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Dozens of Fighters Killed in Israeli Airstrikes Inside Syria

Linda Gradstein

   JERUSALEM - A series of airstrikes in eastern Syria this week,
   allegedly by Israel, killed at least 57 people, most of them fighters
   from Iranian-backed militias, according to international monitoring
   groups. The targets were reportedly Iranian weapons storehouses and
   fighters.

   Analysts say that while Israeli strikes on Syria are common, the large
   number of people killed and the timing, just days before U.S.
   President-elect Joe Biden takes office, could spark tensions between
   Israel and Iran, and the United States and Iran.

   Israel has not claimed responsibility for the airstrikes, which
   analysts saw as a major operation against Iran's continued efforts to
   establish a permanent military presence in Syria. Syrian reports said
   at least 15 sites were targeted.

   Retired Brigadier General Assaf Orion, a senior fellow at the Institute
   for National Security Studies, said, "This strike, as much as it was
   conducted by Israel, which is the probable explanation, is in the
   context of Iran and Israel's long campaign in Syria and that's, I would
   say in a wider scale, Iran's proxy warfare across the Middle East,
   because what we are seeing is the Iranian art of war is based on
   fighting on other people's lands by other people's hands."

   He said what he found unique about these airstrikes were the large
   scope, and the location, 500 kilometers from Israel, near the border
   between Iraq and Syria.

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