Israel Attacks Syria’s Homs Province, Syria Fires Anti-Aircraft Missiles

Attack Reportedly Targeted Syrian Weapons Depot

The latest in a growing number of Israeli airstrikes against Syrian territory appears to have been one of the most ambitious yet, striking deep into the Homs Province, near the Lebanese border and destroying what was said to be a weapons depot for the Syrian military.

The attack destroyed the site, and provoked retaliatory fire from Syrian air defense, who fired a number of surface-to-air missiles at the Israeli warplanes. Israeli officials say none of their planes were hit in the incident.

This is just the most recent of several attacks by Israel in the last few weeks against Syrian military targets. Though Israel used to be very coy about their attacks on Syria, in recent instances the Israeli press seems to have no problem getting official confirmation.

Where this is all leading is another matter, however. Israel has been very public about being upset that the Assad government is winning the Syrian War, and with ISIS and al-Qaeda both on the ropes, Syria may not feel so overwhelmed by existing fights that they feel incapable of retaliating. Likewise, Russia’s patience with Israeli attacks has always been tentative, at best, and could quickly dry up.

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.