Konflikten i Syrien

The IAF officer told reporters at the Tel Nof air force base in Rehovot that an incident like the one between Turkey and Russia on Tuesday — in which a Russian Su-24M jet was shot down while allegedly over Turkish airspace — would not happen to Israel due to the close coordination between the countries. This was agreed in late September at the highest level of military, when IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot met his Russian counterpart in Moscow.

“It’s quite a simple mechanism,” the officer said. “We know how to make sure that we don’t even come close. It’s just a question of picking up the phone and talking.”

The explosions lit up the sky for miles around. The attack was covered throughout the Arabic press. Hezbollah media, Lebanese media, Christian media, Syrian media and even the more independent Arabic press like Al Arabiya ran almost the same story verbatim. They used the same lines, each report a rehash of the others. Explosion. Two locations. No injuries. An Israeli air strike.

Israel has still neither denied nor confirmed the reports. That is the Israeli modus operandi. Israel is not in the business of either claiming credit for or taking responsibility for these kinds of strikes.

Syria on Sunday accused Israel of carrying out air strikes against two government-held areas in Damascus province, one of them near the capital's international airport, state television said.

"The Israeli enemy attacked Syria by targeting two safe areas in Damascus province, namely the Dimas area and the area of Damascus International Airport," said the channel, adding that no casualties were reported. Eyewitnesses stated that they saw up to four IAF aircraft in the area.

The Syrian army confirmed facilities were damaged later Sunday, and said the strikes proved Israeli involvement in the Syrian Civil War.

"This direct aggression by Israel was carried out to help the terrorists in Syria, after our armed forces secured important victories in Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and elsewhere," the army said.

"This proves Israel's direct support for terrorism in Syria," it added.

One of the sites targeted appears to have been the Dimas airbase - which was the target of another airstrike just over a year ago. According to Maariv, Syrian state TV claimed the site was storing Russian-made S300 surface-to-air missiles.