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[webfact]

Syrian army says Israel fires rockets at air base near Damascus

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

REUTERS

 

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian army command said on Friday that Israeli artillery fired rockets at a major military airbase outside Damascus, and warned Israel of repercussions for what it called a "flagrant" attack.

 

Explosions were heard in the capital, and residents in the southwest suburbs saw a large plume of smoke rising from the area, while video footage downloaded on social media showed flames leaping from parts of Mezzah military airport's compound.

 

Syrian state television quoted the army as saying several rockets were fired from an area near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel just after midnight which landed in the compound of the airbase, used by President Bashar al-Assad's elite Republican Guards.

 

"Syrian army command and armed forces warn Israel of the repercussions of the flagrant attack and stresses its continued fight against (this) terrorism and amputate the arms of the perpetrators," the army command said in a statement.

 

Israel neither confirms nor denies involvement in striking targets inside Syria. Asked about Friday's incident, an Israeli military spokeswoman said: "We don't comment on reports of this kind."

 

The Syrian army statement did not disclose if there were any casualties, but said the rockets caused a fire. Earlier, state television said several major explosions hit Mezzah military airport's compound and ambulances were rushed to the area.

 

Government forces had in the past used the base to fire rockets at former rebel-held areas in the capital's suburbs.

 

The airport, located just a few kilometres from Assad's presidential palace, had been a base used to fire rockets at former rebel-held areas in the suburbs of Damascus.

 

Israel in the past has targeted positions of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group inside Syria where the Iranian-backed group is heavily involved in fighting alongside the Syrian army.

 

In November, the Syrian army said Israeli jets fired two missiles on an area west of the capital, close to the Damascus Beirut-highway, in an attack mounted from Lebanese air space.

 

Diplomatic sources say Israel has in the past few years targeted advanced weapons systems, including Russian-made anti-aircraft and Iranian-made missiles and bombed the elite Fourth Armoured Division base on Qasioun mountain in the capital.

 

An air strike in Syria in December 2015 killed a prominent Hezbollah leader, Samir Qantar. Israel welcomed Qantar's death, saying he was preparing attacks from Syrian soil, but stopped short of confirming responsibility for eliminating him.

 

Earlier that year, an Israeli air strike in Syria killed six members of Hezbollah, including a commander and the son of late military chief Imad Moughniyah near the Golan Heights.

 

Israeli defence officials have voiced concern that Hezbollah's experience in the Syrian civil war, where it has played a significant role and recently helped the Syrian army regain the eastern sector of the city of Aleppo, has strengthened it.

 

Rebels operating in the area have said Hezbollah's major arms supply route into Damascus from the Lebanese border has been targeted on several occasions in recent years by air strikes. This has included strikes on warehouses and convoys of weapons.

Damascus airport was also hit by air strikes in 2013.

 

Israel has been largely unscathed by the Syrian civil war, with only sporadic incidents of stray shells falling on its territory.

 

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, additional reporting by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem, Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Hugh Lawson)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-01-13

[webfact]

Syria accuses Israel of launching rocket attack on Damascus base

 

 

DAMASCUS: -- Syria has accused Israel of carrying out what it called a “flagrant” rocket attack on a major military base outside Damascus.

 

Explosions could be heard on video images published on social media, while smoke was seen rising from the area.

 

The airbase at Mezzah is used by President Assad’s elite Republican Guards.

 

Israel has in the past targeted positions of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group inside Syria.

 

Earlier a suicide bomber struck a heavily policed district of Damascus, killing at least seven people according to state television. Several others are said to have been wounded.

 

State TV quoted a police source as saying the suicide bomb went off in the Kafr Sousa neighbourhood where some of Syria’s main security installations are located.

 

The report said it happened near a sports club, giving no more details.

 

The opposition monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based abroad but has a wide network of contacts inside the country, says four soldiers including a colonel were among the victims.

 

The information was not immediately confirmed.

 

Part of the district is home to government ministries and and intelligence headquarters, but the attack is said to have happened in a different sector.

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2017-01-13

[webfact]

 

[elgordo38]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

"Syrian army command and armed forces warn Israel of the repercussions of the flagrant attack and stresses its continued fight against (this) terrorism and amputate the arms of the perpetrators," the army command said in a statement

Like that last statement amputate the arm of the perpetrators. Typical rhetoric. As the Israeli army fights back I guess that poisonous gas is out of the question. 

[Grubster]

1 hour ago, elgordo38 said:

Like that last statement amputate the arm of the perpetrators. Typical rhetoric. As the Israeli army fights back I guess that poisonous gas is out of the question. 

Well I hope Israel and Syria don't go at it, that would put Putin in a jamb for sure.