By: Yaakov Lappin – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org
Maj. (res.) Tal Beeri of the Alma Center tells JNS that “the attacking party” behind a series of reported strikes on Damascus is sending a clear message to the Bashar Assad regime.
The Syrian regime led by President Bashar Assad risks losing its Damascus International Airport if Iran continues to use the site to smuggle advanced weapons to Hezbollah, the head of research at an Israeli defense research center has warned.
Speaking just days after international media reports said Israel struck its latest blow against Damascus International, Maj. (res.) Tal Beeri, head of the research department at the Alma Center, told JNS: “The message is clear. So long as Iran’s air corridor for smuggling weapons from Iran to Syria and Lebanon continues, the Syrian state will be seen as responsible by the attacking party. So long as Syria won’t act, the airport will continue to be a target.”
Future attacks could include a “roof knock”—dropping empty munitions to serve as a warning—on the airport’s control tower and destroying it after it is evacuated, assessed Beeri, or strikes on the airport’s radars.
“If the message isn’t received, attacks could escalate further, to the point that serious damage is caused to the airport, and it will take more than a few days to repair,” he said. “The messaging is not aimed at Iran—that is a lost cause. It is determined to continue trafficking arms to Hezbollah. It is aimed at Syria.”
cont’d…