Amir Tibon Israel Informed Washington Ahead of Syria Strike on Air Base, U.S. Officials Say
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Israel Informed Washington Ahead of Syria Strike on Air Base, U.S. Officials Say
WASHINGTON - Israel informed the United States of its plans to attack in Syria overnight,
two U.S. officials told NBC News on Monday morning. The officials
confirmed that it was the Israeli military that carried out the strike
on an air base in Syria
- something Israel has not officially acknowledged, as part of its
policy of not directly taking responsibility for actions in the Syrian
arena.
Under the Obama administration, Israel complained
about a number of occasions in which U.S. officials leaked to news
outlets that Israel was responsible for strikes in Syria. This time,
however, Israel has already been publicly blamed for the attack by Russia,
which has denounced the attack. Still, a confirmation from American
officials about an action that Israel is not officially taking
responsibility for is an unusual event in the relationship between the
two countries.
Syria and its main ally Russia blamed Israel for
carrying out an attack on a Syrian air base near Homs on Monday which
killed 14 people. Syria's state TV initially blamed the strike on the
United States, but the Pentagon denied the U.S. carried out any strike
in Syria.
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says most of the 14 killed were
either Iranians or members of Iran-backed groups.
Iran's
Fars news agency reported that four Iranians were killed in the air
strike, which it attributed to Israel. Media outlets associated with the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps named the four dead, all members of
the IRGC and including one with the rank of colonel.
Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin,
told reporters on Monday that Israel had not spoken to the president
ahead of the air strike even though there may have been Russian military
advisers at the base, which he described as "a cause for concern for
us."
The Russian military said that two Israeli F-15
war planes carried out the airstrikes on the T-4 miltiary base near
Homs, the Interfax news agency reported. Activists said that 14 people
were killed in the strike, including Iranians.
Interfax
cited the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that Israeli war planes
had carried out the strikes from Lebanese air space.
The
Lebanese army said in a statement Monday that four Israeli planes
violated Lebanon's airspace for about 10 minutes around 3:25 AM. The
army did not say whether the warplanes carried out the airstrikes on
Syria's T-4 air base.
The
Russian ministry said that Syrian air defense systems had shot down
five of eight missiles fired, while the other three landed in the
western part of the base. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
Monday that the strike was "a dangerous development.
Reuters contributed to this report
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