By FARNAZ FASSIHI, JULIAN E. BARNES and SAM DAGHER

 

Conflicting accounts emerged Wednesday over an apparent Israeli airstrike inside Syrian territory earlier in the day—with several regional and Western officials saying Israeli jets had struck a convoy of trucks carrying arms near the Lebanon-Syria border, while Syria's state media described an Israeli strike on a military facility near Damascus.

 

 

Israel launched an airstrike against a convoy of trucks moving near the Lebanon-Syria border Tuesday, a senior U.S. official and a Lebanese security official said. WSJ's Farnaz Fassihi joins The News Hub with the latest. Photo: Getty Images.

 

The early-morning Israeli strike took place inside Syria and targeted a convoy carrying a shipment of Russian-made SA-17 missiles, according to a Western official briefed on the strike.

 

Syria denied news reports that a convoy was hit in Syrian territory.

 

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"Israeli warplanes violated our airspace at dawn today and directly struck one of the scientific research centers responsible for elevating resistance and self-defense capabilities in the area of Jamraya in the Damascus countryside," Syria's military said in a statement carried by the official Sana news agency. It said the attack killed two workers and injured five others, and "caused significant material damage and the destruction of the complex."

 

Hezbollah also denied that Israel had attacked a convoy of Hezbollah weapons in Syria. "We have no information about this issue. We are not concerned at all," said Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Mousawi.

 

It wasn't immediately possible to corroborate either version of the strike. Activists in Syria, near Jamraya, characterized the military site there as a major facility but said they heard no indication of an attack there.

 

Officials from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and from other ministries declined to comment on the reports.

 

An attack inside Syria would be a rarity for Israeli forces. A previous brief engagement came in November, when Israel said its forces had hit a Syrian military vehicle in a retaliatory attack, following what it says was a Syrian mortar shell landing in the Golan heights.

 

Word of Tuesday's attack stoked fears that it could widen the ongoing conflict in Syria.

 

"Any potential for escalation is a concern," said the Western official, while playing down the chances of a military response by Syria, which the official said is preoccupied by the internal rebellion.

 

Israeli officials have been deeply concerned that the conflict in Syria could lead to increased flows of weapons and have said they would strike if they believed any of these posed a threat to Israeli security.

 

The Syrian regime and Hezbollah, the armed Lebanese militant group, are close allies and adamant foes of Israel.

 

Israel is widely believed to have attacked a site in Syria in 2007 that was suspected as being a nuclear facility under construction–although the Israeli government has declined to confirm or deny that attack–while Israel conducted a full-scale war into southern Lebanon in 2006.

 

Israeli officials have been deeply concerned that the boiling conflict in Syria could lead to increased flows of weapons, perhaps even chemical across the Syrian border into Lebanon, and they have said they would strike if they believed any of these posed a threat to Israeli security.

 

The U.S. has been concerned about a possible escalation in the area and has sought to reduce the risk of an Israel intervention by coordinating with the Israeli government and sharing intelligence about Syrian chemical and biological weapons stockpiles.

 

But U.S. and Western officials said Washington hasn't told Israel not to act in Syria if it believes it is threatened.

 

"People understand the stakes, and if your neighbor is threatening you, it may be appropriate to take action," the Western official said.

 

U.S. and Western officials said they believed Damascus would hold its fire and not respond to the Israeli strike, pointing to President Bashar al-Assad's non-response to the 2007 attack on the nuclear site.

 

U.S. officials note that Israel, as in 2007, has so far kept quiet about the strike, a move they say could help reduce the risk of an escalation.

பதிலுக்கு ஈரான் இஸ்ரேலை தாக்கினால் இல்லை சிரியா துருக்கியை தாக்கினால் ...

யாரும் யாரையும் தாக்கமாட்டர்கள் என்றுதான் TV யில் எதிர்வு கூறுகிறார்கள். சிரியா யாரையும் தாக்க முயன்றால், அசாத் ஒட ஆயத்தமாக இருக்கிறார் என்றுதான் பொருள்.

 

வாண வேடிக்கை பார்க்க சாமி இன்னமும் வடக்கு வீதிக்கு வரவில்லை.   அசாத் இன்னமும் கூவிகொண்டிருக்கும் வாத்துத்தான்.

அசாத் மகிந்த போன்று இரசாயன ஆயுதங்களை பாவிக்கலாம். ஆனால் மகிந்த போல தப்ப முடியாது.

ஹிஸ்புல்லாவிற்கு சென்ற ஆயுதங்கள் - இஸ்ரேல்

ஆராய்ச்சி நிலையம் என்கிறது - சிரியா

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-KBrL6N9_4

சிரியா மீது இடம்பெற்ற இஸ்ரேலிய வான் தாக்குதலை ரஷ்யா கண்டித்தது.

 

சிரியாவினுள் இஸ்ரேலிய வான்படை நடத்தியதாக கூறப்படும் தாக்குதல் ஐக்கிய நாடுகள் சாசனத்தை மீறுவதாக ரஷ்யா கண்டனம் வெளியிட்டது.

 

ஹெஸ்புல்லா அமைப்புக்கென லெபனான் நோக்கி விமான எதிர்ப்பு ஏவுகணைகளை எடுத்துச் சென்ற வாகனத் தொடரணி தாக்கப்பட்டதென சிரிய கிளர்ச்சியாளர்களும், இராணுவ ஆய்வு மையம் ஒன்று தாக்கப்பட்டதென சிரிய இராணுவமும் கூறுகின்றன.

 

ஆனால், அந்தத் தாக்குதல் குறித்து இஸ்ரேல் எந்தத் தகவலும் வெளியிடவில்லை.

 

இந்த நிலையில் கருத்து வெளியிட்ட ரஷ்ய வெளியுறவு அமைச்சு, அத்தகைய தாக்குதல் என்ன நோக்கத்திற்காக நடத்தப்பட்டிருந்தாலும், ஐக்கிய நாடுகள் சாசனத்தை அப்பட்டமாக மீறுவதாக தெரிவித்தது.

 

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