Syria confirms IAF hit Hezbollah arms depot near Damascus

Arab media: Israeli strike hits complex holding Iranian weapons routinely shipped to Syria • Intelligence Minister Katz stops short of confirming Israeli involvement, says incident "matches our declared policy" • Syrian official threatens retaliation.

Israel Hayom

Flames rise up over an area near Damascus International Airport, Thursday

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Photo credit: Screenshot / Twitter

Arab media reported Thursday that an Israeli strike hit a Hezbollah arms supply depot near Damascus International Airport. The depot was said to store regular supplies of Iranian weapons shipped to Syria via commercial and military cargo planes, meant for the Lebanon-based Shiite terrorist group.

Speaking with the Syrian Arab News Agency, a senior Syrian military official confirmed the weapons depot had been struck and attributed the attack to Israel. "Syria will retaliate on the Israeli aggression," he declared.

In an interview with Army Radio Thursday, Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz stopped short of confirming Israeli involvement, saying only that the incident in Syria "absolutely matches our declared policy, to act to prevent Iran's smuggling of advanced weapons via Syria to Hezbollah Iran. Naturally, I don't want to elaborate on this. ... The prime minister has said that whenever we receive intelligence that indicate an intention to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah, we will act."

An Israeli military spokeswoman decline to comment.

According to reports, five airstrikes on the compound took place at around 3:30 a.m., destroying what an unnamed intelligence source said was "a significant amount of weapons." He said the arms depot got a major part of the weapons supplied to an array of Iranian-backed militias, led by Hezbollah, which have thousands of fighters engaged in some of the toughest fronts against Syrian rebels.

Syrian media said the complex was damaged, but reports of casualties were inconsistent.

Russia's Sputnik news network also reported the compound was hit by five missiles.

Lebanon's Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV said the explosion caused by the strike was heard across the Syrian capital and sparked a massive fire, adding it appeared that the strikes hit warehouses and fuel tanks and had caused only material damage.

A pro-government site Damascus Now said the explosion was near the city's Seventh Bridge, which leads to the airport road.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdurrahman said that "the blast was huge and could be heard in Damascus," he said.

The Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen television network quoted opposition sources in the Damascus area as saying that a missile strike hit an ammunition depot near Mezzeh Military Airport, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Damascus International Airport.