By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army claimed responsibility for airstrikes Monday targeting several locations south of the Syrian capital Damascus, saying it struck sites linked to the intelligence unit of the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Israel normally refrains from publicly acknowledging attacks on Syrian territory.
“The IAF (Israeli Air Force) conducted an aerial operation and struck targets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Syria,” the army said in a statement.
The statement noted that the targeted sites are linked to “Hezbollah’s central intelligence body, which is responsible for intelligence assessments, the direction of intelligence activities and intelligence gathering and detection capabilities.”
It added that “Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters has a branch in Syria, which includes an independent intelligence gathering, coordination and assessment network under the direct command of Hezbollah's head of intelligence, Hassan Ali al-Zaima. Both he and (top Hezbollah official) Hashem Safieddine were eliminated in a recent operation in the Dahiyeh area of Beirut.”
“Mahmoud Mohammed Shaheen, the head of Hezbollah's intelligence branch in Syria, was also eliminated in that strike,” the statement added.
“Shaheen held various positions in Hezbollah. Within the intelligence headquarters, he assumed the role of head of the Syrian branch in 2007,” it noted.
“Over the years, he gained experience and established close working relations with the Syrian regime and Iranian-aligned officials. In his role, he led the development and deployment of intelligence and air defense capabilities in coordination with various parts of the Iranian axis,” it said.
Shaheen’s elimination “constitutes a further degradation of Hezbollah's intelligence capabilities.”
Earlier on Monday, Syria’s state-run news agency SANA reported hearing explosions in the vicinity of Damascus, saying they were verifying their nature.
Later, the agency reported preliminary information about “an Israeli aggression targeting the Sayyidah Zaynab area south of Damascus.”
SANA said that “Israeli enemy aircraft targeted several civilian sites south of Damascus, resulting in material losses.”
According to an unnamed military source cited by SANA, “Around 5.18 p.m. (1418GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights.”
“The aggression targeted several civilian sites south of Damascus, leading to some material losses,” the source added, without providing details on the specific locations or assessing the extent of the damage.
On Oct. 24, a Syrian soldier was killed and seven others injured in “an Israeli air aggression” on Damascus and the countryside of Homs, according to the agency.
While Israel typically remains silent regarding its repeated airstrikes on Syria, military spokesperson Avichai Adraee said in a post on X that the strikes targeted weapon depots and facilities used by Hezbollah in Syria.
Israel has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since 2011 against government forces, Iranian troops and Hezbollah targets.
Regional tensions have escalated due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 43,400 people, mostly women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.
As the conflict spread to Lebanon with Israel launching deadly strikes across the country, more than 3,000 people have been killed and nearly 13,500 others injured since last year, according to Lebanese health authorities.
Despite international warnings that the Middle East region is on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio