> Al Masdar News STILL has not mentioned anything about the strike, even though Reuters published the report on the strike at 4:37 PM ET -- more than 8 hours ago. AMN has high-level contacts in Syria's military and I think this is also the case with the civilian government.
> FARS, Iran's state news agency, also has nothing to say about a purported strike.
Russia's RT has picked up the report of a strike, which pretty much repeats Sputnik's report, which was based on the Reuters report, which is based on a report from SANA, Syria's state news agency. SANA's report is at their Arabic language website, not the English-language one.
> Danny Makki, a free-lance journalist reporting on the Syrian War, and who goes back and forth between London and Damascus, reported about 8 hours ago on his Twitter page:
1:09 PM - Breaking : Israeli strikes on #Nayreb military airport In #Aleppo [province; the air base is outside the city of Aleppo]
1:11 PM - Syrian State TV confirms Israeli attack on Al-#Nayrab airbase in #Aleppo claiming two missiles hit causing material damage.
1:32 PM - This is not the first time the Israelis have targeted #Aleppo & strikes won't alter #SAA & allied operations In #Qunaitra border area, but choice of location shows increasing ability to hit locations all around #Syria with heightened frequency.
1:34 PM - Local source living near #Nayrab airbase in #Aleppo just told me strikes lasted up to 10 minutes near the base.I never heard of Danny Makki before, which isn't saying much, but because of that I'm quoting him only because Joshua Landis retweeted Makki's Twitter remarks about the purported Israeli strike(s).
Here's part of the RT report:
‘Israeli rockets’ strike Syrian military positions near Aleppo – state media
Published time: 15 Jul, 2018 21:37
Edited time: 15 Jul, 2018 22:04
Syrian military positions near Aleppo airport have come under a missile strike, state media reports, blaming Israel for the attack.
The strike targeted “one of our military positions north of the airport in Aleppo,” a military source told the Syrian Arab News Agency, stressing that the damage from the aggression was “limited to material.”
The source denounced the raid as a “desperate attempt to support the defeated terrorist groups” in Daraa and Quneitra, where the Syrian army is actively working to defeat them.
Furthermore, the publication [I emphasize this is SANA's website, not state TV] accused the IDF of being “directly involved” in raising the morale of militants from al Nusra and other terrorist groups.
The Israeli military refused to immediately comment on the report, neither confirming nor denying carrying out the strike.
[The rest is a rehash of reports on earlier recent Israeli strikes in Syria and more fist-shaking at Israel by SANA.]
The strike targeted “one of our military positions north of the airport in Aleppo,” a military source told the Syrian Arab News Agency, stressing that the damage from the aggression was “limited to material.”
The source denounced the raid as a “desperate attempt to support the defeated terrorist groups” in Daraa and Quneitra, where the Syrian army is actively working to defeat them.
Furthermore, the publication [I emphasize this is SANA's website, not state TV] accused the IDF of being “directly involved” in raising the morale of militants from al Nusra and other terrorist groups.
The Israeli military refused to immediately comment on the report, neither confirming nor denying carrying out the strike.
[The rest is a rehash of reports on earlier recent Israeli strikes in Syria and more fist-shaking at Israel by SANA.]
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The SouthFront report I posted earlier adds this information:
[...]On July 15, warplanes of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) bombed a military position north of al-Nayrab airbase, which is located southwest of the northern city of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). The state-run news agency said that the Israeli airstrikes resulted in material damage only.
Syrian pro-government activists revealed that the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) controls the position targeted by Israeli warplanes. The activists have not reported any Iranian casualties, so far.
I saw somewhere recently the remark that Israeli strikes in Syria are so frequent they're not newsworthy anymore. I'm not sure that's the case, and SANA obviously doesn't think it's the case.[...]
So, was there a strike as it's been reported? Well, it seems something happened. Did the Israelis do it? I'm still waiting to hear what AMN says. If they continue to say nothing over the course of July 16, it could be they have information on a strike that conflicts with what SANA reported but don't want to contradict SANA.
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