Israel has stepped up attacks on Syrian air bases and air bases in recent months to disrupt Iran’s growing use of air supply lines to deliver weapons to allies in Syria and Lebanon, including Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Israeli military experts say the strikes are part of an escalation of the low-intensity conflict aimed at slowing Iran’s growing incursion into Syria.
Iran’s proxy militias, led by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, now hold sway over vast swathes of eastern, southern and northwestern Syria and many suburbs around the capital.
The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has never publicly acknowledged that Iranian forces act on his behalf in Syria’s civil war, saying Tehran only has military advisers on the ground.