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An Israeli missile strike on Saturday reportedly killed five in a Hezbollah and Iranian convoy.
Antiwar.com reported that the strike hit a Damascus suburb and the artillery used was believed to be surface-to-air missiles. Tel Aviv did not comment on reports of the strike.
SANA, Syria’s state news agency, reported that the Syrian air defenses shot down several missiles that were fired from northern Israel, and two soldiers were killed in the rocket attack. The Associated Press reported that the attack occurred at around noon, which was a departure from Israel’s routine nighttime raids. The AP said Israel has launched “hundreds of strikes” against military targets in Syria over the past year.
There were conflicting reports on the fatalities in the strikes. The Britain-based Syrian Observation for Human Rights identified the dead as Iran-allied militiamen, but it was not clear if those killed were Syrians.
Trends Journal has reported on military action taken by Israel that often does not get covered by the mainstream media. (See “ISRAEL CONDUCTS SERIES OF DEADLY AIRSTRIKES IN SYRIA,” “U.S. POLL: NO BOMB AID FOR ISRAEL,” and “ISRAEL’S NEW GOVERNMENT: BOMBS VS. BALLOONS.”)
Reports said that Israel has targeted these convoys because these weapon shipments are bound for Hezbollah. The Times of Israel said the strike near Damascus occurred one week after Israel said it got a green light from Russian President Vladimir Putin to “keep up its airstrikes in Syria.”
TREND FORECAST: With Prime Minister Naftali Bennett taking over from former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, considering who he is and what he stands for, we forecast it will be more of the same.
For example, Bennett served in an elite unit of the Israel Defense Forces and in 2013 he became the leader of the pro-settler party Jewish Home that opposed the formation of a Palestinian state. He rebranded the Jewish Home to “Yamina” in 2019.
In 2018, The Times of Israel reported Bennett said that if he were defense minister, he would enact a “shoot to kill” policy with Gaza for those breaching the barrier wall. When asked if he would also “shoot to kill” children breaching the barrier, Bennett said “They are not children—they are terrorists.”