A former military official in Tel Aviv on Wednesday considered the airstrikes launched by Israel on four Syrian governorates a resumption of chasing out the Iranian presence there amid Russian silence.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Israel targeting Iran proxy militia positions on the Sokhna – Deir Ezzor highway in eastern Syria.
"Five pro-Iranian fighters were killed in a strike on a military center belonging to pro-Tehran militias" on the Sokhna-Deir Ezzor road in eastern Syria, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
He said many others were injured, with several in critical condition.
Two air force soldiers were killed in another raid on a telecommunications center in the southern Sweida province, he said.
The army said Israeli jets hit an army outpost in Salamiya and another in Sabura towns in Hama province only hours after missiles struck other military installations in Deir Ezzor province along the border with Iraq and in southern Syria near the border with Jordan.
Former IDF Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin warned on Wednesday that two waves of air attacks in Syria linked to Israel on Tuesday night will likely provoke serious retaliation from Iran and its proxies.
“The Iranians and their proxies will search for ways to respond to and deter Israel,” tweeted Yadlin, currently executive director of the prestigious Institute for National Security Studies, on Wednesday.
The former intelligence officer cited past attempts to fire rockets into Israel and recent cyberattacks targeting Israeli businesses and infrastructure, giving a taste of what might come.
Yadlin also asserted that the circumstances of the incident show that recent claims that the Iranians were leaving Syria were “wishful thinking.”
Moscow ignored the Israeli raids, with reactions criticizing the content of the speech of the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem two days ago.
A Middle East affairs expert told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Syrian regime is no longer able to change its attitude and face the serious problems challenging the war-torn country.
The expert believed that the main problem lies in the increasing conviction among the Russian elites of the inability to separate the Syrian regime from Iran.
