America Breaks Silence on Israel’s Strike in Syria

The U.S. has broken its silence over Israel’s strike on a Syrian weapons convoy transporting weapons toLebanon.

According to reports published Thursday in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, American officials said overnight Wednesday that Jerusalem had informed Washington about the attack.

Israel told U.S. officials it had launched an air strike on a convoy carrying Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles from Syria to Hizbullah terrorist bases along the border with Lebanon.

Some reports claimed the strike occurred near the southwestern Syrian town of Zabadani, near the Lebanese border; others said the convoy was hit just after it had crossed the Syrian-Lebanese border and was approaching the village of Nabi Shi’ith.

SA-17 missiles in the hands of Hizbullah would be considered a game-changer in terms of the military capability of the terrorist army to launch a war against Israel, and the difficulty the Jewish State would face in defending its population against such an attack.

A Syrian rebel source said an aerial attack around dawn struck a convoy making its way towards the border about five kilometers south of the main Damascus-Beirut highway. The source said the convoy carried out the strike within Syria, and “attacked trucks carrying sophisticated weapons from the regime to Hizbullah.” 

Lebanese sources reported that two waves of six Israeli Air Force warplanes flew over the town of Nakoura, in southwestern Lebanon, on Tuesday afternoon and evening, heading northeast over Bint Jbiel towards the Syrian border. The planes were heard once more upon their return at about 2:00 a.m. Wednesday, the sources said. Lebanese security officials confirmed there had been no strike within the country’s sovereign borders.

There has been no comment from the IDF, nor by the White House press secretary.

Syrian military headquarters denied the reports, but later said in a statement issued by state media that Israeli warplanes flying under the radar north of Mount Hermon bombed – and destroyed -- a “military research center” in Jamraya, located in Damascus province.