Damascus: Israeli raid targeted military research center in Damascus Reef

   
Israeli warplanes attacked a military research center in Damascus Reef at dawn on Wednesday, Syrian television said.

Sources told Reuters earlier that Israeli jets bombed a convoy on Syria's border with Lebanon on Wednesday apparently targeting weapons destined for Hezbollah. Damascus province includes much of the border with Lebanon.

"The target was a truck loaded with weapons, heading from Syria to Lebanon," said one Western diplomat, adding that the consignment seemed unlikely to have included chemical weapons.   

 A source among rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said an air strike around dawn (0430 GMT) blasted a convoy on a mountain track about 5 kilometres (3 miles) south of where the main Damascus-Beirut highway crosses the border. Its load probably included high-tech anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles.    

"It attacked trucks carrying sophisticated weapons from the regime to Hezbollah," the source said, adding that it took place inside Syria, though the border is poorly defined in the area.    

A security official in the region also placed the attack on the Syrian side. A Lebanese security official denied any strike in Lebanon. It was not clear whether special forces took part.    
The Israeli government declined comment on the issue.

In Israel, where media operate under military censorship, broadcasters immediately relayed international reports of the strike. Channel Two television quoted what it called foreign sources saying the convoy was carrying anti-aircraft missiles.    

In this context, Israeli Daily Maariv reported that the airstrike took place inside Syria near Lebanon's Central Bekaa, stressing that 4 Israeli jets flew over the Lebanese territories and shelled the Syrian region of Al-Zabadani located 7 km away from the Lebanese-Syrian borders.

In Lebanon, the army reported a heavy presence of Israeli jets over its territory throughout the night, following several days of increased incursions into Lebanese airspace.

This as, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) denied the news and said that "the information reported on Israeli jet attack on Syrian-Lebanese borders is false."