Syria: Our Missile Defense Activated by Mistake

Syria retreated from its previous reports about missile attacks on two of its air bases on Tuesday morning, stating that its air defense systems were activated automatically due to a sensitivity error. Syrian state television, on the morning of Tuesday, April 17, along with media affiliated with Hezbollah in Lebanon, claimed that the Sha'irat airport in Homs province and the Dmeir airport near Damascus were targeted by several missiles from fighter jets, and that the air defense systems 'intercepted and destroyed all missiles.' Following this, the Pentagon firmly emphasized that the United States was not involved in any new attack on Syria and that 'there was no American military activity' in these areas. However, Reuters, citing a senior official in the Syrian Army General Staff, reported that the activation of the air defense systems around the mentioned airports was a mistake; shortly after, SANA, the official Syrian news agency, also announced that the error was the cause of the activation of the radars and air defense systems. The official, who was not named by Reuters but was described as 'one of the senior officers loyal to Bashar al-Assad,' the President of Syria, added that the U.S. and Israel were behind a joint cyber attack against Syria that led to the erroneous activation of the radar defense. He also stated that 'this flaw was resolved by Russian experts stationed in Syria.' Before the publication of this senior official's remarks, regional Arab media claimed that Israel had attacked Syrian bases again, and one of the main targets of these missile attacks was to strike at the presence of Iranian military personnel in Syria. The Israeli army and government remained silent on these reports, and Israeli media only reflected the claims of regional media until the senior official's denial from the Syrian army's General Staff and the official news agency. The U.S., Britain, and France reacted to last week's chemical attack on civilians in Douma, which resulted in seventy deaths and hundreds of injuries, by firing over one hundred missiles at several important military targets and chemical weapons production centers on Saturday morning; Syria claimed that its air defense intercepted most of the missiles from Saturday's attack, a claim that was firmly denied by the U.S. Department of Defense. Meanwhile, the Israeli website Walla.net reported on Tuesday, April 17, citing Israeli officials, that following the discovery of extensive activities by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's drone unit in Syria, Israel explicitly warns that Iran's actions in Syria could lead to direct conflict between Israel and Iran. General Yaakov Amidror, former head of Israel's National Security Council, told Walla.net that 'Iran's movements in Syria have reached a point where Israel must respond, and from now on, before it is too late, Iran should not be allowed to implement its objectives against Israel through Syria... and other forces, even stronger than Hezbollah in Lebanon, could be created this time in Syria against Israel.' The Israeli general also stated that 'confrontation (with Iran) will be very difficult, complex, and multifaceted and may result in significant casualties for both sides.' Israel revealed last Friday that the drone sent by Iran on February 10 of last year from Syrian airspace into Israeli airspace had a combat mission and was equipped with explosives for a suicide attack against an Israeli military target. Israel emphasized that it had been monitoring this drone since its takeoff from T-4 airbase in Homs province, and it was destroyed one and a half minutes after entering Israeli airspace; Israel stated that it did not destroy the drone before it breached Israeli airspace to prove to the world that its target was an attack on Israel. In recent days, Israel announced that Iran, by sending an attack drone, had directly acted against Israel for the first time, whereas all of Iran's activities against Israel since the establishment of the Islamic Republic had been conducted through its proxy arms like Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Thomas Friedman, an American journalist, wrote on Monday in the New York Times that an Israeli official explicitly confirmed to him that Israel conducted the attack on the T-4 base last Monday morning. While Israel had remained officially silent on this matter, Russia attributed the attack to Israel last week. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, fourteen people, including several Iranians, were killed in the attack on the T-4 base eight days ago. Media close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard confirmed the return of the bodies of seven Iranian military personnel, including a colonel. Some other Iranian media described this senior military figure as responsible for the Iranian drone unit in Syria. Iran has emphasized that its military presence in Syria is 'advisory' and by the legal invitation of the Damascus government. Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor to the Iranian leader on international affairs, stated last week during a visit to Damascus regarding the attack on T-4 that 'this crime' will certainly 'not go unanswered.' Ali Shirazi, representative of the Supreme Leader in the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, also reacted to the remarks of the Israeli Prime Minister in recent days, which Iran considered a threat, saying, 'If Israel makes a foolish move, Tel Aviv and Haifa will be leveled to the ground.' Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah in Lebanon, said on Monday that 'the killing of Iranians by Israel in Syria will definitely be met with a response from Iran'; he also stated that he could not predict the details and nature of Iran's response at this time. Heather Nauert, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, said on Monday in Washington that the occurrence of war between Israel and Iran cannot be predicted.