Iran condemns Israeli airstrike in Syria

Iran condemns Israeli airstrike in Syria

(AP) Iran condemns Israeli airstrike in Syria
TEHRAN, Iran

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman is condemning an Israeli airstrike in Syria on a shipment of Iranian-made missiles, but gives no other hints of a possible stronger response from Tehran or its allies.

Ramin Mehmanparast is quoted Sunday by the semiofficial Fars news agency as denouncing the attack on the missiles, which were believed en route to Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. It’s the first Iranian comments since Israel launched a first round of airstrikes on Friday, then another round on Sunday.

Mehmanparast urges countries in the region to remain united against Israel, but gives no other suggestions of possible further action in response.

The attack signals a sharp escalation of Israel’s involvement in Syria’s more than 2-year-old civil war between rebels and the forces of President Bashar Assad, a key Iranian ally.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

Israeli warplanes struck areas in and around the Syrian capital Sunday, setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be on their way to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, officials and activists said.

The attack, the second in three days, signaled a sharp escalation of Israel’s involvement in Syria’s bloody civil war. Syria’s state media reported that Israeli missiles struck a military and scientific research center near the Syrian capital and caused casualties.

An intelligence official in the Middle East, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to disclose information about a secret military operation to the media, confirmed that Israel launched an airstrike in Damascus early Sunday but did not give more precise details about the location. The target was Fateh-110 missiles, which have very precise guidance systems with better aim than anything Hezbollah has in its arsenal, the official told The Associated Press.

The airstrikes come as Washington considers how to respond to indications that the Syrian regime may have used chemical weapons in its civil war. President Barack Obama has described the use of such weapons as a “red line,” and the administration is weighing its options _ including possible military action.

Israel has said it wants to stay out of the brutal Syria war, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated the Jewish state would be prepared to take military action to prevent sophisticated weapons from flowing from Syria to Hezbollah or other extremist groups.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in mid-2006 that ended in a stalemate.

Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that explosions went off at the Jamraya military and scientific research center near Damascus and said “initial reports point to these explosions being a result of Israeli missiles.” SANA said there were casualties but did not give a number.

Israel has said it will not allow sophisticated weapons to flow from Syria to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and a heavily armed foe of the Jewish state.

An airstrike in January also targeted weapons apparently bound for Hezbollah, Israeli and U.S. officials have said. The White House had no immediate comment on Sunday’s reported missile strikes.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, also reported large explosions in the area of Jamraya, a military and scientific research facility northwest of Damascus, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Lebanese border.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV said the research center in Jamraya was not hit. It added that an army supply center was targeted by the strike.

Al-Manar quoted unnamed Syrian security officials as saying that three sites including military barracks, arms depots and air defense center were targeted by the strike.

Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV, that has several reporters around Syria, said one of the strikes targeted a military position in the village of Saboura, west of Damascus and about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the Lebanon border.

An amateur video said to be shot early Sunday in the Damascus area showed fire lighting up the night sky. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting.

Uzi Rubin, a missile expert and former Defense Ministry official, told the AP that if the target were Fateh-110 missiles as reported then it is a game changer as they put almost all Israel in range and can accurately hit targets.

Rubin emphasized that he was speaking as a rocket expert and had no details on reported strikes.

Israel’s first airstrike in Syria, in January, also struck Jamraya.

At the time, a U.S. official said Israel targeted trucks next to the research center that carried SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles. The strikes hit both the trucks and the research facility, the official said. The Syrian military didn’t confirm a hit on a weapons shipment at the time, saying only that Israeli warplanes bombed the research center.

Israeli lawmaker Shaul Mofaz, a former defense minister and a former chief of staff, declined to confirm the airstrike but said Israel is concerned about weapons falling into the hands of the Islamic militant group amid the chaos of Syria’s civil war.

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Deitch was reporting from Jerusalem.

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