The outgoing Israeli Army chief of staff has acknowledged that Israel has been bombing Syria on a “near-daily” basis for years, in a massive military campaign allegedly aimed at degrading Tehran’s supposed military buildup in the region.
The Israeli Army rarely acknowledge striking specific targets in Syria but its outgoing chief of staff just openly confessed to running a large-scale bombing campaign in its neighbor’s territory.
In 2018 alone, Israel dropped around 2,000 bombs on alleged Iran-linked targets, Gadi Eisenkot told the New York Times in his final interview as chief of staff of the Israeli Army, before he retires next week.
IDF Chief of Staff reveals details of the secret battle he fought against Iranian General Qasem Suliemani https://t.co/bRGa71d5S6
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) January 12, 2019
Confessing to carrying out strikes on a “near-daily” basis, Eisenkot said:
“We struck thousands of targets without claiming responsibility or asking for credit.”
While the Syrian government repeatedly accuses the Jewish state of constantly violating its sovereignty and aiding the terrorists by their raids in the country’s airspace, Eisenkot claimed the Israeli actions are justified – and that, anyway, neither Damascus nor Tehran can do anything about it.
We have complete intelligence superiority in this area. We enjoy complete aerial superiority. We have strong deterrence and we have the justification to act.
Israeli PM boasting that in last 36 hrs. IDF has attacked an Iranian facility in Syria. Israel also shot a female protester in Gaza, bombed Gaza and invaded Ramallah. Zionism is a deadly racism which must be stopped. Boycott Israel! #BDS https://t.co/Zz90dHdvl0
— abushalom (@abushalom) January 13, 2019
While a tragedy involving civilian airliners was averted last month, similar Israeli tactics led to horrific consequences before. On September 17, Israeli jets put Russian Il-20 recon plane into the path of Syrian air defense interceptor missile after failing to give Moscow enough warning of a strike on Syrian targets.
The Israeli tactics resulted in the deaths of all 15 Russian crew on board and compelled Moscow to supply Syria with S-300 missile defense systems. Russian also warned that, in the event of any threat to its servicemen deployed in the country, it will jam radio and satellite signals from military aircraft approaching from the Mediterranean, which seemingly forced Israel to slightly adjust its bombing routine and routes.
In rare confirmation, #Netanyahu confirms Israeli airstrikes in #Syria; Strikes targeted #Iranian arms depots and warehouses; #Eisenkot to NYTimes: We struck thousands of targets without claiming responsibility or asking for credit.
— Amir Tsarfati (@BeholdIsrael) January 13, 2019
Yet, despite repeated dangerous behavior in the air, Israel continues to intrude in Syrian airspace under the “the campaign between wars” military strategy which envisions a continuous and lengthy engagement to degrade an enemy’s military capabilities. Developed by Eisenkot, the tactic was given the green light by the cabinet in January 2017.
Since then Israel carried out thousands of sorties, allegedly striking “over 1,000 Iranian targets.” Yet Damascus claims the majority of Israeli missiles and bombs are being routinely intercepted by the Syrian air defenses. No official details or visual proof of the Israeli raids’ results has ever been presented, except for the time when Israel rushed to disavow any blame for the downing of the Russian plane and shifted the blame for the tragedy onto Damascus and Tehran.
(RT, PC, Social Media)
