Israeli Attacks Squeeze Iranian Aerial Supplies to Syria, Sources Say

This satellite photo released by Planet Labs PBC shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeted the Aleppo International Airport, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite photo released by Planet Labs PBC shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeted the Aleppo International Airport, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
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Israeli Attacks Squeeze Iranian Aerial Supplies to Syria, Sources Say

This satellite photo released by Planet Labs PBC shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeted the Aleppo International Airport, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite photo released by Planet Labs PBC shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeted the Aleppo International Airport, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Israel has intensified strikes on Syrian airports to disrupt Tehran's increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to allies in Syria and Lebanon including Hezbollah, regional diplomatic and intelligence sources told Reuters.

Tehran has adopted air transport as a more reliable means of ferrying military equipment to its forces and allied fighters in Syria, following disruptions to ground transfers.

Israel has long seen its foe Iran's deepening entrenchment in Syria as a national security threat and is widening the scope of its strikes to hit at this new transport method, the diplomatic and intelligence sources said.

The latest strikes on Wednesday night damaged Aleppo airport just before the arrival of a plane from Iran, a commander in an Iran-backed regional alliance who was familiar with the incident told Reuters.

Israel also carried out a strike on Damascus airport, damaging equipment, the government said, the second such attack airport since June when Israeli air strikes on the runway knocked it out of service for two weeks.

A Western intelligence source said that strike had also aimed to prevent the arrival of a cargo plane.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military declined to comment on the reports. Israel has been mounting attacks in Syria for years against what it has described as Iranian and Iran-backed forces that have deployed there during the 11-year war.

Ram Ben-Barak, head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that Israel's goal in Syria is to prevent Iran's plan "to establish another front against Israel in Syria and strengthen Hezbollah's capabilities in Lebanon."

In an interview with Tel Aviv 102 FM, he added that Israel has "managed to foil this plan in various ways."

'Playing with fire'

Syria's foreign minister responded to Wednesday's air strikes by saying Israel was "playing with fire" and threatening regional security.

A regional diplomatic source told Reuters the strikes marked a shift in Israeli targeting. "They started to hit infrastructure used by the Iranians for ammunition supplies to Lebanon," the source said.

"In the past it was only the supplies but not the airport. Now, they hit the runway," the source added.

That shift has been prompted by Iran's increasing use of commercial airliners instead of ground transfers to shuttle weaponry into Syria’s two major airports, according to a Western intelligence source based in the region and a Syrian military defector familiar with the strikes’ targets.

The intelligence source said Israel’s intelligence-gathering had indicated "more flights were being used" to transport weapons and small military hardware that "can be smuggled in the regular civilian flights from Tehran."

In 2019, the United States sanctioned Mahan Air for transporting weapons and personnel to Iranian forces in Syria.

The Syrian military defector said such hardware typically included small UAV drone components, parts for precision-guided missiles and night vision equipment that are easy to "put in a carton in a civilian plane."

Ground transfers through Iraq, Syria and into Lebanon have been less appealing since local rivalries and turf wars along the Iraqi-Syrian border – where pro-Iran Iraqi militias are based – had been disrupting stock flows, the defector said.

When the Damascus airport was hit in June, Iran and allies began to increasingly use the Aleppo airport for transfers, he added – prompting the strikes there about two months later.

The strikes also provide clues as to where Iran is now deepening is entrenchment, said Nawar Shaaban, an analyst at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, which focuses on Syria.

While the strikes years ago concentrated on areas around Damascus and military zones in the northwest, their spread to Aleppo and even coastal zones highlight locations from which Israel perceives a strategic threat to emanate, he said.

"The dangerous thing is that when we look at these areas that are being hit, it tells us that Iran has spread out more," Shaban said.

"Every time we see a strike hit a new area, the reaction is, 'whoah, Israel hit there'. But what we should be saying is, 'whoah, Iran is there'."



Israel PM again Warns Iran after Top Diplomat Talks of Revising Nuclear Doctrine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, by military means if necessary - AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, by military means if necessary - AFP
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Israel PM again Warns Iran after Top Diplomat Talks of Revising Nuclear Doctrine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, by military means if necessary - AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, by military means if necessary - AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel would do "everything" to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon after Iran's top diplomat warned it could end its ban on developing one if Western sanctions are reimposed.

The renewed war of words between the Middle East foes came as Iran prepares to hold key nuclear talks with European governments on Friday which have been overshadowed by their joining with Washington to have Tehran censured by the UN atomic watchdog.

"I will do everything to prevent it from becoming a nuclear (power), I will use all the resources that can be used," Netanyahu told Israeli broadcaster Channel 14 in an interview.
Israel is the region's sole, if undeclared, nuclear-armed state. It has long made preventing any rival from matching it its top defense priority.
Netanyahu said Tuesday that the ceasefire that went into effect in Lebanon the following day would allow Israel to focus on Iran. He did not elaborate on what action he envisaged.

Iran launched two missile barrages at Israel over the past year in retaliation for the killing of leaders from Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as an Iranian general.

Israel responded both times with limited attacks on Iran, most recently bombing several military sites on October 26.

Last week's chiding at the International Atomic Energy Agency prompted a defiant response from Tehran, but its officials have since signalled willingness to engage with others ahead of the return of US president-elect Donald Trump, whose last administration pursued a policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran.

- Current doctrine 'insufficient' -

Iran insists on its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but according to the IAEA, it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state enriching uranium to 60 percent.

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, published on the eve of Iran's talks with Britain, France and Germany, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that frustration in Tehran over unmet commitments, such as lifting sanctions, was fuelling debate over whether the country should alter its nuclear policy.

"We have no intention to go further than 60 percent for the time being, and this is our determination right now," he told the British daily.

But, he added, "there is this debate going on in Iran, and mostly among the elites... whether we should change our nuclear doctrine" as so far it has proven to be "insufficient in practice".

A 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers aimed to give Iran relief from crippling Western sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear program to prevent it from developing a weapons capability.

Tehran has consistently denied any such ambition. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final authority in Iran's decision-making, has issued a religious decree, or fatwa, prohibiting atomic weapons.

Tehran's willingness to sit down with the three European governments so soon after the censure comes just weeks before Trump is set to return to the White House.

During his first term, Trump focused on reimposing heavy sanctions on Iran following his administration's unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 deal three years after it was agreed.

In retaliation for the US withdrawal, Tehran reduced its compliance with the deal, raising its uranium enrichment levels to 60 percent -- closer to the 90 percent required for a nuclear bomb.

- 'Frank exchange' -

Under the 2015 accord -- which will expire in October 2025 -- Iran's enrichment was capped at 3.67 percent.

Iranian diplomat Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who serves as the political deputy to Araghchi, is scheduled to represent Iran in Friday's talks.

On Thursday he and deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi met with Enrique Mora, deputy secretary general of the European Union's foreign affairs arm.

Mora said on X that they held a "frank exchange... on Iran's military support to Russia that has to stop, the nuclear issue that needs a diplomatic solution, regional tensions (important to avoid further escalation from all sides) and human rights".

Last week, the 35-nation board of governors of the IAEA adopted a resolution proposed by Britain, France, Germany and the United States condemning Iran for its lack of cooperation on nuclear issues.

Iran described the move as "politically motivated" and in response announced the launch of "new advanced centrifuges" designed to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium.

For Tehran, the goal of the talks on Friday is to avoid a "double disaster" scenario, in which it would face renewed pressures from both Trump and European governments, according to political analyst Mostafa Shirmohammadi.

He noted that Iran's support among European governments had been eroded by allegations it offered military assistance for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Iran has denied these accusations and hopes to mend relations with Europe, while also maintaining a firm stance.