JERUSALEM — Israeli forces have carried out an airstrike against a shipment of sophisticated missiles bound for the Lebanese political and military organization Hezbollah, officials in Washington, Lebanon and Israel told reporters Saturday.
The strike took place about 4 a.m. Friday at an air defense facility on the periphery of Damascus International Airport, according to a Lebanese security official who was in the Syrian capital at the time. The airport is known to be the destination for weapons flown in from Iran both for the Syrian government and for its ally Hezbollah.
Video
State TV showed Syrian President Bashar Assad visiting a Damascus campus, his second public appearance in a week. The broadcast said Assad unveiled a statue to "martyrs" from Syrian universities who have died in the two-year-old civil war.
Latest stories from Foreign
Zachary Goldfarb
President says he does not see a situation in which deploying ground forces would make sense for the U.S. or for the Syrian people.
William Booth and Liz Sly
Friday’s attack targeted a weapons shipment bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon, officials said.
Anthony Faiola
Cameron once described it as being filled with “fruitcakes” and “closet racists,” but UKIP strikes back at polls.
Zachary A. Goldfarb and Nick Miroff
President avoids critique of southern neighbor, praises its economic and democratic progress.
Richard Leiby
Daytime assassination comes amid rise in political violence before May 11 national election.
There had previously been reports of a huge blaze at Damascus airport, with a video showing two locations on fire after what was described as rebel shelling. But the Lebanese official said the blasts were bigger than those caused by mortar or shellfire.
Rather, he said, the attack appeared to be identical to one in January in which Israeli jets hit a convoy carrying weapons intended for Hezbollah, with the warplanes striking their target from a location over the town of Deir al-Ashayer, in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley.
His claims could not be independently confirmed, but a Syrian opposition Web site also claimed that Damascus airport was the target, according to the Haaretz newspaper. Lebanese authorities and residents had already reported unusually intense Israeli overflights during the previous 48 hours, suggesting the warplanes may have struck their target from Lebanese airspace.
On Friday, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called on the United Nations to press Israel to halt violations of his country’s airspace.
Israeli officials described the missiles targeted in the Friday strike as “game-changing” weapons, according to the Associated Press. They said they were not chemical weapons, but advanced, long-range, ground-to-ground missiles.
The attack, Israeli officials said, took place a day after it was approved in a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet.
One U.S. official, who also declined to be identified, told Reuters on Friday the target was a building, rather than a convoy.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the development. Spokesmen for Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the reports.
The strike coincides with escalating concerns that the Syrian war is drawing in its neighbors, with Hezbollah fighters now playing an important role in some of the battles raging inside the country.
Israel did not officially confirm that it had carried out the strike in January, which targeted a convoy reportedly carrying anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah along a road into Lebanon from Damascus, and the fact that officials swiftly acknowledged U.S. reports of this attack pointed to Israel’s growing determination to directly confront the threat posed by the Syrian conflict.
Netanyahu and military and intelligence commanders in Israel have sounded the alarm in recent weeks, saying they were virtually certain that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons in at least two small-scale attacks.
The strike took place about 4 a.m. Friday at an air defense facility on the periphery of Damascus International Airport, according to a Lebanese security official who was in the Syrian capital at the time. The airport is known to be the destination for weapons flown in from Iran both for the Syrian government and for its ally Hezbollah.
Video
State TV showed Syrian President Bashar Assad visiting a Damascus campus, his second public appearance in a week. The broadcast said Assad unveiled a statue to "martyrs" from Syrian universities who have died in the two-year-old civil war.
Latest stories from Foreign
Zachary Goldfarb President says he does not see a situation in which deploying ground forces would make sense for the U.S. or for the Syrian people.
William Booth and Liz Sly
Friday’s attack targeted a weapons shipment bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon, officials said.
Anthony Faiola Cameron once described it as being filled with “fruitcakes” and “closet racists,” but UKIP strikes back at polls.
Zachary A. Goldfarb and Nick Miroff President avoids critique of southern neighbor, praises its economic and democratic progress.
Richard Leiby Daytime assassination comes amid rise in political violence before May 11 national election.
There had previously been reports of a huge blaze at Damascus airport, with a video showing two locations on fire after what was described as rebel shelling. But the Lebanese official said the blasts were bigger than those caused by mortar or shellfire.
Rather, he said, the attack appeared to be identical to one in January in which Israeli jets hit a convoy carrying weapons intended for Hezbollah, with the warplanes striking their target from a location over the town of Deir al-Ashayer, in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley.
His claims could not be independently confirmed, but a Syrian opposition Web site also claimed that Damascus airport was the target, according to the Haaretz newspaper. Lebanese authorities and residents had already reported unusually intense Israeli overflights during the previous 48 hours, suggesting the warplanes may have struck their target from Lebanese airspace.
On Friday, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called on the United Nations to press Israel to halt violations of his country’s airspace.
Israeli officials described the missiles targeted in the Friday strike as “game-changing” weapons, according to the Associated Press. They said they were not chemical weapons, but advanced, long-range, ground-to-ground missiles.
The attack, Israeli officials said, took place a day after it was approved in a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet.
One U.S. official, who also declined to be identified, told Reuters on Friday the target was a building, rather than a convoy.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the development. Spokesmen for Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the reports.
The strike coincides with escalating concerns that the Syrian war is drawing in its neighbors, with Hezbollah fighters now playing an important role in some of the battles raging inside the country.
Israel did not officially confirm that it had carried out the strike in January, which targeted a convoy reportedly carrying anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah along a road into Lebanon from Damascus, and the fact that officials swiftly acknowledged U.S. reports of this attack pointed to Israel’s growing determination to directly confront the threat posed by the Syrian conflict.
Netanyahu and military and intelligence commanders in Israel have sounded the alarm in recent weeks, saying they were virtually certain that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons in at least two small-scale attacks.