Hezbollah, Israel both mum on recent escalation

Israeli soldiers walk near mobile artillery units near the border with Syria on the Golan Heights, Jan. 27, 2015.  (photo by REUTERS/Baz Ratner)

From: Al-Monitor

Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz pledged on Dec. 14 that his government would seek US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights during the Donald Trump administration. His statement came in the wake of recent bolder-than-usual Israeli attacks against Syrian and Hezbollah interests.

On Dec. 7, the Israeli army targeted the Syrian heartland, hitting the Mazzeh air base with several surface-to-surface missiles. The base, southwest of Damascus, is home to Syrian air force intelligence headquarters. Another strike was reported later that same night, targeting Hezbollah sites near the Syrian capital, in the Zabadani area. The airstrikes were the second within a week in Syria attributed to Israel.

Another attack had been reported Nov. 30, on an arms convoy near Damascus. International media suggested that Israel had hit the convoy because it was transferring weapons to Hezbollah, which is currently engaged in the Syrian war in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces. The strikes are indicative of the long-running covert war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Avi Melamed, an Israeli affairs expert at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, told Al-Monitor that the repeated Israeli attacks shed light on Israel’s main priorities in Syria. He observed, “Israel has made it clear that it won’t accept Hezbollah's attempts to acquire what is defined by Israel as ‘balance breaking’ weapons, such as weapons of mass destruction, advanced ground-to-air missiles, etc.”

After the Nov. 30 attack, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, addressing a gathering of European Union representatives, stated that Israeli governments have always sought “to protect our sovereignty, and we are trying to prevent the smuggling of advanced weapons, military equipment and weapons of mass destruction from Syria to Hezbollah.” Liberman’s statement was a rare claim of responsibility by Israel for attacks on Syrian soil.

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