Israel Attacks Syrian Army Base, Killing Three

Syria :Unsure If Attack Was Air Strike or Artillery

Three people were killed and two wounded on a Syrian Army Base in Quneitra Province today following an attack from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Syrian officials say they are unsure if the attacks were airstrikes, or artillery fired from across the frontier.

The attacks hit an ammunition warehouse on the base, with Syrian officials saying that it took some time for firefighters to get the fire under control. Israel has so far not commented on the latest attacks, how they took place or why.

That’s not unusual, as Israel officially confirms no more than a handful of its attacks against Syria, usually coyly alluding to strikes that they suggested were aimed at preventing weapons transfers to Hezbollah. In this case there appears to be no such pretext.

Of course, Israel also carries out nominally “retaliatory” attacks against Syrian military bases sometimes when stray fire crosses the frontier into Israeli-occupied territory, but there have been no such reports of that either today, raising confusion about the reason for this attack.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.