US official: Target of Syria airstrikes was used for Iran’s nuclear program
Report: 16 killed in strikes attributed to Israel. Syrian state TV alleges that the area bombed has been hit before, is used by Iran as the main route to deliver weapons to Hezbollah, its local militias.
Airstrikes near the Syria-Iraq border early Wednesday targeted sites used for Iran’s nuclear program, a senior US intelligence official told AlJazeera Wednesday.
According to the official, American intelligence was used to execute the strike, which was aimed at a warehouse used to transfer and store advanced nuclear weapons, as well as dispatch materials used in Iran’s nuclear weapons development program.
Syrian state TV attributed to Israel the series of airstrikes that targeted several sites near the Iraqi border, saying that the area bombed has been hit before and is used by Iran as the main route to deliver weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and pro-Iranian militias in Syria.
According to the SANA news agency, the strikes hit the areas of Albu Kamal and Deir ez-Zur. The damage was “still being assessed,” the report said.
The IDF had no comment on the report.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights later said there some 16 people were killed in the raid, adding that at least 18 strikes had targeted bases and other assets used by pro-Iranian militias in the area.
Wednesday strike follows a reported Israeli raid on targets near Damascus, last week.
The IDF has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011, in accordance with Israel’s policy stating it will not allow Iran to establish a military presence near its northern borders. Over the past decade, Tehran has increased its efforts to transport advanced weapons to the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, its primary regional proxy.
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