Global Security Newswire

Israel launched two air attacks on Syria over the weekend to stop Hezbollah from receiving a quantity of Iranian-manufactured ballistic missiles, an anonymous high-ranking Israeli official told the Associated Press on Sunday.

The Friday and Sunday airstrikes further ratcheted up regional tensions, with both Iran and the Bashar Assad regime warning of a potential retaliation. 

This is not the first time Israel has unilaterally intervened in the long-running Syrian civil war. A January air attack by Israel reportedly struck a transport of antiaircraft weapons headed to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Israeli action might also have targeted a suspected Syrian facility involved in developing chemical and biological weapons.

The shipment of precision surface-to-surface Fateh 110 missiles reported to have most recently been attacked by Israel would have given Hezbollah the ability to mount high-altitude missile attacks far inside Israel. One of the airstrikes hit a large military site close to Damascus, producing a number of loud detonations.

The Israeli armed forces and government have declined to publicly discuss the attacks. The nation's military on Sunday repositioned to the north two Iron Dome units capable of intercepting short-range rocket attacks in what it said was a response to "ongoing situational assessments."

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi in an official statement said Damascus is entitled and obligated to "defend its people by all available means."

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad asserted to CNN that the airstrikes show Israel is collaborating with extremist rebel forces.

"When they attack, this is a declaration of war. This is not something that is (new)," the senior Syrian diplomat said. "We dealt with this on several occasions, and we retaliated the way we wanted, and the retaliation was always painful to Israel, and they will suffer again."

Al-Zoubi said the airstrike "opens the door wide open for all possibilities." He did not elaborate.

Unidentified Israeli officials told news agencies that the weapons attacked over the weekend did not include chemical arms, according to the Washington Post.

The United States was not alerted ahead of time by Israel of its plans to launch the aerial attacks, an anonymous U.S. intelligence official informed Reuters on Sunday.

Tel Aviv officials behind-the-scenes have alerted European and U.S. equivalents that Israel would take steps if warranted to keep Hezbollah from acquiring more sophisticated weaponry, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. However, U.S. officials said they were supplied with scant information of what action Israel might take. "Israel doesn't tell us that they do before they do it," an anonymous U.S. official said. "It gives them a lot of deniability."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Sunday said that Israel, "as a sovereign government, has the right to take the actions they feel are necessary to protect their people."

"The Israelis are justifiably concerned about the threat posed by Hezbollah obtaining these advanced weapon systems," the spokesman said.

The Obama administration is worried that recent developments in Syria, including Israel's airstrikes, could lead to a broader armed conflict in the Middle East, anonymous European and U.S. envoys acknowledged.

The administration's recent acknowledgement that it is moderately confident Damascus has used chemical weapons against the Syrian people has prompted calls from a number of quarters for the United States to more decisively intervene in the nation's civil war, which has already led to the deaths of more than 70,000 people.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday urged all relevant parties "to act with a sense of responsibility to prevent an escalation of what is already a devastating and highly dangerous conflict," Reuters reported.