Israel strikes ‘almost all’ Iranian infrastructure sites in Syria

Tel Aviv/Damascus (dpa), 10 May 2018 - Israel said Thursday it hit “almost all” of Iran’s infrastructure sites during dozens of airstrikes overnight in Syria.   
It is the the worst direct violence in years between arch-rivals Iran and Israel, raising fears that a wider conflict could erupt in the region.   

“We have hit almost all of the Iranian infrastructure in Syria. They must remember that if it rains here (in Israel) it will pour there,” Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.

 
Israel said the strikes were in response to Iranian forces firing 20 rockets at Israeli positions in the Golan Heights.   

“Iranian missiles did not reach Israeli territory, they either fell in Syria or was intercepted by Iron Dome [missile defence system]” Lieberman said at a security conference in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.   

Iranian officials have yet to comment on the Israeli claims.   

The targeted positions are believed to be manned by Iranians, their allied Lebanese Hezbollah and government forces, the Britain-based watchdog said.   

The targeted positions are believed to be manned by Iranians, their allied Lebanese Hezbollah and government forces, 

The Syrian army command said in a statement carried by the official news agency SANA that three soldiers were killed. A radar station and an ammunition depot were destroyed, while a number of air defence facilities were damaged, it added.   

Thursday’s exchange was the most severe flare-up so far between Israel and Tehran over Iran’s military presence in Syria during the country’s seven-year civil war.   
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were the among the world leaders to discuss the sharp escalation in tensions and to urge restraint.