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On December 14, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff claimed responsibility for a recent attack on a convoy that had entered Syria from Iraq, revealing that the target was a truck carrying weaponry.
Without specifying the exact timing, it appeared clear that Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi was referring to the November 8 strikes on the Syrian part of the al-Qa’im crossing on the border with Iraq.
At the time, the Wall Street Journal reported that a series of strikes targeted a convoy of trucks suspected of smuggling Iranian weapons after it crossed the border from Iraq to the Syrian side. The strikes killed at least ten people, allegedly including several Iranian citizens.
Speaking at a conference at Reichman University, Kochavi said that the IDF had “perfect intelligence” to target “truck number 8” out of a 25 truck convoy, because it knew that this truck was the one containing Iranian weapons.
The senior IDF commander hinted that piloted fighter jets carried out the strikes in contradiction to the Wall Street Journal, who said that drones were used.
“There too, the pilots had to be sent,” Kochavi said. “They had to know how to evade surface to air missiles. Don’t make any mistake – there are operations where they fire between 30 and 40 surface to air missiles,” sometimes even reaching 70 missiles.
Kochavi went on to acknowledge that the IDF’s “war between wars” campaign has not been hermetic and that sometimes Tehran has succeeded in smuggling weapons to Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. However, he alleged that Iran plan to establish a “new Hezbollah” in the Syrian Golan Heights has been thwarted.
The governments of Syria and Iraq are yet to officially comment on the November 8 strikes, or provide a detailed account of their results.
Including the November 8 strikes on the al-Qa’im border crossing, Israel has carried out 32 attacks on Syria since the start of the year. The most recent attack, which took place on December 11, targeted a radar bases in the country’s southern region.
Kochavi’s remarks could lead to more escalation in the Middle East as they place more pressure on Iran and its allies to respond to Israel recent strikes on Syria.
