WASHINGTON (AFP) — Israel carried out an air strike well inside Syria last week, apparently to send Damascus a message not to rearm Hezbollah in Lebanon, a US defense official said Tuesday.
"It wasn't big. It was a quick strike. They were engaged by the Syrians, they dropped their ordenance and scooted out of there," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official did not know the target of the strike, which was conducted Thursday, but said the US military believed it was to send a message to the Syrians.
"The Israelis are trying to tell the Syrians: 'Don't support a resurgence of Hezbollah in Lebanon.'"
Israel fought a devastating 34-day war in July and August 2006 against Hezbollah, whose missile firepower and use of sophisticated weaponry surprised the Israelis.
CNN, which earlier reported on the strike, said the strike was believed to have targeted weapons either coming into Syria or moving through Syria from Iran to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
Syria said its air defenses had opened fire on Israeli warplanes flying over the northeast of the country in the early hours of Thursday and warned it was weighing its response to the Israeli "aggression."
But Israeli officials have made no comment on the allegations, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "specifically instructed ministers not to talk about the incident related to Syria at all," one senior Israeli government official said.
Turkey said on Monday that two detachable air fuel tanks were found near its border with Syria in the southeastern provinces of Hatay and Gaziantep, and demanded an explanation from Israel.
Turkish newspapers said the fuel tanks were from F-15 fighters of a kind that Israel flies.
It was not known whether Israel's US allies were told about the air strike before it took place.
The US military looked into it after receiving a report the air strike, the US defense official said.
"It was pretty much determined they did conduct an operation of some kind," the official said. "It was an air strike."
The incident comes amid heightened Israeli-Syrian tensions with leaders in both countries saying they do not want conflict while accusing the other of arming for one.
Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said Saturday in Portugal both sides were looking for ways to ratchet down the tension.
"I think that everybody wants to calm down the situation, to cool it off. Nobody wants to keep the temperature high," he told AFP.
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