BICOM

Although there has been no comment from Israeli officials, international and Israeli media widely report that Israeli aircraft struck a convoy of trucks carrying sophisticated Russian-made anti-aircraft weaponry and equipment, which was likely heading for Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon.

Reuters quotes a Western diplomatic source saying that the target was “a truck loaded with weapons, heading from Syria to Lebanon,” which was near the border between the two countries at the time of the incident. The Times cites an anonymous Israeli intelligence source who said that the convoy was laden with “weapons systems that make our air force vulnerable,” including SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles and electronic equipment which could disable the GPS system of drones.

However, Syrian state television broadcast a conflicting version of events, claiming that the strike had targeted a “military research centre” near Damascus. The Syrian army’s general command said, “Israeli fighter jets violated our air space at dawn and carried out a direct strike on a scientific research centre in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence.”

The New York Times claims that American officials were notified by Israel ahead of the apparent attack. However, neither the White House nor Israeli officials would comment on the incident. Similar silence greeted an alleged 2007 Israeli airstrike that is thought to have destroyed a nascent Syrian nuclear facility.

Wednesday’s reported operation comes after several days of increased warnings by Israeli officials over the dangers of advanced Syrian weaponry and chemical weapons falling into the hands of Hezbollah. Last weekend, head of Israel’s military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi was reportedly sent to Washington, while National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror is thought to have been dispatched to Moscow, to share intelligence on Syria.