T. Belman. As I understood it, Israel’s planes are no match for the Russian planes and certainly not for the S-300 and S-400 missile/radar systems that Russia has deployed in Syria. Therefore this attack and the one last week could only have been carried out with Russian complicity. Am I wrong?
Important military airport, installations near Damascus reportedly bombed; several Hezbollah fighters killed, sources say
Israeli airstrikes hit an important Syrian regime military airport in Damascus, the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese news network Al Mayadeen claimed Wednesday.
According to the report, the planes struck the Mezzeh Military Airport, located in a suburb of Damascus, around 4 a.m..
Other Arabic media, including al Jazeera and al Arabiya, confirmed that a large explosion had occurred at the airport. Some reports say the fire was caused because a weapons depot exploded.
The Al Mayadeen report noted there had been no official confirmation from the Syrian regime that Israel was responsible, but added “it was almost certain” the explosion was due to IAF airstrikes carried out from Lebanese air space.
A video of the explosion at the airport spread through social media.
Meanwhile, Syrian sources reported that Hezbollah sites near the Syrian capital were also targeted Tuesday night by airstrikes that killed and injured a number of fighters in the Shiite militia.
Some of the reports, citing eyewitnesses, said Israeli fighter planes were responsible for the airstrikes, in the town of al-Zabadani. However, official Hezbollah and Syrian regime sources didn’t initially blame Israel for that attack.
Israeli officials wouldn’t comment on the reports.
The Kurdish website ARA News, citing an eyewitness, said the alleged Israeli airstrikes Tuesday night struck guided missile sites belonging to Hezbollah.
The source told ARA the airstrikes caused “great damage” and killed and injured a number of Hezbollah fighters. The injured were scrambled to hospitals in nearby towns, the report said.
The reported airstrikes come exactly a week after the official website of the Syrian government Sana accused Israel of carrying out bombing raids near Damascus.
Hezbollah has thousands of fighters in Syria, providing military aid to Assad regime and Iranian forces.
In April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel had carried out dozens of strikes against Hezbollah to prevent the group from obtaining advanced weapons — a rare Israeli admission.
Israel has vowed to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining “game-changing” arms — in particular advanced anti-aircraft systems and chemical weapons.
Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
Birdalone Said:
Yes, if you look at the two Times of Israel articles I enclosed links to from earlier this year, that’s exactly what was said. Israel does have the current capability to fight the Russians to a stale-mate and Russian planes fired on Israeli planes twice before the two governments untangled the lines and worked out the details. They already had a hot line which they are using to coordinate. Russia want to stop terrorists from getting back to Russia by killing them in Syria so it supports Assad who is the only established government and Iran because it also supports Assad. That doesn’t extend to Hezbollah. Take a look at them.
@ yamit82:
yamit82: If this report is true, was not Israel enforcing UNSC Res 1701? in the absence of the UN enforcing it all these years?
Russia might be allied with Assad and Iran, not necessarily Hezbollah.
The F-35? I stopped following details once I read, maybe in 2012, that ALL F-35s will have to be linked to a command computer in the USA due to the complexity of downloading updates, patches, whatnot. Perhaps Israel fixed that issue.
Even so, maintenance of the F35 stealth exterior reminds me of the disaster when the Space Shuttle tiles came off, maybe it was bad adhesive.
Anyway, the Pentagon has forgotten the KISS doctrine: Keep it Simple Stupid.
@ Ted Belman:If true why would you publish this?
Birdalone Said:
HaaaaaaaaaaaaaBirdalone Said:
We shall soon see or hear about performance in real time and conditions. 🙂
Ted Belman Said:
Ted the F-35’s are not yet operational and are only platforms for weapons systems. F-15 has superior avionic attributes except for stealth and it seems the Russians have solved the stealth problem and integrated it into their radars. I am not saying the attacks were not coordinated although not sure why Russia would agree they are allied defacto of Hezbollah and Iran who support Assad. Israel has standoff weapons up to 200Km from selected targets. I think Israel’s electronic jammers more effective than purported stealth attributes of F-35. It could be that Israel carried out raid without being caught by Russian systems and that could send a message????
Nope, not far from wrong, and a phone call from Taipei.
Agree that Russia was ‘complicit’. Someone has to enforce UNSC Res 1701.
As for the F-35? Highest maintenance bird ever created by legions of bureaucrats. Can not imagine how any F-35 survives one sandstorm, or DJT’s first term.
@ Ted Belman:
cant they change the codes… now that they know?
I heard from one of my sources today that Israel and the US together have broken the Russian code so that they can avoid the missiles.
perhaps the russians will only fire on aircraft over syrian air space to remain legal.
Just for your info Ted, Israel also has new missile type artillery and other surface to surface missiles that can hit places around the distance of Damascus or further.
Curiosity on your question is natural. Greece has an S-300 and Israel has trained against this system, this has been printed publicly.
Israel clearly does not want to get into combat with Russian aircraft or vice-versa.
I think Israel received their first 2 F-35s today. These planes can dominate what Russia has to offer.
According to this article, from a year ago, it would be more difficult for Israeli planes but not impossible but, yes, they are coordinating:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-air-superiority-in-syria-clouded-by-russian-s-400/
There were stale-mated skirmishes earlier this year before the spheres of interest were ironed out:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/russian-forces-fired-on-israeli-jets-at-least-twice/