Syrian air-defense batteries respond to an alleged Israeli strike in Damascus, January, 2019 (via israelhayom.com).
Unclaimed airstrikes hammered Iranian-sponsored militias in the Syrian border town of al-Bukamal last night, killing at least 19 Pakistani fighters. The strikes were the third this week in Syria after explosive devices were discovered in the Israeli Golan Heights, which Israeli intelligence reported was planted by Syrian agents acting on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC and its surrogate, Lebanese Hezbollah, have a long history of working together in Iran since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.
After the Israeli military uncharacteristically claimed a wave of airstrikes throughout western Syria on Tuesday night, there were additional strikes near the Golan Heights and Damascus on Wednesday night which killed at least 8 militiamen, including several foreigners. Those airstrikes were not claimed by Israel, nor was the operation in al-Bukamal last night, with Israeli defense officials refusing to comment publicly. Iranian sites in southwestern Syria between the Golan Heights and Damascus, as well as the Iraqi border region in the east, are regular targets of the IDF, as they constitute a network of IRGC and Hezbollah installations, including personnel bases, arms depots, and transport routes for trafficking foreign fighters and advanced weaponry, stretching from Eastern Iraq to Israel’s doorstep in the Golan Heights and Southern Lebanon.
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Israel has repeatedly vowed to prevent the long-term entrenchment of Iran and Hezbollah in Syria and has allegedly conducted 36 airstrikes in Syria this year. The latest round of airstrikes come as the IDF is also waging a psychological campaign in Syria, dropping leaflets near Syrian army bases yesterday that warned against Syrian cooperation with Iran and Hezbollah. It’s estimated that Israel has targeted the IRGC and its proxies in over 1,000 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq in the last decade.
The sharp uptick in hostilities along the Golani Front has a direct impact on FAI field teams in the Golan Heights and Upper Galilee, as well as the Israeli communities in which they live and serve. We ask the global FAI family to intercede in prayer on behalf of the region, that the plots of violent men would continue to be exposed and thwarted, that divine wisdom and discernment would be granted to Israeli leaders in their response to ongoing threats. We also pray for a divine hedge of protection around Syrian civilians living in proximity to sites occupied by the IRGC and Hezbollah, including the small and vulnerable Syrian communities in which FAI teams had the honor of serving in 2017-18.
Maranatha.
