Syrian Army Slams 'Flagrant Attack,' Threatens Response

by Jason Ditz, 

Syrian Army Command has reported a flurry of Israeli rocket fire against a major military airport near the capital city of Damascus, terming it “a flagrant attack” and threatening serious repercussions for the latest Israeli strike against their facility.

Officials details are scant on what happened in the attack, with Iranian media citing unnamed sources in the Syrian military who said the attacks started a fire, and that there were several casualties. As with most Israeli attacks on Syria, they have not publicly confirmed or denied the incident.

Israel is known, however, to have launched several attacks against Syria over the course of the civil war. This has included several strikes against smaller Syrian military installations, but it has been rare for such a large site to come under target.

Such a serious attack is also interesting in that any Israeli attack since Russia became involved in the Syrian Civil War is presumed to have at least tacit Russian imprimatur, and Israeli probably would not have attacked the base unless they had some justification that they believed would placate Moscow.