Israeli Airstrike Kills Syrian Soldier, Wounds Five

Attacks targeted ammunition depot

Details of Israeli airstrikes early Wednesday continue to emerge. The strikes hit an ammunition depot in a small Syrian town near Damascus. The strikes killed at least one Syrian soldier, and wounded five others.

The soldiers were from an air defense unit in the area, and Syrian media are reporting that they were targeted in the course of the attacks. Two of the wounded were gravely so.

As with most Israeli strikes in Syria, this was quickly spun as an attack on Shi’ite militias, with claims that the ammunition depot provided access to Hezbollah. There is no sign that Hezbollah forces were present, or were among the casualties.

Though Israel denied comment on the matter, the Syrian Observatory suggested that the depot was used by Hezbollah to store arms that would ultimately be smuggled into neighboring Lebanon. Such smuggling is certainly ongoing, but it’s not clear that’s true in this particular case. Israel has used this to justify past attacks, and since this attack was Israeli, reports are likely anticipating the justification, if one is ever offered.

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.