BEIRUT: An Israeli airstrike that hit a Hezbollah convoy in Syria’s Golan Heights over a week ago intended to assassinate a party member, Syrian President Bashar Assad said Monday, denying speculation that Hezbollah was planning an attack on the Jewish state.
In an interview with Foreign Affairs Magazine, Assad noted that not a single operation against Israel had taken place through the Golan Heights since a cease-fire agreement was brokered in 1974.
“It has never happened. So for Israel to allege that there was a plan for an operation - that’s a far cry from reality,” he said.
Israel has not commented on the airsrike, which killed six Hezbollah members and an Iranian general, but some have speculated that it was carried out to stop Hezbollah from planning an attack from Syrian territory.
Assad said the Israeli suggestion is “just an excuse, because they wanted to assassinate somebody from Hezbollah.”
The strike targeted a Hezbollah convoy in the Golan Heights town of Qunaitra. Among those killed were Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of slain Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, and field commander Mohammad Issa.
A Lebanese security source told the Daily Star that two Syrian fighters affiliated with Hezbollah were also killed in the strike, in addition to the Iranian general.
Assad also dismissed rumors that Israel’s attacks on Syrian territory are motivated by its drive to stop Iranian weapons transfers to Lebanon through Iraq and Syria.
“They attacked army positions. What is the relation between Hezbollah and the army?” he said.
Assad said that Israel’s agenda involves “very clear” support for Syrian rebels - a notion that is also shared by Hezbollah’s leadership.
“Whenever we make advances in some place, they make an attack in order to undermine the army,” Assad said. “That’s why some in Syria joke: “How can you say that Al-Qaeda doesn’t have an air force? They have the Israeli air force.”
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