Iran rejected Israeli claims of destroying its base in Syria. Iran said the country has no forces operating in Syria.

Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council said Sunday that Israeli military’s statement about hitting Iranian sites on Syria are lies.

“This is a lie and is not true,” Rezaei, a former chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), told local media adding, “America [U.S.] and Israel do not have the power to attack Iran’s centers and positions and the Zionist regime’s claims about targeting Iranian positions are lies.”

An Israeli military spokesperson claimed that an Israeli aircraft Saturday struck Iranian forces near Damascus that had been allegedly planning to launch “killer drones” at targets in Israel.

“The strike targeted Iranian Quds Force operatives and Shiite militias which were preparing to advance attack plans targeting sites in Israel from within Syria over the last number of days,” the military said in a statement in a rare acknowledgment.

The elite Quds Force is the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus told reporters the forces Thursday had been preparing to launch “killer drones” armed with explosives at northern Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had thwarted the planned Iranian attack. “Iran has no immunity anywhere. Our forces operate in every sector against the Iranian aggression,” he said on Twitter.

Syrian state media said Syrian air defenses intercepted “hostile targets” over Damascus, the capital, Saturday night.

“The aggression is ongoing and air defenses are confronting hostile targets and are downing most of them in the southern region,” state media outlet SANA said, indicating areas south of Damascus.

The Syrian army said in a statement that “the majority of the Israeli missiles were destroyed before reaching their targets.”

“Measures taken jointly by Israel and America in Syria and Iraq are against international regulations and defense forces of Syria and Iraq will soon respond to them,” Rezaei said.

Iran has said in the past also that it has no forces operating from Syria and only gave military advise to the country. Syria also rejected claims of the Iranian army in the country. </s> The Israeli air force struck in Syria to prevent an Iranian force from launching an attack on the Jewish state with drones armed with explosives, the army said Sunday.

While Israel operates regularly in Syria, it rarely acknowledges its actions so swiftly, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning arch-foe Iran it had no immunity from his state's military.

In a briefing to reporters, military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said that late Saturday the Israeli air force "was able to thwart an Iranian attempt led by the Quds force from Syria to conduct an attack on Israeli targets in northern Israel using killer drones."

According to Conricus, the Israeli attack took place in Aqraba, southeast of Damascus, and targeted "a number of terror targets and military facilities belonging to the Quds force as well as Shiite militias."

"The aggression was immediately confronted and so far the majority of the enemy Israeli missiles have been destroyed before reaching their targets," the source added.

"The aggression is still going on and the air defence is able to counter the targets, dropping most of them" in the south of the country, the Sana agency said early Sunday.

Since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011, Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria, most of them against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets.

Hours after the strike in Syria, a Hezbollah official said one drone had come down and another had exploded in one of the group's strongholds in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

The official could not confirm if the drones were Israeli or if they had been shot down by Hezbollah.

In a statement issued just minutes after the Israeli army announced its attack, Netanyahu hailed the military's "major operational effort" in thwarting the attack planned by "the Iranian Quds force and Shiite militias."

Military spokesman Conricus said Israel held both Iran and the Syrian regime responsible for the planned drone attack, noting that forces in northern Israel were on "elevated readiness to respond to any development".

He also noted that while Iranian forces had launched rockets and missiles at Israel from Syria three times during 2018, the use of "kamikaze" drones set to explode on their targets was a new and "different tactic".

The Jewish state insists that it has the right to continue to target positions held by Iran and its ally Hezbollah out of self-defence. </s> The Israeli military attacked targets near Damascus late Saturday in what it said was a successful effort to thwart an imminent Iranian drone strike on Israel, stepping up an already heightened campaign against Iranian military activity in the region.

The late-night airstrike, which triggered Syrian anti-aircraft fire, appeared to be one of the most intense attacks by Israeli forces in several years of hits on Iranian targets in Syria.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Al Quds force, working with allied Shiite militias, had been planning to send a number of explosives-laden attack drones into Israel.

Conricus said Israel had monitored the plot for several months and on Thursday prevented Iran from making an “advanced attempt” to execute the same plan. Then, Iran tried again late Saturday to carry out the same attack, he said.

“We were able to thwart this attack with fighter jets,” he said, saying the Iranian attack was believed to be “very imminent.”

He said Israel’s chief of staff was meeting with senior officers and forces were on high alert near the Syrian frontier.

On Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack by Israeli warplanes a “major operational effort.”

“Iran has no immunity anywhere,” he said. “If someone rises up to kill you, kill him first.”

Israel has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, most of them aimed at arms shipments believed to be headed from Iran to its Shiite proxy Hezbollah. Direct clashes between Israel and Iranian forces have been rare.

“This was a significant plan with significant capabilities that had been planned for a few months,” Conricus said. “It was not something done on a low level, but rather top down from the Quds Force.”

Syrian state TV announced late Saturday that the country’s air defenses had responded to “hostile” targets over Damascus and shot down incoming missiles before they reached their targets.

State TV did not give further details about the Israeli attack.

Israel has repeatedly vowed that it will not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in Syria, where Iranian troops have been fighting in support of President Bashar Assad during the country’s eight-year civil war.

In recent days, US officials have said that Israeli strikes have also hit Iranian targets in Iraq. </s> TEL AVIV – The IDF spokesperson’s unit on Sunday released a video of Iranian forces in Syria preparing to launch an explosives-laden drone into northern Israel from Syria last Thursday.

The video, captured by an Israeli field intelligence unit along the border, shows four fighters from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds force carrying the UAV through a field to its planned launch point located in the southern Syrian village of Arneh.

Iran attempted a second time to carry out the same attack on Saturday night, the army said, prompting a retaliatory strike by Israel.

The plan to attack was orchestrated by the IRGC’s Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, the IDF chief of staff said.

The Iranian fighters intended to target northern Israel with the attack drones, each of which was packed with “several kilograms of explosives,” IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said earlier in the day.

The IDF monitored the Iranian plot for “a number of weeks,” Conricus said.

On Saturday around 11pm, Israel Air Force jets struck Iranian targets in the Syrian town of Aqraba, south of Damascus, thwarting the “imminent” UAV attack, the army said. According to war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, five personnel were killed in the strikes, two of whom were operatives for the Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah and one a member of an Iranian militia. The other two have not been identified.

“The Israeli raids targeting Iranian and Hezbollah posts … in the southeast of Damascus killed at least three people — two from Hezbollah and a third who was Iranian,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

“The strike targeted Iranian Quds Force operatives and Shiite militias which were preparing to advance attack plans targeting sites in Israel from within Syria over the last number of days,” the IDF said in a statement.

In his own statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Iran has no immunity anywhere. Our forces operate in every sector against the Iranian aggression. I have directed that our forces be prepared for any scenario. We will continue to take determined and responsible action against Iran and its proxies for the security of Israel.”

The Syrian army said that “the majority of the Israeli missiles were destroyed before reaching their targets,” but Conricus maintained that the damage caused by the Israeli strikes was “significant,” Reuters reported.

A senior official in Tehran denied that Iran’s facilities had been targeted, saying Israel didn’t have the “power” to do so.

“This is a lie and not true,” Mohsen Rezaei, who is also secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, told the semi-official ILNA news agency on Sunday, according to Reuters.

“Israel and the United States do not have the power to attack Iran’s various centers, and our [military] advisory centers have not been harmed,” Rezaei added.

Last Thursday, Israel prevented Iran from flying the attack drones into northern Israel from the Syrian village Erneh, the IDF spokesman said.

He would not elaborate on the exact method employed by the military to foil that attack, but said it was “not necessarily kinetic,” suggesting electronic warfare.

The attack drones were similar to those used by the Tehran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, Conricus said.

“The modus operandi is similar to what we have seen in other places in the Middle East — in Yemen and Saudi Arabia,” Conricus said.

“The person who led this attack and commanded it was Qassem Soleimani personally. He funded, coached and trained Shiite operatives, who were supposed to carry it out,” IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said at a meeting of the IDF Northern Command.

Kochavi warned that Iran may carry out retaliatory strikes but that Israel would be ready for them “in the best way possible.”

The IDF has carried out scores of strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria, but rarely confirms specific attacks.

In February 2018, the IDF reportedly downed an armed Iranian drone that had infiltrated Israeli airspace. </s> JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military attacked targets near Damascus late Saturday in what it said was a successful effort to thwart an imminent Iranian drone strike on Israel, stepping up an already heightened campaign against Iranian military activity in the region.

The late-night airstrike, which triggered Syrian anti-aircraft fire, appeared to be one of the most intense attacks by Israeli forces in several years of hits on Iranian targets in Syria.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Al Quds force, working with allied Shiite militias, had been planning to send a number of explosives-laden attack drones into Israel.

Conricus said Israel had monitored the plot for several months and on Thursday prevented Iran from making an “advanced attempt” to execute the same plan. Then, Iran tried again late Saturday to carry out the same attack, he said.

“We were able to thwart this attack with fighter jets,” he said, saying the Iranian attack was believed to be “very imminent.”

He said Israel’s chief of staff was meeting with senior officers and forces were on high alert near the Syrian frontier.

On Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack by Israeli warplanes a “major operational effort.”

“Iran has no immunity anywhere,” he said. “If someone rises up to kill you, kill him first.”

Israel has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, most of them aimed at arms shipments believed to be headed from Iran to its Shiite proxy Hezbollah. Direct clashes between Israel and Iranian forces have been rare.

“This was a significant plan with significant capabilities that had been planned for a few months,” Conricus said. “It was not something done on a low level, but rather top down from the Quds Force.”

Syrian state TV announced late Saturday that the country’s air defenses had responded to “hostile” targets over Damascus and shot down incoming missiles before they reached their targets.

State TV did not give further details about the Israeli attack.

Israel considers Iran to be its greatest enemy and has repeatedly vowed that it will not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in Syria, where Iranian troops have been fighting in support of President Bashar Assad during the country’s eight-year civil war.

In recent days, U.S. officials have said that Israeli strikes have also hit Iranian targets in Iraq.

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report. </s> Israeli forces bombed targets belonging to Iran inside Syria early Monday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, as tensions on the northern border continued to skyrocket.

The IDF said at 1:30 a.m. it was “striking Iranian Quds targets in Syrian territory,” and warned Syrian forces not to intervene.

“The IDF warns the Syrian Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli territory or forces,” the army said in a statement.

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Syria’s state-run SANA news outlet claimed its air defenses had shot down a number of “hostile targets.”

Video posted online appeared to show at least one missile being intercepted.

It claimed the strikes had come from the direction of Lebanese airspace and said explosion were heard near Damascus.

The Quds Force is Iran’s expeditionary unit inside the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which Israel and others accuse of trying to gain a military foothold in Syria.

The attack came hours after Syria shot a missile at Israeli territory, in apparent response to a rare daylight attack on targets in and around Damascus widely attributed to Israel.

Israel’s air defenses managed to down the surface to surface missile before it reached Israeli airspace over the Golan Heights, according to the military.

Signaling fears of a fresh attack on Israel, the army announced it would shutter the Mount Hermon ski resort on Monday. On Sunday, the popular site had remained open despite the missile attack nearby.

The cross-border fire come less than a week after IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi took office.

The IDF announcement regarding the attack was nearly unprecedented, after years of maintaining a policy of strategic ambiguity regarding its air campaign against Iran gaining a military foothold in Syria.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials have seemingly become more open about Israel’s military efforts in Syria, even as the installation of more advanced Russian air defense systems and tensions with Moscow have complicated the campaign.

On Sunday Netanyahu appeared to confirm that Israel was behind the daylight strike while speaking to reporters in Chad.

“We have a permanent policy to hurt the Iranian entrenchment in Syria, and everyone who is trying to hurt us,” Netanyahu said. “This policy doesn’t change, whether I am in Israel or on a historic visit in Chad. It’s permanent.”

Local Syrian media said the targets of strike were in Damascus International Airport and in the town of al-Kiswah, south of the capital, both of which have been hit by Israeli attacks in the past. Last year, the Israeli military said bases near al-Kiswah were used by pro-Iranian militias. An Iranian weapons depot at the airport was targeted in an airstrike a week and a half ago, Israel said.

Israel typically refrains from commenting on individual airstrikes in Syria, but does generally acknowledge that it carries out raids against Iranian- and Hezbollah-linked targets in the country.

Israel in recent years has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria against targets linked to Iran, which alongside its proxies and Russia is fighting on behalf of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Israel has accused Iran of seeking to establish a military presence in Syria that could threaten Israeli security and attempting to transfer advanced weaponry to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon. </s> A top Revolutionary Guards commander on Sunday denied Israeli claims that Iranian targets were hit in an IDF airstrike in Syria, asserting that the Jewish state lacked the power to carry out such attacks.

However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor appeared to contradict Iran’s denial, saying an Iranian combatant and two fighters for the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah were among the fatalities in the strike.

“The Israeli raids targeting Iranian and Hezbollah posts… in the southeast of Damascus killed at least three people — two from Hezbollah and a third who was Iranian,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

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Late Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces made a rare announcement acknowledging it had carried out the attack in Syria against Iranian forces and Shiite militia members, who it said has been been working on a plan to fly explosives-laden “killer drones” into Israel.

In a statement issued just minutes after the Israeli army announced its attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the military’s “major operational effort” in thwarting the attack planned by “the Iranian Quds force and Shiite militias.”

“Iran has no immunity anywhere,” Netanyahu said. “Our forces operate in every sector against the Iranian aggression. I have directed that our forces be prepared for any scenario. We will continue to take determined and responsible action against Iran and its proxies for the security of Israel.”

“This is a lie and not true,” Mohsen Rezaei, who is also secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, a powerful state body, told the semi-official ILNA news agency on Sunday, according to the Reuters new agency.

“Israel and the United States do not have the power to attack Iran’s various centers, and our [military] advisory centers have not been harmed,” Rezaei added.

The late-night airstrike, which triggered Syrian anti-aircraft fire, appeared to be one of the most intense attacks by Israeli forces on Iranian targets in Syria.

Netanyahu, who is also defense minister, held a midnight emergency meeting at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv with IDF chief Aviv Kohavi and Mossad head Yossi Cohen, as well as other senior defense officials.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said forces had been put on high alert near the Syrian frontier after the attack.

On Sunday morning, members of Israel’s top-level security cabinet warned that Iran should not feel safe “anywhere.”

“We are taking responsibility for the attack in Syria and are saying that Iran should feel it is not safe anywhere,” Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin told Channel 13 TV news.

“Iran is working day and night all over the Middle East in order to build an empire that has set for itself the goal of destroying Israel,” Elkin said.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz told the Kan public broadcast radio that Israel had openly taken responsibility for the strike — an unusual move — to demonstrate to Iran that it “has no immunity anywhere.”

He added: “The [Syria] action was intended to cut the head off the snake.”

Syrian state media said it had shot down most of the Israeli missiles. Military analysts often accuse Syria of exaggerating the efficacy of its air defense systems, claiming to have shot down incoming missiles that in fact hit their targets.

As regional tensions simmered in the wake of the Syria airstrike, the Iran-backed Hezbollah said Sunday that an armed Israeli drone exploded next to the group’s media headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut, causing significant damage, and a second crashed. Hezbollah later said the drones had not been shot down.

There have been few direct clashes between Israel and Iran in Syria. In May 2018, Israel said Iranian forces fired some 20 rockets at Israel, with most being shot down or failing to reach Israeli territory. In response, Israel carried out extensive airstrikes on Iranian positions in Syria.

While Israel has acknowledged carrying out thousands of airstrikes inside Syria against weapons transfers to Iran-backed fighters and to keep Iran from gaining a foothold there, it rarely acknowledges individual strikes.

The ambiguity is part of a strategy seen as helping give Tehran and Damascus cover from needing to strike back to save face. Israel has appeared to apply the same strategy in Iraq, where the IDF has been reported to have carried out a number of strikes on Iran-backed militia positions near Baghdad. </s> But speaking after at least four Syrian soldiers were been killed in the raids carried out by Tel Aviv, during which Iranian forces operating within the country have been targeted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netahyahu hit back, warning he will hit back against "anyone who tries to harm us". Speaking today, the head of Iran's air force said on Monday the country was impatient to fight Israel and destroy it, a state-linked news website said. Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh was quoted as saying by the Young Journalist Club, a website supervised by state television: ”The young people in the air force are fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the Earth."

Israel struck in Syria early on Monday as part of its increasingly open assault on Iran's presence there, shaking the night sky over Damascus with an hour of loud explosions in a second consecutive night of military action.



The threat of open confrontation between arch-enemies Israel and Iran has long simmered in Syria, as the Iranian military has established a presence there since early in its civil war in support of President Bashar al-Assad against rebels.



Israel, which regards Iran as its biggest threat, has repeatedly attacked Iranian targets and those of allied militia, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, in Syria, aiming to push them far from its frontier.



The Israeli military said its fighter jets had attacked the Iranian targets early on Monday, including munition stores, a position in the Damascus International Airport, an intelligence site and a military training camp.

Israeli jets then targeted Syrian defence batteries after coming under fire, the Israeli military said, and the Defence Ministry of Russia, Assad's strongest ally, said four Syrian soldiers were killed and six wounded.



The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said 11 people had been killed.



Syrian air defences, supplied by Russia, had destroyed more than 30 cruise missiles and guided bombs, the Russian Defence Ministry said, according to RIA news agency.



Syrian state media, citing a military source, said the country had endured "intense attack through consecutive waves of guided missiles, but had destroyed most "hostile targets".



Israel's target was the Iranian Quds Force, a special unit in charge of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps overseas operations, the Israeli military said.



It followed a previous night of cross-border fire, which Israel said was prompted by a rocket fired at a packed ski resort in the Golan Heights, close to the frontier with Syria.



An Israel military statement said: “Yesterday, Iranian Quds forces operating in Syrian territory launched a surface-to-surface rocket from Syrian territory aimed at the northern Golan Heights.”



Syria said it was Israel that had attacked, and its own air defences that had repelled the assault.

Speaking during a visit to Chad in West Africa, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is hoping to win a fifth term in an April 9 election, said: "We have a permanent policy, to strike at the Iranian entrenchment in Syria and hurt whoever tries to hurt us.”



Israel, which appointed a new military chief last week, also appeared keen to signal zero tolerance for Sunday's rocket launch, which it said had been foiled by its Iron Dome interceptor system.



The Israeli army said the Mount Hermon ski resort in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights would be shut for the day. It added that otherwise things remained "routine" along the frontier with Syria.



Netanyahu last week acknowledged an Israeli attack on what he called an Iranian arms cache in Syria, where Tehran provides Damascus with vital support.



He told his cabinet Israel had carried out "hundreds" of attacks over the past years of Syria's war to curtail Iran and its ally Hezbollah. In a speech today, he said the air strikes had mainly targeted military positions set up by Iran, which he warned would face consequences for threatening to destroy Israel. He addedL "We are operating both against Iran and against the Syrian forces that are abetting the Iranian aggression. "We will strike at anyone who tried to harm us. Whoever threatens to eliminate us, bears full responsibility." Iran has said it has no plans to quit Syria, where it has helped Syria's President Bashar al-Assad fight off an eight-year rebellion against his rule. Most of the country is now back under Damascus' control, and Assad's alliances with both Iran and Russia remain very strong. Last summer, he took back rebel-held territory in southwest Syria, near the Golan Heights, in a campaign that was supported by Iran-backed militias. </s> JERUSALEM (AP) - Iranian forces based in Syria fired 20 rockets at Israeli front-line military positions in the Golan Heights early Thursday, the Israeli military said, triggering a heavy Israeli reprisal and escalating already heightened tensions in what appeared to be the most serious violence in years.

The Israeli military said its Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted some of the incoming projectiles, while others caused only minimal damage. There were no Israeli casualties.

Syria’s capital of Damascus shook with sounds of explosions just before dawn, and firing by Syrian air defenses over the city was heard throughout the night. An Israeli official said Israel was targeting Iranian positions inside Syria. Syria’s state news agency SANA quoted a Syrian military official as saying Israeli missiles hit air defense positions, radar stations and a weapons warehouse, but claiming most incoming rockets were intercepted.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted an unidentified security official as saying Israel’s attacks inside Syria were the most extensive since the two nations signed a disengagement agreement after the October war of 1973.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said earlier that Iran’s Al Quds force fired the rockets at several Israeli bases, though he would not say how Israel determined the Iranian involvement. The incoming attack set off air raid sirens in the Israeli-controlled Golan, which was captured from Syria in the 1967 war.

Israel “views this Iranian attack very severely,” Conricus told reporters. He said Israel had responded, but did not provide details.

“This event is not over,” he said.

Syria’s state media said Syrian air defenses intercepted “hostile Israeli missiles” early Thursday that were fired over southwestern Damascus. Hours later, state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV broadcast a live feed of Syrian air defenses firing into the sky above the capital, and loud explosions and air defense firing were heard through the night.

Syrian activists reported Israeli airstrikes hitting targets near Damascus. One video posted online showed a large explosion and shrapnel flying in the air. Residents reported loud sounds that rocked their buildings. It was not immediately clear what was hit.

An Israeli army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said on Twitter that Israel was “acting against Iranian targets inside Syria,” a rare admission by an Israeli official.

Al-Ikhbariya TV said Israel also targeted military posts in southern Suweida province, including an air base, and struck near Homs in central Syria. The state TV station said the attacks were foiled.

Iranian officials offered no immediate comment on Israel’s claim about the missile fire. Iranian state media reported on the attack and the subsequent Israeli strikes in Syria, relying on foreign news reports.

Syrian media earlier said the hostilities began with Israeli fire at Syrian positions in southern Syria from across the border. Pro-Syrian media said Syrian missiles then fired at Israeli forces. One TV station, Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen, said at least 50 missiles were fired from Syria at Israeli forces in the Golan Heights. Al-Ikhbariya TV said missiles targeted 10 Israeli positions.

Syrian media said it was the first time in years that Syrians had fired at Israeli forces in the Golan Heights.

Israel has been on heightened alert in recent days, anticipating an Iranian attack following Iranian vows to retaliate to what it says are recent Israeli strikes in Syria targeting Iranian outposts.

Late Tuesday, Syrian state media said Israel struck a military outpost near the capital of Damascus. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles targeted depots and rocket launchers that likely belonged to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, killing at least 15 people, eight of them Iranians.

Last month, an attack on Syria’s T4 air base in Homs province killed seven Iranian military personnel. On April 30, Israel was said to have struck government outposts in northern Syria, killing more than a dozen pro-government fighters, many of them Iranians.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied most of the airstrikes. But for months, it has repeatedly said it will not accept a permanent Iranian military presence in Syria.

In February, Israel shot down what it said was an armed Iranian drone that entered Israeli airspace. Israel responded by attacking anti-aircraft positions in Syria, but an Israeli warplane was shot down during the battle.

Iranian forces moved into Syria after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 to back the forces of President Bashar Assad. As that war winds down, and Assad appears to be headed toward victory, Israel fears that Iran, along with tens of thousands of Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen, will carry out attacks against Israel. President Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday that the U.S. was withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran has triggered uncertainty and threatened to spark more unrest in the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Moscow on Wednesday to meet with President Vladimir Putin and discuss military coordination in Syria.

Russia has also sent forces to Syria to back Assad. But Israel and Russia have maintained close communications to prevent their air forces from coming into conflict.

Together with Putin, Netanyahu toured a parade celebrating the anniversary of the World War II victory over the Nazis and then met the Russian president at the Kremlin for consultations.

After 10 hours together, Netanyahu said he conveyed Israel’s obligation to defend itself against Iranian aggression.

“I think that matters were presented in a direct and forthright manner, and this is important. These matters are very important to Israel’s security at all times and especially at this time,” he said.

Israel views Iran as its archenemy, citing Iran’s calls for Israel’s destruction, support for militant groups across the region and growing military activity in neighboring Syria. Israel has warned that it will not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in Syria.

Israel’s military went on high alert Tuesday and bomb shelters were ordered open in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights following reports of “irregular activity of Iranian forces in Syria.” After an uneventful night, the military on Wednesday called on residents to return to “full civilian routine,” meaning studies and excursions would continue as usual, although the shelters would remain open.

Amos Gilead, a retired senior Israeli defense official, told a security conference in the coastal town of Herzliya that Iran’s intentions in Syria meant a wider conflagration may only be a matter of time.

“They want to build a second Hezbollah-stan,” he said, referring to the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militant group that last fought a war with Israel in 2006. “They are determined to do it and we are determined to prevent it. It means we are on a collision course.”

Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.
The Israel Defense Forces say their Air Force strikes multiple Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Aqraba near the Syrian capital Damascus. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims an Iranian attack on Israel using armed drones to be imminent. Syria says it repels the attack and shoots down most of the attackers' rockets.