(Zaman Al Wasl)- Israel's strike on the research center of Sheikh Ghadban near northwestern Masyaf town was devastating and a successful blow by Tel Aviv to the Assad regime and allies since the strikes had destroyed the production lines of Hezbollah short-range missiles, well-informed military source told Zaman al-Wasl on Monday.
The rebuilding process will take at least 6 months to install and produce the missiles, that highly used by the Lebanese militia, said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Syrian army admitted on Thursday that Israel had targeted one of its positions in Hama province, an area turned into a military compound for manufacturing missile and chemical weapons run by Russia and Iran.
The Scientific Studies and Research Centre facility is not producing chemical weapons but short-range ground-to-ground rockets which guarded and protected by oops from of Iran and its allied Lebanese Hezbollah.
The bombed factory was limited to manufacturing 220mm and 302mm rockets, which Hezbollah has a good proportion of it, according o the source..
Israeli officials have in the past admitted that Israel has attacked weapons shipments bound for Hezbollah without specifying which ones.
The Israeli raids came after the announcement of Russian elements to establish a radar system and air defense to protect the Syrian airspace by merging radar and air defense systems of the system with the radar network and the Russian air defense in Syria.
Another well-informed source within the regime's army confirmed that the Israeli raids targeted the actual production lines, denying rumors that the target was to run Sector 4 at the Tala'i camp.
Syria hasn't retaliated
The army statement said, according o Reuters, the airstrike killed two people and caused material damage and warned against the “dangerous repercussions of this aggressive action to the security and stability of the region”.
The airstrike’s timing was sensitive because it came after the partial cease-fire achieved in Syria, under Russian auspices, in July. The aerial attack also came after Russia and the United States didn’t heed Israel’s protests about the cease-fire deal, which didn’t keep the Iranian forces out of Syria, Analyst Amos Harel from Haaretz said.
The strike was different from earlier ones attributed to Israel, which targeted weapons convoys intended for Hezbollah or the makeshift arsenals in which those weapons were kept. This time the bombed site was a large, permanent facility clearly identified with the Assad regime, Harel said.
A military retaliation against Israel could create difficulties for the parties bolstering Hezbollah. The response could come at a later stage and indirectly, like the tightening of Russian-Iranian cooperation.
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