国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Israeli-Syrian confrontation faces possible escalation into full-fledged war_时事

国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Israeli-Syrian confrontation faces possible escalation into full-fledged war

The turning point between the Israel-Syrian confrontation appeared in February, when the Syrian army said it shot down an Israeli F-16 fighter jet, which targeted an air base in the central province of Homs on the pretext that an Iranian drone was sent from the base and infiltrated the Israeli airspace.

In April, Israel carried out an attack on the T-4 air base in Homs, killing a number of fighters including Iranians.

On April 14, the U.S., France, and Britain launched a series of missile strikes on military positions in Syria over its alleged chemical attack in a formerly rebel-held area near Damascus.

The U.S.-led attacks were seen by analysts as a planned assault that played in the hands of Israelis.

On May 8, Israel targeted a Syrian military site in the Kisweh area in the southwestern countryside of the capital Damascus, with activists saying 15 people were killed, including eight Iranians.

Since then, Israel was anticipating a payback from Iran, particularly with all the wrangling about Iran's international nuclear deal, as Israel has been a staunch opponent to the deal along with President Donald Trump, who announced his country's withdrawal from the deal on May 8.

On May 9, Israel fired on military positions in Qunaitera, but this time the response was not just air defenses. Actual rockets slammed Israeli military positions inside the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The targeted Israeli military sites include a military reconnaissance center, a position for border security, a military center for electronic jamming, a military center for spying on wireless and wired networks, a communication station, an observatory for precision weapons, a gunships heliport, the headquarters of the regional military command of brigade-810, the command center of the military battalion in Hermon, and the winter headquarters of the special snow unit, according to the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV.