As military operation against Hamas enters the 6th day, the Israeli military carried out airstrikes on the Syrian airports of Aleppo and Damascus. Both airports, previously linked to Iranian weapons supply to Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, were knocked out of service by the strike, Syrian state media confirmed.
The simultaneous strikes on Thursday morning took place ahead of the Iranian foreign minister’s trip to Syria, forcing his plane to land in Baghdad, Iraq. Besides Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon, Syria is a key ally for Iran. Iran’s Islamic Guard (IRGC) and Hezbollah have set up bases in the country. Iran’s forward military buildup in recent years suggest that Tehran wants to turns Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and Syria into a staging ground for future terrorist attacks and incursions.
Diverting from its standard practice of confidentiality, Israel admitting hitting Syria’s two main airports linked to Iranian weapons transfer to terrorists, the Israeli media reported. The official admission shows Israel is willing to openly take on Iran and its proxies following Saturday’s terrorist attack carried out by Iranian-sponsored terrorist group Hamas.
Meanwhile the Israeli death toll in Hamas’s multi-pronged terror onslaught surpassed 1300. The number of Israeli hostages, among them women, toddlers and elderly, has risen to 200. “Over 1,300 people — most of them civilians — were killed, according to the latest toll, more than 3,300 injured, and an estimated 200 were captured and taken to the Gaza Strip,” the Times of Israel reported Thursday morning.
Describing the strength of the shock terrorist attack staged from Gaza, the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS noted that “There were about 2,500 to 3,5000 Hamas terrorists involved in the brutal assault. Approximately 1,500 of them were killed in Israeli territory.”
The Jerusalem Post reported the IDF strike in Syria:
Alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted the international airports in Aleppo and Damascus, putting both out of service on Thursday, according to Syrian state media.According to the reports, the strikes targeted the runways at the airports.”This aggression is a desperate attempt by the criminal Israeli enemy to divert attention from the crimes it is committing in Gaza and the huge losses it suffers at the hands of the Palestinian resistance, which is part of the ongoing approach to supporting extremist terrorist groups that the Syrian army is fighting in the north of the country, which constitute an armed arm of the Israeli entity,” said a “military source” to the Syrian state news agency SANA.During the strikes, an Iranian Mahan Air flight that was about to land in Syria turned back to Tehran. Mahan Air has been shown to transport weapons, operatives, and funds for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah.The Damascus International Airport and the Aleppo International Airport are frequently used by Iran to transfer weapons, equipment, and operative to its proxies in the region, including Hezbollah.Additionally, during the strikes, a plane on which Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was in the air heading out of Iran, landing shortly afterward in Baghdad. The foreign minister is reportedly expected to visit Lebanon in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the IDF carried out overnight strikes against Hamas masterminds and perpetrators of Saturday’s cross-border terror attack.
The Israeli military disclosed the details of the counter-terrorism operations in a statement obtained by the Legal Insurrection:
[T]he IDF conducted a wave of strikes targeting the Nukhba elite forces of the Hamas terrorist organization, by striking operational command centers used by operatives who infiltrated the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip last Saturday.The Nukhba elite forces consist of terrorists selected by senior Hamas operatives, designated to carry out terrorist attacks such as ambushes, raids, assaults, infiltration through terror tunnels, as well as anti-tank missile, rocket, and sniper fire. The Nukhba elite forces were one of the leading forces that infiltrated the State of Israel in order to carry out murderous acts of terror against its citizens.Furthermore, IDF aircraft struck Muhammad Abu Shamla, a senior Hamas naval operative in the Rafah Brigade. Abu Shamla’s residence was used to store naval weapons designated for terror against the State of Israel.
During Saturday’s attack, the Hamas terrorists carried the flags of the Islamic State as they moved door to door slaughtering, raping and capturing helpless civilians, social media report say. The IDF on Thursday acknowledged the recovery of at least one ISIS flag at a massacre site in southern Israel.
The i24NEWS TV reported:
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, revealed on Thursday that thousands participated in Saturday’s surprise attack and the Hamas terrorists hung an ISIS flag in at least one location.Israeli soldiers found the ISIS flag among the equipment of the Hamas terrorist, after rescuing Kibbutz Sufa, the IDF confirmed on Thursday, following previous reports from the previous day. An official photo was provided for the press.
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