by WorldTribune Staff, May 10, 2018
Israeli warplanes hit dozens of Iranian military targets in Syria on May 9 in one of its largest military operations in recent years.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that 28 Israeli planes took part in the airstrikes and fired a total of around 60 missiles.
“28 Israeli F-15 and F-16 aircraft were used in the attack, which released around 60 air-to-ground missiles over various parts of Syria. Israel also fired more than 10 tactical ground-to-ground missiles,” the ministry said in a statement, quoted by Interfax news agency.
Israel carried out the strikes after it said Iran’s Quds force fired around 20 rockets at Israeli forces in the Golan Heights. Sirens blared across the Golan Heights throughout the exchange, sending residents into bomb shelters, The Times of Israel reported.
Israel said its Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted four of the rockets while the rest did not land in its territory.
There were no reports of Israeli casualties in the attack. An army spokesperson said damage was caused to Israeli military bases, but that it was “limited.”
At least 23 fighters, including five Syrian regime troops and 18 other allied forces, were killed in the attacks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Israel launched the attack a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Netanyahu had told Putin that “it is the right of every state, certainly the right of Israel, to take the necessary steps in order to protect itself from (Iranian) aggression”, his office said in a statement on May 9, referring to Iran’s presence in Syria.
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