On Sunday a small
convoy of unmarked civilian vehicles travelling near the Israeli border on the
Syrian side of the Golan Heights was destroyed by air-to-ground missiles.
According to
eyewitnesses two drones were seen crossing from the Israeli side before the
attack and returning afterwards. Other reports claimed an Israeli attack
helicopter fired two missiles at two vehicles, killing several Hezbollah and
Iranian military personnel, including commanders. Here is what has been now
been confirmed.
According to
Hezbollah, the vehicles were attacked by missiles from Israeli aircraft and
several Hezbollah senior commanders and fighters were killed, including 25 year
old Jihad Mughniyeh – son of Imad Mughniyeh, the former legendary Hezbollah
chief of operations who was killed in Damascus in 2008, when the headrest in
his car exploded. Hezbollah has always blamed Israel for the murder.
His son Jihad
was being groomed by the Iranians and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nassralla to
follow in his father’s footsteps. Just a few months ago Jihad was appointed
commander of the Hezbollah forces on the Golan, and was preparing attacks
against Israel.
Among the
Iranian officers killed was Revolutionary Guard Corp General Mohammed Ali Allah
Dadi. He was a senior expert on missile deployment and was sent by Iran to
mentor Mughniyeh and work with him on building an Iranian missile
infrastructure on the Golan Heights against Israel.
Both Iran and
Hezbollah blame Israel for the attacks and promise dire retribution: "These
martyrdoms proved the need to stick with jihad. The Zionists must await ruinous
thunderbolts," Revolutionary Guards' chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari was
quoted on Tuesday as saying by Fars news agency. This, Mohammad Ali Jafari
said, will be "a new beginning point for the imminent collapse of the
Zionist Regime."
"The Revolutionary Guards will fight to the
end of the Zionist regime. We will not rest easy until this epitome of vice is
totally deleted from the region's geopolitics."
While Israel has
officially neither confirmed nor denied that it was responsible, in an
interview this week with Reuters, a “senior Israeli security source” left
little doubt. The Israeli source confirmed that Israel carried out the strike. Asked if Israel expected Iranian or
Hezbollah retaliation, the source said: "They are almost certain to
respond. We are anticipating that."
"We did not expect the outcome in terms of the
stature of those killed - certainly not the Iranian general," the source went
on to say. "We thought we were hitting an enemy field unit that was on its
way to carry out an attack on us at the frontier fence." "We got the
alert, we spotted the vehicle, identified it was an enemy vehicle and took the
shot. We saw this as a limited tactical operation."
Troops and
civilians in northern Israel are on heightened alert. Roads near the border
have been closed as convoys of artillery and tank units can be seen heading
north. Iron Dome rocket interceptor units have been moved from the center and
deployed near the Syrian border.
But will this
evolve into a full scale “Third Lebanon War”? I doubt it. Iran and Hezbollah have too much to lose and
nothing to gain. The estimated 150,000 medium and long range heavy missiles
that Iran today controls in Lebanon and that can certainly do serious, if not
catastrophic damage to Israel are the only insurance policy it has left against
an Israeli attack on its nuclear weapons program.
Israel has made it clear that they will be immediately
destroyed during the first hours of the next war.
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