RIYADH – The Israeli military attacked targets near Damascus late Saturdayin what it said was a successful effort to thwart an imminent Iranian dronestrike on Israel, stepping up an already heightened campaign againstIranian military activity in the region.
The air strikes killed two Hezbollah fighters, and one Iranian, the SyrianObservatory reported.
The late-night airstrike, which triggered Syrian anti-aircraft fire,appeared to be one of the most intense attacks by Israeli forces in severalyears of hits on Iranian targets in Syria.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said Iran’s RevolutionaryGuards’ Al Quds force, working with allied Shiite militias, had beenplanning to send a number of explosives-laden attack drones into Israel.
Conricus said Israel had monitored the plot for several months and onThursday prevented Iran from making an “advanced attempt” to execute thesame plan. Then, Iran tried again late Saturday to carry out the sameattack, he said.
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“We were able to thwart this attack with fighter jets,” he said, saying theIranian attack was believed to be “very imminent.”
He said Israel’s chief of staff was meeting with senior officers and forceswere on high alert near the Syrian frontier.
