damascus, saying that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed two of the incoming missiles. The Observatory said at least 15 were killed, eight of them Iranians, including a member of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's elite force.
This brings to 42, including 19 Iranians, the total killed during the two days of strikes.
Syria blamed Israel for the Tuesday strikes that hit near the capital. Israel said its Thursday strikes were in response to a barrage of Iranian rockets on its positions in the occupied Golan Heights, the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date.
The escalating confrontation between Israel and Iran has raised fears the region may be sliding into an unprecedented direct conflict between the two archenemies.
Israel's defense minister called on Syria's President Bashar Assad on Friday to rid his country of Iranian forces based there — warning their presence will only cause more trouble to the already war-ravaged country.
Avigdor Lieberman's comments were followed by threats from an Iranian cleric that Tel Aviv or Haifa would be in danger if Israel did "anything foolish."
The extent of the damage inflicted by the Israeli airstrikes was not immediately clear.
Israel said its rockets on Thursday were in response to a barrage of Iranian missiles at its positions in the occupied Golan Heights on Syria's southern borders. Israel said Iran has been deploying its allied militias in the area.
Iran said Israel's repeated attacks are based on "fabricated" reasons. Israel, however, said it hit targets near the capital, in southern and central Syria, hitting weapons storage, logistics sites and intelligence centers used by elite Iranian forces in Syria. It also said it destroyed several Syrian air-defense systems after coming under heavy fire and that none of its warplanes were hit.
The Syrian military acknowledged that the strikes destroyed a radar station and an ammunition warehouse, and damaged a number of air defense units. It said three people were killed and two were wounded.
Nineteen Iranians among dead in Israeli strikes in Syria this week
Nineteen Iranians among dead in Israeli strikes in Syria this week
Iran close to deal with China to buy supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles
- Giant aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford docks in Crete en route to Middle East
LONDON: Iran is close to a deal with China to purchase supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, as the US deploys a vast naval force near the Iranian coast ahead of possible strikes.
The CM-302 missiles have a range of about 290 kilometers and are designed to evade shipborne defences by flying low and fast. Their deployment would significantly enhance Iran’s strike capabilities and pose a threat to US naval forces in the region, two weapons experts said.
“It’s a complete gamechanger if Iran has supersonic capability to attack ships in the area,” said Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli intelligence officer and now senior Iran researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank in Israel. “These missiles are very difficult to intercept.”
It is not known how many missiles are involved in the potential deal, how much Iran has agreed to pay, or whether China would go through with the agreement given heightened tensions in the region.
“Iran has military and security agreements with its allies, and now is an appropriate time to make use of these agreements,” an Iranian foreign ministry official said.
Meanwhile the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest warship, has reached the US naval base of Souda Bay on the Mediterranean island of Crete en route to the Middle East.
Washington has more than a dozen warships in the region: the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, nine destroyers and three combat ships.
