Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — The Israel Air Force has conducted another attack on a
shipment of advanced missiles to Syria.

Western diplomatic sources said Israel sent nearly a dozen F-15 and F-16
fighter-jets to destroy Iranian-origin missiles that arrived in Damascus.
The sources said the attack took place on May 3 when warplanes fired
long-range air-to-ground missiles from neighboring Lebanon.

“There was an attack on at least one target around Damascus,” a source
said.

The shipment that landed in Damascus International Airport contained the Fateh-110 missile, with a range of up to 300 kilometers. The sources said Fateh-110s, upgraded in 2013, were believed meant for Iran’s proxy,
Hizbullah, in Lebanon.

The rebel Free Syrian Army reported the attack at the Damascus airport.
Later, Israeli sources also confirmed the strike to both Western and Israeli
media.

“We will not allow the transfer of weapons to terrorist organizations,”
a senior Israeli source told the Ynet news website on late May 4.

The Lebanese Army reported Israel Air Force operations over several
areas of Lebanon on May 2 and May 3. An army statement did not provide
details.

“These violations will not change Israel’s violent nature that we are
used to,” Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said. “These violations
will increase the tension and escalate the situation.”

The sources said Israel consulted with the United States during and
after the operation on a warehouse in the Syrian airport controlled by
Hizbullah as well as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They said
Israel’s military has maintained surveillance around Damascus airport for
Iranian weapons shipments.

“I don’t anticipate far reaching consequences in Lebanon or Syria,”
[Res.] Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, a former national security adviser, said.

This marked at least the second Israeli air strike on Syria in 2013. In
January, the Air Force struck a range of Syrian targets, including a convoy that was
transporting the Buk-M2, also known as SA-17, air defense system, to
Hizbullah in Lebanon.

“It [Hizbullah] is eager to take weapon systems, like rockets that can
reach, say, all the way here,” Israeli Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad,
who did not confirm the strike, said on May 3.

  Adnan Mansour, Amos Gilad, Damascus, Fateh-110 missile, Free Syrian Army, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Israeli air strike targets Iran weapons at Damascus airport, Israeli F-15 and F-16s