Israel breaches Lebanese airspace to hit Syria: Source

BEIRUT

Israeli warplanes have flown over Lebanese airspace into Syria where they carried out an airstrike, a Lebanese security official said Thursday.

“Israel planes flew over eastern Lebanon, in violation of Lebanese airspace, and conducted an airstrike in a rural area of Homs,” a top Lebanese security official told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to the issue’s sensitivity.

The aircraft flew at low altitude over the Lebanese border towns of Ras Baalbek and Al-Fakhah, the official said, adding that Syrian regime forces had responded to the incursion with anti-aircraft fire.

According to reports in the Lebanese media, the airstrike targeted a factory in Homs.

Israeli military spokesmen, meanwhile, have declined to comment on the reports.

Israel sporadically carries out airstrikes on regime sites and positions in Syria, but rarely comments on the moves.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that the Israeli army would respond to any perceived threat in Syria, where for the last five years Iranian troops and Hezbollah have both fought alongside regime forces.

Israel has illegally occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

Reporting by Furkan by Sena Guler