Russia & Former

Keep Soviet
up with Unionby installing RT’s
the news World News for Chrome. Never
extension Business Sport
miss a story with this clean and simpleOp-ed
app that delivers theGames
latest & Entertainment
headlines to you. Shows
  Projects

‫اﻟﻌرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ESP РУС DE FR Where to watch Schedule RT Shop RT News App

QUESTION MORE LIVE

18 Feb, 2022 15:04 / Home / World News

Top stories

Why Israel strikes Syria

Israeli strikes on Damascus may have been more about Hezbollah than
Syria

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary @falasteen47

lmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from
and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and currently
works with Quds News. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump's Putin and Macron agree on Ukraine measures
Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. 

Ukraine makes nuclear status threat

Israeli airstrikes reportedly targeted
southern Damascus on Wednesday,
causing material damage and re ecting NATO did promise Moscow it wouldn't expand,
a larger trend of what Syria considers former German defense o icial tells RT
“Israeli aggression” against it. But what
does Israel seek to achieve with these Ottawa mayor wants to sell con scated Freedom
strikes? Convoy trucks

At around 11:35pm (local time) Israel

Russia mocks UK over latest ‘invasion’ claim
launched surface-to-surface missiles
“from the direction of the occupied
Syrian Golan, targeting some points in Russia to prolong military drills in Belarus
the vicinity of Zakiya town,” according to
In this handout photo distributed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) helicopters and tanks Syrian state media. Syrian opposition NATO makes new 'attack' claim
are mobilized as the Israeli army takes part in a military manoeuvre to conquer a Syrian media then claimed that a Syrian military
outpost. © IDF via Getty Images
base used by pro-Iran militias was
EU warns of Russia sanctions blowback
struck. 

It was the third Israeli strike within the past month, with the previous attack occurring just last week. On
January 31, Israeli airstrikes near Damascus reportedly targeted weapons belonging to Lebanese Hezbollah.

Wednesday’s airstrikes came shortly after a speech delivered earlier that day by the Secretary General of Subscribe to RT newsletter to get news
Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in which he addressed the Israeli attacks. He claimed that his group highlights of the day right in your mailbox
possesses the ability  “to transform our thousands of rockets into precision-guided missiles” with the
cooperation of “experts from the Islamic Republic of Iran.” During his televised address, Nasrallah also said E-mail
that Hezbollah has been developing precision missiles and “drones in Lebanon for a long time,” jokingly
adding “whoever wants to buy them, submit an order.” We o er you the possibility to receive RT's news highlights
every Monday, Wednesday and Friday by email.
Nasrallah also threatened Israel with “another Ansariya,” which
is the name for a 1997 operation in which Hezbollah
ambushed and killed 12 Israeli soldiers attempting to plant Subscribe
explosives in Lebanon. After referring to a number of known
engagements between Hezbollah and Israel, labeled by
Nasrallah as “the battles in between wars,” he remarked that
“when it comes to the actual implementation of operations,
RT Features
they need to bring in commandos, generals, soldiers, elite
groups…they bring them from the sea,” he stated, warning
Israel that “we are ready for them.” Read more: Israel res missiles at Syria
– reports
According to an alleged insider source found through journalist
Laith Marouf, Nasrallah’s speech referred to a thwarted Israeli
special forces operation, describing it but refraining from announcing it. The “resistance source” did not wish
to be named for security reasons, claiming that on February 2, two Israeli special forces teams had allegedly
landed in the areas of Zouk Mosbeh (18km North of Beirut), and Jounieh (22km North of Beirut) attempting
to reach beachfront safehouses. This information could not be independently veri ed.

“They [the Israeli forces] had activated their local network of agents…they had two operations running
simultaneously, because the Israeli modus operandi is that they have one operation to distract from the How Crimea became part of Russia and why it was
other, which would go after the target. Alternatively the second team could complete the operation if the other gifted to Ukraine FEATURE
fails,” the source claimed. 

“The communications opened up between the teams and their agents, revealing the agents and so they
were captured [by Hezbollah], these were not those in the safe houses but those who were on the ground
preparing for the action against the targets,” the source claimed. I asked whether any of those captured were
Israeli nationals and the reply was that only Lebanese agents were arrested. According to the source,
Hezbollah had discovered only one of the teams, faced with the choice of engaging would mean killing or
capturing them, but without the second team located this would have been costly. What then allegedly
occurred, was that Hezbollah forces allowed for the Israelis to withdraw to sea, after the teams’ cover was
blown, in order to avert the possibility of war between the two sides. “They [the Israelis] thought that they had
located a manufacturing site for either missiles or drones,” according to Laith Marouf, who alleged that this
was the target of the Israeli special forces teams.
Why Russia and the West failed to create a united
Beyond the tensions between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel Europe after the USSR collapsed FEATURE
is also the Israeli xation on cementing its presence in the
Golan Heights, internationally recognised as an occupied
territory belonging to Syria. 

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, speaking at the ‘Makor

Rishon Golan Conference’ on October 11, said that his
government intended to quadruple the Israeli settler population
in the area. In December, Israel approved a $317 million
plan to double the settler population. Since October, it has
Read more: Syria shoots down Israeli
launched over 10 known attacks on Syria, allegedly
missiles – Russia
assassinated an ex-member of the Syrian parliament, and
bombarded the civilian port of Latakia twice, directly
Digital Wild West: How people get rich on virtual
targeting Syria’s air defense systems, weapons storage facilities, and killing soldiers in the process. 
NFT land and valuables FEATURE
Although the war in Syria has come to a somewhat temporary halt, giving time for the Syrian government to
attempt to normalize ties throughout the region and reintegrate itself into the Arab League, Israel is making it Podcasts All podcasts
clear that, without concessions, little will return to normal. 

In June 2015, it spoke of creating a “safe zone”, or bu er-zone, between it and the rest of Syria in order to On Contact: Oppenheimer & the bomb culture
protect the Druze community that primarily live near or in the Syrian province of Sweida. Israel even began
forming strong relations with Druze opposition groups in southern Syria to achieve this aim. According to an
investigation by The Intercept, in early 2018 Israel was at stage two of implementing a bu er zone – which
was to be set up in southern Syria – with the intention of solidifying its hold on the Golan Heights. However,
this plan was ruined when Syrian opposition groups and ISIS militants were defeated and the Syrian
government retook the south in an o ensive in July 2018.
Worlds Apart: Science of spirit? Lisa Miller, professor of
Rare anti-Syrian government demonstrations erupted last week in Sweida province over collapsing living psychology and education at CU
conditions and corruption. Preceding these was the inauguration of the Syrian al-Liwa Party, a sectarian
Druze party attached to the military enitity known as the Counter-Terrorism Force. 

Speaking to al-Monitor, Nowras Aziz, an independent journalist

from Sweida now living in France, said that “Abo Kheer [Syrian
al-Liwa Party leader] had contacted the [US-led international]
coalition forces at Al-Tanf base in the second half of 2020,
explaining his plan in Suwayda [province]. Abu Kheer had
informed the forces that the steps would include declaring full
control over the eastern villages [of Suwayda] and removing
any presence of the Syrian regime or Iran in that area.” This
information, if true, indicates the threat the group poses to the
Syrian government and how it aligns with the goals of Israel. Read more: Russia sends hypersonic
There is no proof that Israel is involved with the Syrian al-Liwa missiles to Syria
Party but, given its connection to the US, it’s likely that the two
groups’ alignment on strategy is not simply chance.

Israel similarly seeks to weaken Damascus and disrupt the movement of Iran-aligned armed groups inside
Syrian territory and this includes attempting to eliminate the weapons of any such groups. Although
Hezbollah claims it is not a ected by Israeli airstrikes, the Syrian government is most certainly being made to
pay a price by Tel Aviv, both for threatening its presence in the Golan Heights and for facilitating the
presence of Hezbollah and Iran – real strategic threats to Israel –  in the country. Although the Syrian war
has quieted down, Israel is not letting go of its goal to force concessions on Syrian President Bashar Assad
and its attempt to send a message to Hezbollah and Tehran.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do
not necessarily represent those of RT.

OPED

You can share this story on social media:

82 Follow RT on

Trends: Bashar Assad, Damascus, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Syria

Join RT on Telegram

‫اﻟﻌرﺑﯾﺔ‬ ESP РУС DE FR

RT News App

News Games & Entertainment Live Terms of Use

Russia & Former Soviet Union Shows Applications Privacy policy
Business Projects Where to watch About RT
Sport RT Play Schedule Contact info
Op-ed Sponsored content Feedback & Complaints
On-Air Talent Vacancies

© Autonomous Nonpro t Organization “TV-Novosti”, 2005–2022. All rights reserved.