Israeli Warplanes Pound Accused Missile Factory in Syria

No report of casualties, but damage seen

Israel warplanes were sighted over the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Christmas Eve, firing missiles into neighboring Syria. Locals reported explosions in the Hama Province town of al-Maysaf.

Israeli media reports are presenting this as an attack on a missile factory that was providing arms to Hezbollah. It’s not clear that this is actually the case, but satellite imagery showed damage to multiple sites.

As many as four buildings were destroyed in those attacks, but there is no conclusive report on casualties. Syrian state media reported anti-aircraft systems activating during the attacks, but similarly mentioned no casualties.

Israeli reports are keen to present any attack on Syria as targeting some other Shi’ite group, in this case Hezbollah. This is all in keeping with Israel’s obsession with targeting Iran, and  presenting any Shi’ites in the area as Iranian proxies.

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.