‘Israel failed to fully destroy target in Syria airstrike’

An alleged Israeli airstrike on a weapons warehouse in Syria failed to destroy some of the Russian-made cruise missiles that were its target, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

American officials told the paper that while the Israeli strike destroyed the warehouse in which the weapons were stored, some of the missiles were seen moved from the site after the strike.

Further Israeli attacks against targets in Syria are likely, the report said.

The US officials revealed that the Israeli attack had been carried out by aircraft that flew low over the Mediterranean and fired missiles at their target without entering Syrian airspace.

The July 5 airstrike reportedly targeted Russian anti-ship Yakhont missiles, which would constitute game-changers if they were to be transferred to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel has warned that any delivery of advanced weapons to the Shi’ite militia was a “red line” that would precipitate military action.

According to the Times, the Israeli and American navies consider the Yakhont a serious threat to their fleets.

Israel has declined to comment on the airstrike, or on three previous attacks it reportedly carried out this year on convoys carrying sophisticated weapons from Syria to Lebanon, once in January and then twice more in May.

On July 9 Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon brushed aside a reporter’s question about the attack in the port city, saying, “There’s an attack here, an explosion there, various versions; in any event, in the Middle East it’s usually we who are blamed.”