The Israeli army announced early Thursday, April 22, that it had carried out strikes on Syria after a missile, fired from that country, landed, according to it, in the Negev desert (south) near a facility Israeli nuclear powerhouse deemed secret. “A surface-to-air missile identified as coming from Syria fell in the Negev. In retaliation, a few minutes ago the Israeli army hit the battery from which the missile was launched and other Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries ”, the IDF said in a brief message.
According to the official Syrian agency SANA, the Israeli army launched missiles from the Golan Heights “To positions in the vicinity of Damascus”. “Our air defense battery intercepted missiles and brought down the majority of them. This attack caused injuries to four soldiers and caused some material damage ”the Syrian agency added, citing a local military source.
Hundreds of strikes since 2011
Earlier that night, the IDF claimed that sirens warning of potential attacks had sounded near the Bedouin village of Abu Qrenat, located a few kilometers from the Dimona plant. Israel has never admitted having a nuclear arsenal, but foreign experts, relying in particular on the testimony of Mr. Vanunu, claim that the Jewish state has 100 to 300 nuclear warheads.
Since the outbreak of the war in Syria in 2011, the Jewish state has carried out hundreds of strikes there against positions of Syrian power and its allies, Iranian troops and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.
Israel says it seeks to prevent its main enemy, Iran, from establishing itself in Syria, a country bordering the Hebrew state. While the IDF has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, it has rarely publicly acknowledged these strikes. Most of the fire from Syria was intercepted by the Israeli “iron dome” missile shield, without reaching southern Israel.
