An Israeli security official on Wednesday confirmed responsibility for overnight airstrikes in Syria, saying the air force had hit a series of targets involved in Iranian arms transfers to the Hezbollah militant group.
Russia had criticized the airstrike, saying it endangered civilian flights. The comments highlighted the increasingly tense relations between Israel and Russia, which have grown strained since the September downing of a Russian plane by Syrian forces responding to an Israeli raid.
The Israeli official said the air force had attacked several Iranian targets in three main locations late Tuesday and early Wednesday. He said the targets were primarily storage and logistics facilities used by archenemy Iran to ship weapons to Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese group that fought Israel in a 2006 war.
The Israeli official said it was the Syrian air defenses that endangered the civilian aircraft, by firing 30 missiles in response to the airstrike. He also asserted that Iranian forces were operating less than 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Israeli border, contrary to Russian assurances to keep the Iranian presence from encroaching on Israel's borders.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity under standard Israeli security protocols. The military has not commented on the incident.
Earlier Wednesday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that six Israeli F-16 jets launched a "provocative" raid while two civilian airliners were preparing to land in Damascus and Beirut, posing a "direct threat" to the aircraft.
Lebanon's acting Transportation Minister Youssef Fenianos confirmed Konashenkov's account, saying the two airplanes in Lebanese airspace "narrowly" escaped Israeli warplanes, averting a "human catastrophe." Fenianos said Lebanon plans to submit a complaint to the U.N. Security Council.
Konashenkov said the Syrian military didn't fully engage its air defense assets to avoid accidentally hitting the passenger jets. He added that Syrian air traffic controllers redirected the Damascus-bound plane to a Russian air base in Syria's coastal province of Latakia.
Konashenkov said Syrian air defense forces shot down 14 of the 16 precision-guided bombs dropped by the Israeli jets, while the remaining two hit a Syrian military depot 7 kilometers (4 miles) west of Damascus, wounding three Syrian soldiers.
The Israeli official said the Israeli jets hit all their targets, in some cases causing secondary explosions – an indication that weapons were stored within the target site. He said the strikes also destroyed a Syrian anti-aircraft battery.
In recent years, Israel has acknowledged carrying out scores of airstrikes in neighboring Syria, most believed to have been aimed at suspected Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah. Iran and Hezbollah have sent forces to Syria to bolster President Bashar Assad, who appears close to victory after a devastating seven-year civil war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel would not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in postwar Syria. But efforts to ensure this goal were complicated by the Sept. 17 downing of the Russian reconnaissance aircraft by Syrian fire.
Russia, which also backs Assad, blamed Israel for the friendly-fire mishap and reportedly scaled back a channel of communications that had previously allowed the two air forces to coordinate and avoid unintended clashes.
Russia also sent Syria sophisticated S-300 anti-aircraft missiles despite Israeli objections, though the Israeli official said an older system was fired at the Israeli planes in Wednesday's incident.
Israeli officials have also expressed concern about U.S. President Donald Trump's recent decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria. Until now, the U.S. presence in Syria has given Israel an extra element of protection.
Speaking at a military ceremony Wednesday, Netanyahu said the U.S. withdrawal would not change his policy.
Although he did not directly mention the airstrikes, he said Israel's air force has unmatched capabilities and can reach areas "near and far, very far."
"We are not prepared to accept the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, which is directed against us," Netanyahu told a new class of air force pilots during a graduation ceremony. "We will act against it vigorously and continuously, including during the current period."
At the same graduation event, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot praised the army's "many important accomplishments," including "thwarting the expansion of Iranian influence."
The Syrian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of exacerbating the crisis in the country and standing in the way of the government's war on terrorism.
In messages sent to the U.N. secretary general and the president of the Security Council, the ministry said the Israeli airstrike wouldn't have been launched if it wasn't for what it called "unlimited" U.S. support for Israel.
The Britain-based war monitor group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday's strike targeted three positions south of Damascus that are arms depots for Hezbollah and Iranian forces.
