Syria

Four Syrian Soldiers Killed in Israeli Missile Strike on Damascus

AUG 7 2023·Updated AUG 27

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Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Facts

Syria's state-affiliated media outlet SANA reported that an Israeli missile strike on the capital Damascus killed four Syrian soldiers and wounded another four early on Monday. SANA also reported that Syrian air defense intercepted some of the missiles.
BBC News
SANA claimed that the attack caused “some material damage” and that the missiles had targeted “some points in the vicinity of the city of Damascus” but refrained from reporting specific details. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that the strike targeted a warehouse near the Damascus international airport, but this is unconfirmed.
France 24
The SOHR also said that two additional Iran-backed fighters were killed in the strike but their nationalities were unknown in an unverified report. SANA called on the UN and the Security Council to “take immediate action” to force Israel “to desist from these criminal policies.”
Arab News
Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on the country since the start of the civil war — mostly targeting government-controlled territories, international airports in Damascus and Aleppo, and Iranian-backed forces. Iran intervened in Syria on behalf of the government shortly after the war began.
Dw.Com
Israel rarely comments on its attacks on Syria, but it has said that it will not accept Iran potentially expanding its footprint in its Arab neighbor.
The Times of Israel

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The Spin

Anti-Israel narrative

Israel has been conducting airstrikes against suspected Iranian weapons transfers and personnel and its proxies in Syria for almost a decade. Though the strikes are part of a low-intensity conflict to slow Iran's growing entrenchment in Syria, the West has seemingly dropped its previous plan of diplomacy to allow Israel and other allies to use military force instead to settle its grievances with Tehran. This risky strategy underestimates the magnitude and repercussions of a military escalation.

Foreign Affairs

Pro-Israel narrative

Syria is a conflict zone with many actors, all of which can cause this "shadow war" to go hot. Meanwhile, Iran — with its coordinated effort with Russia, which controls much of the Syrian airspace — risks pushing it over the edge. Israel has been clear that it will not permit Iran to freely move weapons and fighters through Syria if such activities threaten Israeli security, and it's justified to target Iranian assets in any of the countries into which Tehran has dug its tentacles.