A day after allegations of Israeli strikes in Syria, speculation concerning the circumstances of the attacks point to an Israeli interception of a missile stockpile en route to Hezbollah terrorists.

Syrian television claimed that the Israeli military hit targets near Damascus on December 8. The regime of Bashar al-Assad rushed to condemn the strikes and claimed cooperation between Syrian rebels and Israel. “The Israeli enemy committed aggression against Syria by targeting two safe areas in Damascus province, in all of Dimas and near the Damascus International Airport,” state television reported, adding that there were no casualties.

Pursuant to its usual policy, Israel has neither admitted nor denied the attacks.

Syrian sources told the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper (Arabic link) that the raids likely targeted a repository of advanced Russian missiles that were destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The sources added that the airport in Dimas near the Lebanese border is believed to hold a repository of sophisticated air defense missiles, which was recently received from Russia.

A similar view was expressed by Ron Ben-Yishai, who commented in Israel’s Yediot Aharonoth newspaper that Iran continues to “play with fire”:

“The strikes in Syria on Sunday afternoon, which have been attributed to the Israeli Air Force, were likely intended to prevent the transfer of advanced weaponry from Iran to Hezbollah. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard continues to play with fire by equipping Hezbollah with arms that have the capability to cause widespread losses and destruction in Israel.

The appraisal is based on the fact that the targets were in two distant areas – one near the international airport in Damascus and the other in Dimas, west of the capital, mere miles from the border with Lebanon.

It is widely believed that shipments of missiles and other arms destined for Hezbollah land in Iranian cargo jets at the airport in Damascus, then transferred to a Syrian military storage site, until they are sent to over the border to Lebanon.”

Ben-Yishai notes that Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon previously announced “three red lines that would cause Israel to take action on its northern front.” These include the transfer of “game-changing” weaponry to Hezbollah, transfer of chemical weapons and breaches of Israeli sovereignty.

Since there had been no recent case of breaking Israeli sovereignty, the likely assumption is that the attack was undertaken because of high-end weaponry transferred to Hezbollah or the transfer of chemical weapons – or both. Syrian President Bashar Assad, it must be noted, owes Hezbollah a great deal, as the Lebanese terror group has thousands of its soldiers fighting in Syria to defend his regime – which is likely why he allows the weapons transfers despite the risk of Israeli attacks on his territory.

If, as suspected, Iran transferred weapons to Hezbollah, it was in violation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, which forbade “sales or supply of arms and related material to Lebanon,” unless the sales are authorized by the Lebanese government, as well as resolution 1747, which “prohibited arms sales from Iran.”

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