Israel hits targets in Syria after IEDs were found in Golan Heights

The Israel Defense Forces say that Israel’s military made several hits on targets in Syria early in the morning on Wednesday.  One area where this happened is a region at Damascus International Airport utilized as Iranian headquarters after improvised explosive devices were found lodged in the Golan Heights.

The strikes fatally wounded three Syrian military personnel, while one suffered injuries, says state-run SANA news Agency in Syria; it stated that air defenses had stopped an ‘Israeli attack.’

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, the spokesman for IDF (Israel Defense Forces), stated that the military hit eight Syrian targets owned by the Quds Forces and military in the country. The Quds Force is a section of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. Each of the targets was found in the region between the Damascus periphery and the Israeli frontier.

Conricus explained that the strikes’ timing was not connected to Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State’s arrival later on Wednesday. It is expected that Pompeo’s visit will also include visiting the Golan Heights. It is still classified as occupied Syrian land by the majority of the global community, even though last year, the U.S. acknowledged Israeli dominance over the area.

‘A military region at the Damascus airport was among the areas hit. It was used as a concealed military site and an Iranian headquarters in Syria that housed senior Iranian delegations,’ said Conricus.

According to Conricus, the IDF hit sophisticated surface-to-air missile batteries also, after firing on an Israeli aircraft. The strikes aimed at hitting back for the planting of IEDs (Improvised ‘Explosive Devices) in the Golan Heights. Local Syrian forces placed the IEDs (claymore anti-personnel charges) after receiving Quds Force orders,’ said Conricus.

The IEDs were found outside the security barrier in Israel but in the interior of the Alpha line that defines the UN-approved buffer area between Israeli land and Syria.

Conricus said, ’the devices were plated there ‘in the last few weeks.’ He added that numerous intelligence sources speculated that an attempt would be made by the Quds Force to lodge explosives there.

On Tuesday morning, an IDF hunt unearthed the explosives. The area where the IEDs were found is near where forces in Syria had attempted to plant explosives near the security tent at the beginning of August.