Dozens dead in deadliest Israeli bombing in Syria since 2021

Israel has stepped up its campaign against the Lebanese Hezbollah militia this Friday, with its deadliest bombing in three years in Syria against forces linked to Iran. It has caused around 40 deaths, according to the NGO Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, with numerous collaborators on the ground. The Jewish State almost never openly acknowledges its responsibility in these attacks, but its Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, stressed this afternoon that it “will expand the campaign and increase the pace of attacks” against Hezbollah because it is going “from defending itself to persecuting it [ ...] wherever it operates: in Beirut, Damascus or more distant places.”

In the last decade, the Israeli Armed Forces have launched hundreds of bombings against members, arms shipments or depots of militias allied to Tehran, especially Hezbollah. They have been able to do this taking advantage of the civil war in Syria and the approval of Russia, which practically controls the country's airspace. The area attacked this Friday, around the Aleppo airport, is in fact a frequent target, in a sort of cat and mouse game with the transport of weapons.

This bombing has, however, left an unusual and unprecedented number of fatalities since 2021: at least 42, according to the Observatory. Six of them are members of Hezbollah and the rest are Syrian soldiers. Two sources from the security services cited by the Reuters agency lower the toll to 38. Israeli public television identifies one victim as Ahmed Shahimi, a prominent commander in Syria of the Lebanese party-militia. The Observatory specifies that the target was a missile warehouse near the airport and other facilities used by Hezbollah.

The aerial bombardments took place at dawn in several points in the countryside around Aleppo, in the north of the country, while "terrorist organizations", as the Syrian regime calls the rebel groups, attacked from Idlib and western Aleppo, according to the official agency, Sana. The information only indicates that the Israeli attack killed and injured several civilians and military personnel, without specifying.

He wasn't the only one. The Israeli army reported this Friday the

selective assassination

hours earlier in the Bazuriye area, in southern Lebanon, of Ali Abed Ajsan Naim, vice commander of Hezbollah's rocket and missile unit. The Observatory also reports the death near the Syrian capital, due to the explosion of an explosive device attached to his vehicle, of a colonel in the Syrian army responsible for coordination with Hezbollah and other militias close to Tehran.

Cross attacks

Since the war in Gaza began in October, following the Hamas attack, Israel and Hezbollah have maintained a measured give and take that in other circumstances would have led to open war. Every day there are cross attacks. The tension is rising in waves and has grown in recent days, with stronger barrages of rockets from Lebanon and more lethal Israeli bombings further from the border. This week, the Armed Forces carried out surprise maneuvers that simulated a war on the northern border with the objective of "reinforcing preparation for various scenarios," according to the army. It is assumed that, in the event of an open conflict, pro-Iran militias in Syria and Iraq would join.

On Thursday, the Army launched one more attack into the interior of the neighboring country, after weeks of escalating its selective assassinations, which also include members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. It was the deadliest day in six months, with 16 deaths in Lebanon due to aerial bombardments and one in Israel, due to one of the dozens of projectiles that Hezbollah launched against the nearby and evacuated city of Kiryat Shmoná. The

blue helmet

mission

in Lebanon, commanded by a Spanish major general, was “very concerned about the increase in violence” in a statement, which has caused “a high number of civilian deaths and the destruction of homes and buildings.” livelihood.” In almost six months of fighting, the Israeli Armed Forces have killed some 320 people, of which around 270 belonged to Hezbollah. The rest are civilians. Projectiles launched from Lebanon have claimed about 20 lives, mainly soldiers.

In recent weeks, Israel has pressed the accelerator to force the militia to quickly choose between a diplomatic agreement that will move it several kilometers away from the border (with hardly any compensation) or an open war against a much superior enemy, which it has already faced. in 2006. They are the only two possibilities that the Jewish State sees to return to their homes in the medium term the 80,000 residents of 28 border towns that it evacuated almost half a year ago and who today live in apartments or hotels in other parts of the country.

This Friday, in a meeting with local authorities in that area, the commander of the Northern Command, Ori Gordin, underlined his "determination to create a better, safer and more peaceful situation in the north." “There is no need to go into details about our offensive operations. They know each other well and, believe me, they see each other well in the skies of Lebanon, both far and near. We continue to attack Hezbollah, determined to push it back and destroy its infrastructure. It is not all. This week [in reference to the maneuvers] we have advanced another level in our preparation scale, with troop exercises, learning from the fighting in the south [Gaza] and many other elements that will make us more prepared,” he added.

The feeling in Israel after October 7 is that it is no longer going to allow what it lived with for years: the presence of Hezbollah on the other side of the border. The Lebanese militia, and other allies of Tehran, have taken advantage of the fact that the side they support in the war - the one led by the president, Bashar al-Assad - has consolidated its control over the majority of the country to gain strength in various areas, such as the surrounding areas. from Aleppo and the capital, Damascus, whose airport has also been bombed on several occasions.

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