While focusing on the Iranian nuclear program and talks in Vienna, Israel is also keeping a watchful eye on developments in Syria. On Dec. 14, the Washington Post revealed that Israel had allegedly carried out last June an unusual aerial attack, deep inside Syrian territory. According to the report, Israeli jets fired missiles at three Syrian military targets near the central cities of Damascus and Homs. Seven soldiers, including a colonel, were reportedly killed in the strike, although the attack apparently targeted very specific military installations. The article also referred to an aerial attack carried out March 2020, without providing any more details.

Intelligence analysts in Western capitals noted that pervious aerial attacks attributed to Israel targeted Iranian proxy Shiite militias, arms depots or arms shipments. By contrast, the March 2020 and the June 2021 strikes apparently targeted Syrian military facilities linked to the country’s former chemical weapons program.

Intelligence sources who spoke with the newspaper said the strikes were carried out in a bid to block Syrian attempts for the past two years to rebuild its chemical-weapons stockpile. The sources noted that the decision to strike was based on intelligence that the Syrian regime was again acquiring chemical precursors and other supplies to rebuild its chemical-weapons capabilities and to restart chemical-weapons production. 

The Post article generated big headlines in the Israeli press, though officials declined to comment. Still, one day after the publication of the report, Israeli Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern said that Syria cannot be allowed to obtain chemical weapons. Much like his colleagues, Stern refused to directly comment on the article. He did however say, “We have a neighbor that has already proved that it doesn’t hesitate to use chemical weapons even against its own people. [Syrian President Bashar] Assad must not have chemical weapons.”