Equipo Nizkor - Iran to respond to 'Israeli aggression' in Syria, official says.

A senior Iranian official warned on Tuesday that his country will retaliate against "Israeli aggression" in Syria after strikes targeted military bases where Tehran's "advisers" were stationed.

"We are in Syria at the request of the Syrian government," said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, president of Iran's parliamentary foreign affairs committee.

"The aggression of the Zionist entity on our advisers in Syria guarantees us the right of response," said Boroujerdi.

"We will respond at the right time and place," he told a news conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Boroujerdi was speaking at the end of a two-day visit to Syria, during which he met President Bashar Assad.

On Monday, a monitor said missile strikes on central Syria killed 26 pro-regime fighters, most of them Iranians, in a raid it said bore the hallmarks of an Israeli operation.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz told Army Radio that he was "not aware" of the strikes.

Three American officials on Tuesday told NBC news that Israel, using F-15 fighter jets, conducted the airstrike on the allegedly Iranian-controlled military base in northern Syria.

The unnamed US officials said Israel appears to be preparing for active conflict and is seeking American assistance, noting the recent visits to the US by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and trips to Israel by senior American officials.

According to NBC, the target of the Sunday night strike was an incoming weapons shipment, including surface-to-air missiles, which were freshly delivered from Iran.

It quoted an unnamed senior US official as saying the Iran-Israel conflict is the most likely in the world to devolve into open clashes.

"On the list of the potentials for most likely live hostility around the world, the battle between Israel and Iran in Syria is at the top of the list right now," the official said.

The base hit in the Sunday night airstrike is located south of the city of Hama in northwestern Syria and belonged to the Syrian army's 47th Brigade, but has reportedly been used as a headquarters for Iranian troops for several years.

American and Israeli officials have been monitoring as Iran has increased the number of transport planes that it sends from its Mehrabad Airport in Tehran to Syria. The officials fear that these planes are loaded with advanced munitions, which could potentially be used against Israel.

The day before the strike, one such plane was spotted by a civilian skywatcher, using open-source flight tracking software, as it flew from Tehran toward an airfield in Hama.

The blast from the air raid could be seen from kilometers away and registered a 2.6 on the Richter scale on nearby seismographs, likely from the munitions in the weapons depot and not the initial bombing.

An official from the coalition backing Assad told The New York Times that the strike destroyed some 200 missiles. Former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said he believed they were surface-to-surface missile with heavy warheads – a type of weapon Israeli officials have said that Iran might try to bring into Syria.

Israel has refused to comment on the strike.

An Israeli satellite company revealed the damage caused to the site, including aerial photographs showing that at least 13 buildings were hit.

Speaking on condition of anonymity about the attack, the pro-Assad official said Tehran could be expected to hit back at Israel for the bombing, according to the New York Times.

However, Iran would likely wait to do so until after May 6 parliamentary elections in neighboring Lebanon, where its ally Hezbollah is fielding candidates, the official said.

Some 80,000 Iran-backed fighters have been deployed to Syria to shore up Assad's forces in the country's seven-year civil war, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said last week.

Israel has designated Iranian military entrenchment in Syria as unacceptable, fearing that Tehran could use the country as a springboard for attacks against the Jewish state.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has vowed that Israel will work to prevent that from occurring, "no matter the cost."

The Sunday night attack comes amid soaring tensions between Iran and Israel following an airstrike earlier this month on Syria's T4 air base in the central province of Homs that killed several Iranian military personnel. Tehran has vowed to retaliate for the T4 attack.

Syria, Iran, and Russia blamed Israel for that T4 attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

02May18

Iran to respond to 'Israeli aggression' in Syria, official says

[Source: By Judah Ari Gross and Afp, The Times of Israel, Jerusalem, 02May18]

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