The former head of the IDF's Military Intelligence Directorate Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin warned on Wednesday that Iran could respond to overnight airstrikes in Syria that the Syrian regime has attributed to Israel.
Two Syrian soldiers and five foreigners were killed in the alleged airstrikes, the Syrian army said late Tuesday in what military defectors and intelligence sources said was a wave of raids that targeted Iranian bases.
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Yadlin, who now heads the Institute for National Security Studies, said on Twitter: "The extensive attacks in Syria last night show that the assessment that the Iranians are leaving Syria is a wish."
"An attack near Sweida shows that Iran is broadening its presence in the sensitive area of the Mountain of the Druze, as well. This area includes the area to which the Russians committed that Iran and Hezbollah would have no access," Yadlin tweeted.
The INSS head went on to say that Iran and its satellites would "seek out ways to respond and deter Israel."
"After failing in the past to respond with rocket fire, they have recently tried responding through cyber attacks. We must be prepared for the entire scope of possible responses from the Shiite axis, where [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah is entering [former Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem] Soleimani's shoes as the chief strategist and operator," Yadlin said.
According to the Syrian army, Israeli jets hit an army outpost in the towns of Salamiya and Sabura in Hama province only hours after missiles struck other military installations in Deir el-Zour province along the border with Iraq and in southern Syria, near the border with Jordan.
Earlier, a Syrian army statement said several attacks occurred simultaneously, one at a military outpost in Kabajib, east of Deir el-Zour province, and in the vicinity of the town of Sukhna in the nearby eastern desert. A third strike hit a military installation farther south in the town of Salkhad, near the southern city of Sweida. Two soldiers reportedly died and four were wounded. According to other reports, five foreigners were also killed in the attack.
The bases are in zones in eastern and southern Syria which Israel has hit in recent months and which are believed to have a strong presence of Iranian-backed militias.
A senior Syrian military defector and a regional intelligence source said an Iranian arms depot near the city of Salamiya was set on fire after it was repeatedly bombed while a command center in the town of Sabura run by Iranian militias was also severely damaged.
Israel has acknowledged the conducting of many raids inside Syria since the start of the civil war there in 2011. Israeli defense officials have said in recent weeks that Israel would step up its campaign against Iran in Syria where, with the help of its proxy militias, Tehran has expanded its presence.
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