BICOM

Following an apparent air strike in Syria in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the White House warned the Syrian government not to transfer weapons to Hezbollah, while Syria and its Iranian ally threatened retaliation against Israel.

Israeli officials have remained silent on the operation and there is still a lack of clarity over what actually occurred. Western reports say that aircraft struck a convoy of trucks heading towards the Lebanese border carrying sophisticated Russian-made anti-aircraft weaponry and equipment, which was likely heading for Hezbollah. However, the Syrian government claims that an air strike targeted a “military research centre” near Damascus killing two people.

Over the past week, Israeli leaders have increasingly warned about the growing dangers of advanced Syrian weaponry and chemical weapons falling into the hands of Hezbollah, fears which have also been repeatedly expressed by other Western countries. Yesterday, according to AFP, Ben Rhodes a US deputy national security advisor said, “Syria should not further destabilize the region by transferring weaponry to Hezbollah.”

Syria summoned the head of the United Nations (UN) mission on the Syria-Israel border to protest Israel’s alleged air incursion, which the UN officials were unable to verify. Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon is reported as saying that Damascus could take “a surprise decision to respond to the aggression of the Israeli warplanes.” Meanwhile, Iranian media quoted the country’s deputy foreign minister who threatened that the “strike on Syria will have serious consequences for Tel Aviv.” Syria’s most significant international ally Russia, issued a statement though its foreign ministry saying that if the air strike was verified, then the “unprovoked attacks,” would constitute an “unacceptable” violation of UN charters.