Syria says strike on military base carried out by Israeli warplanes
ISTANBUL — A missile strike on an air base in central Syria was carried out by Israeli warplanes in the early hours of Monday morning causing multiple casualties, according to the Syrian and Russian governments, amid fears of a wider confrontation between world powers.
Israeli officials did not immediately comment on the reports. The raid on the T4 airfield in Homs province comes as tensions rise over possible U.S. military action in Syria in response to the alleged chemical strike near Damascus late Saturday.
Syria’s ally, Russia, on Monday called the Israeli raid a “dangerous development,” and said reports of a gas attack near Damascus were also a “provocation,” Reuters reported.
U.S. officials had said Sunday that they were weighing options to strike Syrian government targets after at least 40 people were killed in the opposition-held town of Douma, roughly 10 miles from the Syrian capital. President Trump had also said Sunday that there would be a “big price to pay” for the attack.
Many of the victims suffocated and the wounded showed signs of respiratory distress and foaming at the mouth, doctors and rescue workers in the area said.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the world’s chemical weapons watchdog, said Monday that it was investigating the possible use of chemical weapons in Douma. A spokeswoman for the European Union said blamed Syria’s government for the attack.
Russia’s military Monday said its officers found no evidence of a chemical weapons attack after visiting the site in Douma, the Associated Press reported.
The AP quoted the military as saying it had spoken with hospital staff in the area, and that they did not report treating anyone would symptoms that would indicate exposure to chemical weapons.
The heightened tensions come amid a reported deal to evacuate rebel fighters from Douma following Saturday’s alleged chemical attack. The militantsfrom Jaish al-Islam had been negotiating their exit with Russian representatives. Russia’s Tass news agency reported Sunday that 8,000 fighters would be allowed to leave Douma for other opposition-held areas in northern Syria.
Douma is one of the opposition’s last strongholds near the capital, and had come under heavy bombardment by Syrian government and allied forces in recent weeks. According to the United Nations, more than 1,700 people have been killed since February in the Eastern Ghouta area.
Also Monday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 14 were killed in the Israeli strike on the T4 air base, most of whom were either Iranian forces or Iran-backed proxies supporting the Syrian government.
A Syrian military source and the Russian Defense Ministry said Israeli F-15 fighter jets carried out Monday’s strike from Lebanese airspace.
Iran is a staunch ally of the Syrian government, and has deployed forces and assets inside Syria, including a network of pro-government fighters it uses as shock troops in battles with Syrian rebels.
Israel has grown increasingly alarmed as Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, extend their military reach and influence in the region, including an expanded presence near Israel’s northern border.
In February, Israel confirmed that it had targeted the same airfield in Homs, after an Iranian drone entered Israeli airspace. Eight warplanes were used in that attack, Israel's military said, including one F-16 fighter jet that was downed by Syrian antiaircraft fire.
“The timing of the strike isn't coincidental,” said Michael Horowitz, a senior analyst at Le Beck International, a Middle East-based geopolitical and security consultancy.
“By striking [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] and his Iranian allies just a day after Trump warned them of the price they would pay ... Israel mitigates the risk of an Iranian response,” he said. “Israel has been trying to convince Washington to adopt a more pro-active, anti-Iran strategy in Syria, and certainly sees Trump’s rhetoric in the wake of the chemical attack as an opportunity.”
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Sorry, but once you and/or your ally has used chemical weapons, you have lost any moral highground you might think you once had.
Dear Friends: Once again Israel takes the moral lead through preemptive action.
Poison gas attacks on innocent citizens, including children make Bashar Assad the current biggest mass murderer on the planet.
Close to 500,00 murders of his own citizens since the Syrian civil war began.
Millions more in exile through Turkey, Jordan and Europe.
Russia and Iran are hardly innocent or naive in this matter.
Removing a military option from the table and relying solely on diplomacy has historically been as ineffective as putting all ones eggs in the one basket of military strikes, without diplomacy to address underlying causes, once perpetrators have no choice but to negotiate.
Both are needed.
The world is not uniformly a safe or sane neighborhood.
Carrot and stick, carrot and stick!
Justice then Peace and Abundant Blessings.
Enoch.
Justice can be reckless, incomplete, and incorrect.
However, as far as this specific strike goes, seems justified to me.
Dear Friend Peter Loves the Real Tea Party: No daylight between us..
Here and so many other places.
Well done!
Peace and Abundant Blessings Always.
Enoch.
Thanks brother!
And in case anyone missed it-- this strike was deliberately carried out on a military target...not on civilians.
Yes-- and I wonder how many people are aware of an odd situation-- we constantly hear criticism of Israel (who is defending itself against forces that seek to exterminate them)-- yet how many articles or seeds, even here on NT, even mention the atrocities being committed in Syria?
All true, (Well, with one exception: I would not characterize the entire left nor the entire right as all being bigots. Rather, there are significant portions of each side who are anti-Semitic).
Israel did what needed to be done.
There are many factions fighting in that war...plus military intervention by outsiders (Iran and Russia... and of course invaders from the Lebanese terror group Hizb'Allah).
Unfortunately, the rest of the world has yet to rise up and follow it's lead, with the possible exception of America which likely gave subtle if not direct assistance in the action.
But so far America has been all talk and little action. (I could be wrong, but I don't think America will take any significant action-- perhaps we will have one strike on a Syrian airbase that is mainly symbolic (missiles launcehd that mainly target concrete runways and an airplane hanger or two). IMO we are forced to take a symbolic action-- but will probably do nothing significant because for some reason I still haven't figured out,Trump is terrified of doing anything significant that will seriously Vladimir Putin).
With so many groups fighting in Syria, there are basically only two that are taking any action against the bad guys:
1. The mainly Kurdish SDF (" Syrian Democratic Forces ")
. . . a multi-ethnic and multi-religious alliance of predominantly Kurdish , but also Arab and Assyrian/Syriac militias.
2. The Israelis
(But both are somewhat limited in their effectiveness. The SDF because Russia Iran and Turkey are all fighting the Kurds. And in addition the U.S. administration has been screwing over the Kurds (see, for example: The Trump Administration Just Stabbed the Kurds in the Front ).
And the Israelis are somewhat limited because they are surrounded by Arab states that want to exterminate them-- as well as the terrorist government in Gaza which pretends to want peace but constantly probes Israeli defenses in an attempt to enter the country and commit massacres).