Israel launches air strike inside Syria

An Israeli F-16 jet flies over the Israeli city of Ashdod in a Nov. 18, 2012, file photo. / Getty

BEIRUT Israel launched a rare airstrike inside Syria, U.S. officials said Wednesday, targeting a convoy believed to contain anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The attack adds a potentially flammable new element to tensions already heightened by Syria's civil war.

It was the latest salvo in Israel's long-running effort to disrupt the Shiite militia's quest to build an arsenal capable of defending against Israel's air force and spreading destruction inside the Jewish state.

Regional security officials said the strike, which occurred overnight Tuesday, targeted a site near the Lebanese border, while a Syrian army statement said it destroyed a military research center northwest of the capital, Damascus. They appeared to be referring to the same incident.

U.S. officials said the target was a truck convoy that Israel believed was carrying sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the operation. CBS News' David Martin at the Pentagon also reported Israel hit a convoy believed to be carrying weapons to Hezbollah.

Regional security officials said Israel had been planning in the days leading up to the airstrike to hit a shipment of weapons bound for Hezbollah, Lebanon's most powerful military force and a sworn enemy of the Jewish state. Among Israeli officials' chief fears is that Assad will pass chemical weapons or sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah — something that could change the balance of power in the region and greatly hinder Israel's ability to conduct air sorties in Lebanon.

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The regional officials said the shipment Israel was planning to strike included Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which would be strategically "game-changing" in the hands of Hezbollah by enabling the group to carry out fiercer attacks on Israel and shoot down Israeli jets, helicopters and surveillance drones.

Hezbollah has committed to Israel's destruction and has gone to war against the Jewish state in the past.

A U.S. official confirmed the strike, saying it hit a convoy of trucks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the strike.

/ CBS

The Israeli military declined to comment.

Syria has long been among the militant group's most significant backers and is suspected of supplying with funding and arms, as well as a land corridor to Iran.

This strike, however, comes as Assad is enmeshed in a civil war with rebels trying to oust him. The rebels have seized a large swath of territory in the country's north and established footholds in a number of suburbs of the Syrian capital, Damascus, though Assad's forces still control the city and much of the rest of the country.

While Assad's fall does not appear imminent, analysts worry he could grow desperate as his power wanes and seek to cause trouble elsewhere in the region through proxy groups like Hezbollah.

The Syrian army statement denied that the strike had targeted a convoy headed from Syria to Lebanon, instead portraying the strike as linked to the civil war pitting Assad's forces against rebels seeking to push him from power.

"This proves that Israel is the instigator, beneficiary and sometimes executor of the terrorist acts targeting Syria and its people," the statement said.

The location could not be independently confirmed because of reporting restrictions in Syria.

Syria's government portrays the crisis, which started with political protest in 2011 and has since become a civil war, as a foreign-backed conspiracy meant to destroy the country.

Top Israeli officials have recently expressed worries that if desperate, Assad's regime could pass chemical weapons to Hezbollah or other militant groups.

[OldTimeTruth]

To bad they couldn't get Assad and his thugs at the same time.

[sweetcakesmaria]

Israel seems to have no problem violating the sovereignty of their neighbors any time they like but cry like a baby when Iran makes any type of verbal threat against them.

[raymailhot]

Missile strikes don't count as a violation? The sane part of the world doesn't believe Israel is anything but patient, even when they are proactive!

[kbbpll]

Syria is a land corridor to Iran? Sort of like Mexico is a land corridor to Canada, I guess.

[JaggidEdje]

Take a look at a map of the middle east and figure out how to go, by land, from Iran to Lebanon, which is what the article referred to when it said a land corridor to Iran.

Reading comprehension, is it really that difficult?

[DovBenMen]

Apparently from his comments as sources4me, neinsence, and kracykabbalista, we are to understand that spinnerorwinner's idea of war involves doilies, saying "pretty please" and "thank you", and lots of recently laundered frilly underwear. Silly boy! Thing is, the Israel Defense Forces (men and women) wage wars in a way more intent on Israel winning and the other team losing.

[DovBenMen]

neincensorship-

You really should learn Hebrew so you can understand what the Torah says. The translations you cite are not true to the original. The interpretations you make based on the translations are still much further from the Truth.

Nevertheless, thanks for agreeing that those who choose to be enemies of Israel and Jews should plan on losing any war they might choose to engage in against her. Wars are ugly things. Losing wars is still more ugly, especially when the losers went looking for the fight ..

b.t.w. you might stop looking for the fight you are destined to lose, were you ever able to engage it.

[lobo62740]

Good for Israel.

[earth56]

Nein......enjoy the cancer later this year.

[elmgreen11]

What happens to Syria's chemical weapons when the Assad regime falls? Can any country other than Israel reliably secure them? USA, UK? Not likely.

[earth56]

Nein.........the chemical weapons that were used on a SYRIAN VILLAGE to kill women and children 15 years ago.

Got that pimple brain.

[Noval53]

For Syria, what goes around comes around.

[DOGGYPANTS]

Syria? Lebanon? Libya? Algeria? Jordan?
Weapons to unstable Egypt?

This is what our foreign policy has brought Israel.
U.S. power has diminished.

We should be supporting Israel more than we are.

[earth56]

The message above is a copy and paste that has been manipulated to promote Nein the little Nazis agenda.

CRS report ?

[raymailhot]

And so are there WMDs in Arab countries or not? Do we have a president lying to us? Or are these the same chemical weapons, just more PC?