POSSIBLE MOTIVES BEHIND ISRAELS AIRSTRIKE ON SYRIA

After Syria accused Israel of launching airstrikes on the country’s military sites in Damascus, local media outlets and some Syrian and Lebanese analysts believed that there are three possible motives behind the attack.The airstrike on Sunday was the second one for Israel to target the same military position inside Damascus. In January, an Israeli air strike targeted the scientific research centre in the area of Jamraya, northwest of Damascus.

Israel, after its first attack, claimed that it had targeted weapons’ convoy bound for Lebanese Hezbollah militant group, a main ally to Syria.Western reports cited western intelligence sources as claiming that the latest Israeli attack came to target a shipment of advanced Iranian-made weapons, including Fateh-110 missiles, heading to Hezbollah.

The Fateh-110 is a medium-range, surface-to-surface missile capable of striking targets in central Israel, and is considered a “tie-breaking” weapon that could severely threaten the country’s urban centres.The Israeli administration has previously warned that it will not allow the Syrian government to give sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah.

Furthermore, another Israeli airstrike was said to have hit Syria but was neither confirmed officially by Israel nor Syria. Syrian Information minister Omran al-Zoubi said his government was undertaking a “serious investigation” into the alleged attack.After the airstrike, mortar shells were reportedly fired by the rebels at the Jamraya research centre coupled with intensive attacks by rebel groups on several military checkpoints guarding the capital, according to local media outlets, which charged Israel has timed its attack in coordination with the rebels to storm Damascus.

“The Israeli entity has used its missiles to support the terrorism through targeting the research centre,” the Syrian state media said in a commentary that followed the Israeli attack. The state media charged that Israel targeted Damascus to give a boost to the rebels after the abject defeats they have been suffering recently on the ground. Naser Qandil, a Lebanese political expert, said that Israel was trying to create a fire cover for the rebels to storm the Syrian capital.

  A Syrian Arab News Agency’s picture showing “the damage caused by Israeli strike”. Israel carried out a pre-dawn air strike near Damascus on Sunday, targeting Iranian missiles destined for Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a senior Israeli source said.