Iraq News Now

On

Sunday night, the Israeli air force (IAF) carried out one of its largest

missions against Iran- and Hezbollah-related targets in Syria to date.
According to Syrian and Lebanese

media IAF warplanes launched a large number of air to surface missiles at targets

in the town of Kisweh, which houses the headquarters of the Quds Force of the

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Sahnaya a Damascus suburb, and the

port town of Tartus which is home to a Russian naval base and a port leased by

the IRGC.
Six cruise missiles were

furthermore fired from the Mediterranean Sea while Syrian air defenses launched

at least 13 missiles towards the incoming Israeli projectiles.
One of these Syrian missiles

apparently went astray and exploded in Turkey-occupied

northern Cyprus causing a blaze but no injuries or damage.
The Syrian Observatory for Human

Rights initially claimed 4 Syrians were killed and scores of others wounded

during the Israeli airstrikes. The death toll later climbed to 16 according to

Syrian media.
The 91st military division base

of the IRGC in Damascus was one of the targets hit while the Jamraya Scientific

Studies and Research Center (SSRC), which was used for the development of

chemical weapons, was another one.
The IAF also targeted a

watchtower used by Hezbollah in the town of Tell al-Hara a strategic point

overlooking the Golan Heights according to Syrian observers.
This was the second time in a

month the Israeli military bombed Tell al-Hara which is one of approx. 20

lookouts from where Hezbollah and the Syrian army follow the movements of the

IDF.
The presence of Hezbollah

fugitives in the vicinity of the Israeli border constitutes a flagrant breach

of the !974 Separation of Forces agreement which was reintroduced after the

Syrian army recaptured southern Syria last year.
According to new provisions added

to the agreement after Russian mediation, the Quds Brigade and Hezbollah were

supposed to remain at least 80 kilometers from the Israeli border.
Hezbollah commanders are,

furthermore, controlling Syrian army units. One of them is Munir Ali Naim Shaiti,

better known under his nom de guerre Hajj Hashem who is heading the Syrian

Army’s ‘Southern Command’ in the Hauran region near Daraa.
The force is in the possession of

anti-tank and short range surface to surface missiles with a payload of 250

kilograms and is actively preparing for a future conflict with the Israeli

military.
Currently the Southern Command’s

main task is intelligence gathering using sophisticated technology which

enables Hezbollah and the Syrian army to eavesdrop on the Israeli military.
Hezbollah in southern Syria is

also working to build up its offensive capabilities an effort led by senior

terrorist Ali Musa Daqduq who is wanted by the US for carrying out deadly

attacks on American soldiers in Iraq.
Daqduq is recruiting members

of disgruntled Sunni Islamist militias who were defeated by Assad’s forces in

the summer of 2018 in order to establish a new terrorist organization which

will direct its activities at Israel.
The new Israeli raids in Syria

show that the IAF has retained its ability to operate against Hezbollah and the

Quds Force despite the presence of the Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft missile

shield which is now reportedly fully operable.
Satellite images released by the

Israeli company ImageSat International revealed that the

Syrian army has deployed four S-300 batteries near the town of Masyaf which has

been the scene of earlier IAF attacks.
The images showed that the S-300

batteries were now accompanied by a radar system which can detect warplanes

several hundreds of kilometres from the site where the system is stationed.
The IAF has carried out roughly

1,000 airstrikes against Iran-related targets in Syria over the past few years

former IDF Chief-of-Staff Gadi Eisenkot revealed in an

interview with The New

York Times.
Iran hasn’t given up on its goal

to entrench itself in several Middle Eastern countries and is using its many

proxies to carry out attacks against the US-led anti-Iran coalition which

includes Saudi-Arabia and Israel.
The Quds Force of the IRGC

recently activated the Hash al-Shaabi umbrella organization of predominantly

Shiite militias in Iraq to attack US-related targets in Iraq and an oil pumping

station in Saudi-Arabia.
On May 14. Hash al-Shaabi used a

drone-bomb to destroy the oil installation in central Saudi-Arabia while the

Iraqi military blocked US Air Force excess to Iraqi airspace at the same time.
The attack was carried out by the

Iranian-found Kataib Hezbollah militia which is integrated in Hash al-Shaabi.
Military experts think Iran’s

strategy for taking over parts of the Middle East could eventually lead to a

much wider conflict and even a world war.
They could be right.
As we will see Iran also

continues to meddle in the Palestinian Israeli conflict and has been caught

trying to establish spy cells in the so-called West Bank,

Judea and Samaria in the center of Israel.
Iran also continues to supply

rockets and other weaponry to its proxies in Gaza and trains scores of Hamas

and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists according to Hamas operative

Hamza Ismail Abu Shanab.
Abu Shanab revealed that

the Iranians have helped Hamas and PIJ develop a central command in Gaza and

are providing assistance with the digging of new terror tunnels.