Negev, Israel
The Israeli army announced on Thursday that it had carried out bombing raids on Syria after a missile was fired from that country, which landed in the Negev desert (south), near a secret Israeli nuclear facility.
“A surface – to – air missile identified as coming from Syria fell to the Negev. In retaliation (…) the Israeli army bombed the battery from which the missile and other Syrian batteries of surface-to-air missiles were launched, “the Israeli army said in a brief message.
According to the official Syrian news agency Sana, the Israeli army fired missiles from the Golan Heights “against positions around Damascus.”
“Our anti-aircraft defense battery intercepted missiles and dropped most of them in this aggression that caused injuries to four soldiers and some property damage,” the Syrian agency added, citing a local military source.
Earlier, the Israeli army had indicated that sirens warning of potential attacks were activated near the Bedouin town of Abu Qrenat, located a few kilometers from the Dimona power plant.
Israel has never acknowledged that it has a nuclear arsenal but foreign experts, who rely in particular on the testimony of Mordejai Vanunu, 1 Israeli nuclear technician, say the Hebrew state has 100 to 300 nuclear warheads.
Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, the Jewish state has carried out hundreds of bombings against positions of Syrian power and its allies, Iranian troops and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.
Israel says it is trying to prevent its main enemy, Iran, from settling in Syria, a country bordering the Hebrew state. Although the Israeli army has carried out hundreds of bombings in Syria, it has rarely publicly acknowledged them.
Most of the shots from Syria have been intercepted by the Israeli anti-missile shield “Israeli Dome”.