One dead, three wounded in an unprovoked Israeli airstrike inside Syria  

Wednesday’s attack was the second such Israeli attack within a week launched from an illegal US military base Al-Tanf inside Syrian territory, Syrian Arab News Agency reported

October 14, 2021 by Peoples Dispatch
Photo: Almayadeen

In yet another violation of international law, an unprovoked Israeli airstrike on Wednesday, October 13, killed one Syrian soldier and wounded three others in its central province of Homs. According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the Syrian air defense intercepted several other missiles averting a major catastrophe.  

According to SANA, the airstrike around 11:30 pm targeted areas near Palmyra, destroying a communication tower. It claimed that the attacks were launched from the illegal US base in Al-Tanf.

Al-Tanf is a US base in Syria near the border it shares with Jordan and Iraq in the Homs province. The US created the base in 2016 to allegedly assist the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) without the permission of the Syrian government. 

Several media organizations, including Al-Jazeera, quoted a higher number of casualties based on the claims made by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-rebel group based in the UK. 

Wednesday’s attack was the second such by Israel in less than a week. On Friday, six Syrian soldiers were wounded in a similar airstrike near the T-4 airbase in Palmyra.

Israel has been carrying out airstrikes in Syria since the beginning of the war in 2011. Hundreds of such airstrikes have been carried out by Israel in complete violation of all international norms killing scores of Syrians and causing massive damage to civilian and military infrastructure. 

Most often, Israel uses the Lebanese airspace to launch its attacks on Syria. Lebanon has filed several complaints in the UN security council against these violations. The UN has failed to take any action against Israel yet. 

Israel rarely acknowledges the airstrikes. On the rare occasions it does, it tries to justify them as defensive strikes against alleged Iranian and Hezbollah bases in Syria. 

The Syrian government had claimed that these airstrikes were carried out to weaken the Syrian government forces, help the rebels and prolong the war in the country. It has also accused the Israeli regime of sheltering rebel and ISIS forces fleeing the country following the government’s recent takeover of the southern provinces.