A traditional and electronic “covert war” has intensified escalation between Iran and Israel, as US officials predicted a direct confrontation between both parties in Syria, Western diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.
“The covert war in Syria manifested itself several times, most recently through the cyber attack against the Syrian radar system that triggered a false alarm and led to Syrian air defense missile being fired,” they explained.
They said the electronic disruption “aimed to test the Syrian radar system ahead of the Israeli attacks launched last Sunday against important arms depots containing long-range missiles that Iran had shipped to the countryside of Hama to respond to Israel’s attack against the T-4 base.”
NBC news quoted on Tuesday three American officials as saying that Israel, using F-15 fighter jets, conducted the airstrike on an allegedly Iranian-controlled military base in northern Syria two days ago.
According to NBC, the target of the Sunday night strike was an incoming weapons shipment, including surface-to-air missiles, which were freshly delivered from Iran.
"On the list of the potentials for most likely live hostility around the world, the battle between Israel and Iran in Syria is at the top... right now," one senior US official is quoted in the NBC News report as saying.
Meanwhile, a high-ranking Israeli security source revealed that the Iranian intelligence had learned that spies from Israel's Mossad agency discovered the top-secret location of a warehouse used to store Iran's nuclear weapons files.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed documents that he says prove Iran previously sought to obtain a nuclear weapon and that it was still pursuing nuclear ambitions.
