BEIRUT — Iran said a Revolutionary Guards commander was among those killed in an Israeli airstrike on Syria Sunday, a new entanglement between the foes as they spar over Iran's nuclear program.
Iranian Commander Mohammad-Ali Allahdadi died "defending the innocent people of Syria" state-run Fars news agency reported Monday, citing a statement from the guards. Allahdadi had been advising the Syrian government on how to confront "Salafist terrorists," according to the statement.
Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group said Sunday that six members were also killed in the attack, including one of its longest-serving commanders and the son of a top military leader assassinated seven years ago in a car bombing attributed to Israel. Israeli officials haven't confirmed or denied responsibility for the latest strike.
If carried out by Israel, the attack marks another escalation in the proxy conflict between Israel and Iran, which has deepened since the Lebanese militant group's involvement in Syria's war became public in 2013. It will also test Hezbollah's ability to respond at a time when its fighters are mired in Syria's civil war.
Shouts of "Death to Israel" and "America, you're the Great Satan" rose from Hezbollah supporters when the coffin of Jihad Mughniyeh arrived at a funeral hall at a Beirut cemetery. Mughniyeh's father, Imad, the suspected mastermind of attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s, was killed in 2008 by a car bomb in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Hezbollah held Israel responsible for that attack, too.
The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, warned of a "crushing response" to the attack, Fars reported.
Israel considers Iran, a patron of Palestinian militant groups as well as Hezbollah, its most formidable enemy. It doesn't believe Iran's assertions that its nuclear program is peaceful and has threatened to strike it militarily if necessary to prevent it from building bombs.
The death of a top Iranian officer may intensify the reprisal for Sunday's strike, according to retired Major- General Eyal Ben-Reuven, a former deputy commander of Israel's Northern Front.
In the past, Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors haven't always been on the same page when it comes to deciding when and how hard to strike, he said. "Now it's a common interest for Hezbollah and Iran to retaliate," Ben-Reuven said in a phone briefing to reporters.
At the same time, Iran and Hezbollah might avoid a direct confrontation with Israel when their main objective is to quell Syrian rebels, and opt instead to attack Israeli or Jewish targets abroad, he said.
No special security precautions have been taken on Israel's northern frontier or to protect Israeli diplomatic missions, the army and Foreign Ministry said.
Hassan Nasrallah, the group's chief, said this month that Israel would be mistaken if it was betting that the group's involvement in Syria has weakened its "capabilities, readiness, assets and determination."
Iranian military aid to Hezbollah transits through Syria, and Israel has been accused of previously targeting Hezbollah positions in that country and on the Lebanese border. The group, which warred with the Israeli military for a month in 2006, hasn't immediately retaliated for such attacks in the past two years that it blamed on Israel.
Hezbollah intervened in Syria's civil war to support President Bashar al-Assad and prevent Sunni Muslim groups from taking power. The group is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel and the U.S.
An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on Sunday's strike. Without mentioning the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at an appearance with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Israel "is adamant that it will have the right to defend itself against all those who wish to propagate terror and other attacks against its citizens."
The airstrike took place in Quneitra, which sits near a United Nations-patrolled no-man's land that separates Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights. Israel captured the southern section of the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed it in a step that isn't internationally recognized.
Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said intelligence reports indicate Syrian government forces weren't aware of Hezbollah's presence in the area. Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese pro-Hezbollah newspaper, said Monday that the group's fighters were hit by two guided missiles while driving on an reconnaissance mission in the area.
If Israel carried out the attack, the "presence of high- value targets could have been the trigger," said Sami Nader, a professor of international relations at Beirut's St. Joseph University.
A pattern has emerged during the Syrian conflict in which Israel strikes when arms are being shipped to Hezbollah, if it feels its security is being threatened or if Hezbollah gets close to the Israeli border, Nader said by phone from Beirut.
Reported with assistance from John Walcott and Zaid Sabah in Washington, Calev Ben-David in Jerusalem and Ladane Nasseri in Dubai.
No comments:
Post a Comment