Syria claims that Israeli warplanes only violated its airspace and did not carry out air strikes.
Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jets fly in formation [data picture]
Soviet-made MIG -23 fighter equipped by the Syrian Air Force [data picture]
Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jets fly in formation [data picture]
According to the Singapore Lianhe Zaobao, Israeli warplanes launched air strikes in northern Syria at the beginning of this month, which led people to speculate that Israel’s target was nuclear facilities, but the Syrian government refuted the rumors on the 18th.
Syrian cabinet minister Shaban said: "None of this nonsense is true. I don’t know how their imagination can be so creative."
She said that all reports, including the recent arrival of North Korean ships in Syria, "are fabricated stories with no value or authenticity".
As for the accusation that Syria and North Korea secretly cooperated to develop their nuclear programs, both Syria and North Korea pointed out that American officials made this accusation for political purposes, that is, to support Israel or prevent North Korea from making progress in the six-party talks with the United States.
According to American and Israeli media reports, Israeli warplanes launched a night attack from the Mediterranean to northern Syria on the 6 th of this month; A number of American officials said that Israeli warplanes hit the target.
However, Israel has been silent on this, so the details of the air strike are unknown. The Syrian side said that Israel did not carry out air strikes against them at all, but only violated its airspace, and its military aircraft unloaded shells to escape the tracking of the Syrian air defense system to reduce its weight.
A senior non-proliferation official in the United States said last week that the United States believes that Syria has sought nuclear technology from several "secret providers" and that North Korean personnel have appeared in Syria; This has led people to speculate that Israel’s attack target is nuclear facilities.
A U.S. military personnel said last week that the target of Israel’s air strikes was a batch of weapons to be shipped to Hezbollah in Lebanon; Others also speculated that Israel was conducting a flight route survey in order to finally go to war with Iran.
The violation of Syrian airspace by Israeli military aircraft is quite rare. However, since the war with Hezbollah guerrillas last summer, Israeli military aircraft have frequently conducted reconnaissance on Lebanon. Lebanese official news agencies and witnesses said that the last time an Israeli reconnaissance plane violated Lebanese airspace was on Tuesday night, when military aircraft flew low over southern Lebanon.
Patrick Lang, a former head of the Middle East Intelligence Department of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, said that Israel may be trying to convince Syria that even after the Lebanon war last summer, the Israeli army is still unstoppable. He added that Syria may be worried about the escalation of the situation and respond in a low-key manner. (Global Times Global Network)
Editor: Cao Jin