Israel
IDF Chief confirms Israeli strike on Iran-backed weapons convoy in Syria
This morning's admission is not in keeping with the IDF's general policy of not discussing specific military actions
December 14, 2022 14:55
This morning's admission is not in keeping with the IDF's general policy of not discussing specific military actions
December 14, 2022 14:55The Chief of Israel’s armed forces on Wednesday appeared to confirm Israel’s involvement in an air strike on a convoy carrying weapons in Syria last month.
Speaking at a conference at Reichman University in Herzliya, Lieutenant-General Aviv Kohavi only referred to the strike as happening “several weeks ago” but appeared to allude to a November 8 attack that Iraqi officials said destroyed two fuel trucks.
Mr Kohavi said the mission was an indication of the IDF’s ability to locate and target threats, and that if it were not for Israeli intelligence, “We could’ve been unaware of the Syrian convoy moving from Iraq to Syria a few weeks ago, we could’ve been unaware of what it was carrying,
“We might not have known that among the 25 trucks [in the convoy], it was truck number eight that was the truck with the arms.
(1/5) During the night (November 08), an airstrike was carried out on a convoy of trucks (mostly fuel tankers - see the attached video of the allegedly convoy before it was attacked. In the video, pay attention to the lone truck with the container)... pic.twitter.com/UIP8S0zgUA
— Israel-Alma (@Israel_Alma_org) November 9, 2022
Mr Kohavi also appeared to confirm that the strikes were made by piloted aircraft, which conflicts with reports from Iraqi officials at the time who described the attack as the work of an unmanned drone.
He said: “There too, the pilots had to be sent. We needed to send pilots to the right place, who knew how to evade surface-to-air missiles fired at them. They needed to attack, they needed to hit their targets and come back safely and not kill people who shouldn’t have been killed.”
As is usually the case, the IDF did acknowledge responsibility or involvement in the targeted military strike at the time. It remains unknown why Mr Kohavi chose to share information about the attack now.
In recent years, the IDF has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets within Syria, usually on Iranian-sponsored arms shipments and groups such as Hezbollah.
Mr Kohavi, who is due to end his term as military chief in January, received the Legion of Merit from the United States last month for “deepening the strategic partnership between Israel and the US” the IDF said.
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