Photo file: rocket fired from Gaza to Israel (EFE / EPA / HAITHAM IMAD)
A missile coming from Syria fell on Wednesday around the Israeli Center for Nuclear Research in Dimon, warning sirens sound in the region. Shortly after Israel Defense Forces (IS) fighters they attacked the battery from where it was thrown, as official sources show
According to the newspaper The Jerusalem Post, residents around Abu Krenat, where the first sirens sounded, and in Jerusalem, 75 miles to the north, They said they heard “loud explosions”.
It was later also confirmed that ID they fired a Patriot rocket. part of Israel’s defense system, following the discovery of a projectile launched from Syria.
According to an official statement, it would be an anti-aircraft missile fired from Syria in the direction of Israel. It was unclear whether it was aimed at Israeli planes, and missed it, or whether it was launched for some other reason. The shell flew into the Negev desert, near Abu Krenat and Dimona, causing no damage or injury.
In response to this Israeli fighters attacked Syrian anti-aircraft batteries stationed at the border, including the one from which the rocket was launched, which landed in the Negev.
«The surface-to-air missile, identified as coming from Syria, landed in the Negev. In response (…) the Israeli army bombed the battery from which the missile was launched, and other Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries “, said the Israeli army in a short message.
It houses Dimona, located in the south of the country Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, a central element of Israel’s nuclear program. The area is rarely the target of missile attacks.
According to the official Syrian news agency Sana, the Israeli army launched missiles from the Golan Heights “Against positions in the vicinity of Damascus.”
“Our anti-aircraft defense battery intercepted the missiles and fired most of them as a result of this aggression, which injured four soldiers and caused material damage,” adds a Syrian agency citing a local military source.
Earlier, the Israeli army showed that sirens warning of possible attacks were activated near the Bedouin city of Abu Krenat, which is located a few kilometers from the plant “Dimona”.
Israel says it is trying to prevent its main enemy, Iran, from gaining a foothold in Syria, a country bordering the Jewish state. Although the Israeli army has carried out hundreds of bombings in Syria, it has rarely acknowledged them publicly.
Most of the shots from Syria were intercepted by the Israeli anti-missile shield “Israeli Dome”.
The Iranian press on Saturday threatened precisely by attacking facilities in Dimon in response to sabotage against the Natanz nuclear research center, which took place on April 11 in Iran, which Tehran attributed to Israel, the newspaper reports Times of Israel. Iran does not usually launch this type of attack from its territory, and it usually comes from Syria, Iraq or Yemen – countries where it has a significant presence and where it usually funds various groups.
Israeli fighters attack battery from missile launch site (archive)
Thus, protection around the research center has intensified in recent days.
Negev Nuclear Research Center
Israel’s nuclear plant in the Negev, renamed in 2018 in honor of the late President Shimon Peres, was built in 1958 south of the city of Dimona.
The complex includes a nuclear reactor with heavy water cooling and many other buildings that Israel claims are used for research in nuclear science and energy.
However, for the international community, Dimona is one of the pillars of Israel’s nuclear weapons program, which the country officially denies.
Sabotage in Natanza
April 11 Iranian underground nuclear facility Natants ran out of energy, hours after the launch of new advanced centrifuges capable of enriching uranium faster, as a result of an incident that the Iranian MP described as possible “sabotage” and unknown Western intelligence officials as a possible cyberattack.
Natanz Nuclear Complex in Iran (EFE / Abedin Taherkenarh / Archive)
The news of the incident coincided with the arrival in Israel of the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, during a visit for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Hants. The United States, Israel’s main security partner, is trying to join a 2015 nuclear deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s program so that it cannot acquire nuclear weapons.
Natants was built mostly underground to withstand enemy air attacks. It became a hot spot for Western fears over Iran’s nuclear program in 2002, when satellite photos showed Iran building its underground centrifuge plant on site, about 200 kilometers south of the capital Tehran.
The nuclear complex is one of the existing sites controlled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) under a nuclear deal signed in 2015 between Iran and the six major powers.
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