Israel Uses 'Secret' Anti-Tank Guided Missile to Attack Damascus

Smoke rises after an Israeli missile attack in Damascus countryside (AP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli missile attack in Damascus countryside (AP)
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Israel Uses 'Secret' Anti-Tank Guided Missile to Attack Damascus

Smoke rises after an Israeli missile attack in Damascus countryside (AP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli missile attack in Damascus countryside (AP)

Israel released footage for the first time of its "secret fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile" after Syria claimed the weapon was used in an alleged Israeli attack in the country.

A recent report by Ynet newspaper claimed that the surface-to-surface "Tamuz" missile was developed by Israel's military industries in 1973 and had never been revealed publicly.

The project of Tamuz missiles remained top secret, and a senior military source told the newspaper that some of its types were used in wars against Hezbollah and Hamas.

Ynet said that 30 years after the weapon became operational, never-before-seen footage shows experiments conducted with the highly accurate surface-to-surface projectiles believed to be used in the recent attack on an Iranian weapons convoy in Syria.

Tamuz missiles were given to the Air Force to be installed on Apaches as an accurate long-range weapon. It was successfully used against Hamas and Hezbollah targets.

Though Tamuz missiles are kept as a last resort solution due to their very high cost, according to Syrian reports on Saturday, Israel attacked a convoy carrying advanced weapons systems.

The missile has an accurate 50 km long-range and was sold in various versions to 38 countries worldwide, including NATO forces.

Last Saturday, sources in Syria accused Israel of bombing Damascus countryside during the day, injuring two Syrian soldiers.

State-owned SANA news agency reported that Syria's air defenses responded Saturday to Israeli missiles fired toward Damascus suburbs, injuring two soldiers.

"The Israeli enemy fired a salvo of surface-to-surface missiles from northern occupied Palestine targeting positions near Damascus," SANA said, quoting an unnamed military official.

"Our anti-aircraft defenses were activated and were able to hit some of the enemy missiles," the source said, adding that the attack wounded two soldiers and caused other damages.



Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

Israeli forces have blocked supply routes to the southern Lebanese border city of al-Khiam ahead of storming it.

They have also surrounded the strategic city with Hezbollah fighters still inside, launching artillery and air attacks against them.

Hezbollah fighters have been holding out in Khiam for 25 days. The capture of the city would be significant and allow Israeli forces easier passage into southern Lebanon.

Field sources said Israeli forces have already entered some neighborhoods of Khiam from its eastern and southern outskirts, expanding their incursion into its northern and eastern sectors to fully capture the city.

They cast doubt on claims that the city has been fully captured, saying fighting is still taking place deeper inside its streets and alleys, citing the ongoing artillery fire and drone and air raids.

Israel has already cut off Hezbollah’s supply routes by seizing control of Bourj al-Mamlouk, Tall al-Nahas and olive groves in al-Qlaa in the Marayoun region. Its forces have also fanned out to the west towards the Litani River.

The troops have set up a “line of fire” spanning at least seven kms around Khiam to deter anti-tank attacks from Hezbollah and to launch artillery, drone and aerial attacks, said the sources.

The intense pressure has forced Hezbollah to resort to suicide drone attacks against Israeli forces.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television said Israeli forces tried to carry out a new incursion towards Khiam’s northern neighborhoods.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that since Friday night, Israeli forces have been using “all forms of weapons in their attempt to capture Khiam, which Israel views as a strategic gateway through which it can make rapid ground advances.”

It reported an increase in air and artillery attacks in the past two days as the forces try to storm the city.

The troops are trying to advance on Khiam by first surrounding it from all sides under air cover, it continued.

They are also booby-trapping some homes and buildings and then destroying them, similar to what they have done in other southern towns, such as Adeisseh, Yaround, Aitaroun and Mais al-Jabal.

Khiam holds symbolic significance to the Lebanese people because it was the first city liberated following Israel’s implementation of United Nations Security Council 425 on May 25, 2000, that led to its withdrawal from the South in a day that Hezbollah has since declared Liberation Day.