In rare remarks, Gallant appears to confirm alleged Israeli strikes in Syria
Syrian authorities have accused Israel of carrying out two separate attacks on Wednesday, killing 2 soldiers, wounding 6 and causing ‘material losses’
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday hinted at alleged Israeli airstrikes in northern Syria a day earlier, in an apparent rare confirmation by Israeli officials of a specific attack against Iranian efforts to supply its various Middle Eastern proxies with weapons.
“Last night, we saw another proof that in Israel, the roar of the jets is greater than all the other noises on the ground,” Gallant said at a Jewish New Year’s greeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the military’s General Staff, a forum of senior commanders responsible for the various branches and departments of the military.
“In the end, what counts is action, not words,” Gallant said. “Unfortunately, we will have a lot of work on these issues we are responsible for.”
Gallant’s words were seen as a confirmation that Israel carried out a series of strikes in Syria on Wednesday.
The “other noises on the ground” was an apparent reference to national tensions over the government’s judicial overhaul, which has affected the military, and particularly the Israeli Air Force, as hundreds of reservists have ended their volunteer duty in protest of the proposed changes to the judicial system.
Also at the Rosh Hashanah toast event, Netanyahu told security chiefs that he would work to reach broad agreements regarding the judicial overhaul.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized to all the security bodies the importance of unity among the people and said that he promises to work to reach as broad agreements as possible,” a statement from his office said.
On Wednesday night, Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing a military source, said the IAF fighter jets had launched missiles from over northern Lebanon toward the Syrian city of Hama.
The state-run media outlet said that there were “material losses” as a result of the strikes against targets in the Hama area.
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Earlier Wednesday, the Israeli military allegedly carried out rare daylight strikes against targets near the coastal Syrian city of Tartus — some 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Hama — killing two soldiers.
SANA, citing a military source, said “the Israeli enemy” launched missiles from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, targeting a number of air defense sites in the Tartus area.
The report did not specify if the attack was carried out by warplanes or naval vessels.
Aside from the two soldiers killed, six others were wounded and there were “material losses” in the initial strike, the source said.
The earlier strike appeared to be a suppression of enemy air defenses, or SEAD, mission, aimed at paving the way for Israeli fighter jets to strike targets without needing to evade Syrian air defenses.

In recent years, numerous Syrian soldiers serving in air defense units have been killed or wounded in airstrikes attributed to Israel.
While Israel’s military does not, as a rule, comment on specific strikes in Syria, it has admitted to conducting hundreds of sorties against Iran-backed groups attempting to gain a foothold in the country, over the last decade.
The Israeli military says it attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for those groups, chief among them Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Additionally, airstrikes attributed to Israel have repeatedly targeted Syrian air defense systems.
The last alleged Israeli sortie over Syria was carried out on August 28, when fighter jets reportedly carried out strikes against Aleppo International Airport, putting it out of service for two days.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.