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After Damascus raid, Israel says working to keep weapons from foes

By AFP - Sep 17,2018 - Last updated at Sep 17,2018

Syrian air defence batteries respond to what the Syrian state media said were Israeli missiles targeting Damascus International Airport on Saturday (AFP photo)

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his country is taking action to stop its foes from acquiring sophisticated arms, hours after Damascus said Israeli missiles targeted its airport.

Israel has not officially confirmed or denied a report by Syrian state news agency SANA of an attack late Saturday on Damascus International Airport.

"Israel is constantly working to prevent our enemies from arming themselves with advanced weaponry," Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying at the start of his cabinet's weekly meeting.

"Our red lines are as sharp as ever and our determination to enforce them is stronger than ever."

SANA quoted a Syrian military source as saying that air defences "shot down a number of hostile missiles" during the attack.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the strikes hit a weapons depot outside the airport.

Israel has vowed to prevent its arch-foe Iran, which is a main backer of the Damascus government, from gaining a military foothold in neighbouring war-torn Syria.

Earlier this month, Israel acknowledged having carried out more than 200 strikes in Syria over the past 18 months, mainly against Iranian targets.

It has also admitted to striking Syria to prevent what it says are deliveries of advanced weaponry to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an armed movement backed by Iran and which fights alongside Syrian troops.

The last reported Israeli strikes on Syria took place on September 4, when Syrian state media said the military’s air defences downed several missiles in the coastal province of Tartus and in central Hama.

“Forty-five years ago, intelligence erred by holding to a mistaken assessment regarding the war intentions of Egypt and Syria,” he said.

“When these intentions became clear beyond all doubt, and when the danger was on our very doorstep, the political leadership made a grievous mistake by not allowing a pre-emptive strike. We will never repeat this mistake.”

Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, but is still officially at war with Syria.

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