The Last American Vagabond – by Robert Inlakesh
Israeli fighter jets were said to have launched a series of airstrikes, ultimately targeting a Syrian airbase in Homs. The strikes had again violated international law and there is yet to be any action taken against the Israeli government.
SANA, Syria’s national broadcaster, stated that “at 9:33 p.m. on Friday, the Israeli warplanes carried out a missile aggression on the T4 military airport, from the direction of the al-Tanf region… the Syrian Army Air Defences intercepted the hostile missiles and shot down most of them,” a claim Israel hasn’t confirmed or denied. The Syrian State broadcaster also reported that 6 injuries, to Syrian soldiers, were incurred as a result of the airstrikes and conceded that material damage had been reported also.
As usual, almost instantly the UK based ‘Syrian Observatory for Human Rights’ (SOHR) commented – the group’s head supports regime change in Syria. The SOHR quickly claimed, as it does almost every time Israel strikes Syria, that foreign fighters were killed, this time 2. The SOHR could not provide names and didn’t even bother to state the nationalities of the alleged slain foreign fighters.
The SOHR has also claimed that the T-4 airbase is used by Iran to develop drones; this is again stated without any evidence. In fact, according to SAA sources Iran’s military presence is almost completely confined to the east of Syria. In the East, the Imam Ali base, which is situated in the proximity of Abu Kamal, close to the Iraq-Syria border crossing, is a clear base that is being used by Iranian backed fighters. If the airstrikes of Israel were all about targeting Iran and its “foreign fighters”, it would make much more sense to strike them frequently where air defenses do not exist. Yet instead of striking targets confirmed as belonging to Iran or its allied militias, much more complicated missions are more common in Syria’s West.
Ultimately, the SOHR is not a trustworthy source. The outlet is never able to verify its sources, nor provide names of those it claims are killed, and has nothing to show for claims of Iranian targets being hit. It’s almost laughable that the SOHR is still taken seriously after its claims are so flimsy and baseless, typically coming in directly after the Israeli strikes happen. It is not plausible to believe that this outlet has sources in every single private military facility inside of Syria and can retrieve this information instantly.
Along with the seemingly false reporting from Syrian opposition outlets – repeated verbatim in the Western press – there has been a stunning silence on the illegality of such attacks from Western representatives. Hundreds, potentially over a thousand illegal Israeli attacks against Syria have been committed since the beginning of the Syrian war in 2011. The strikes violate the sovereignty of Syria, constitute acts of war, and often also violate the airspace of additional foreign countries. On top of this, if Iranian or any other foreigners are killed in the Israeli strikes, it risks provoking a direct retaliation from these foreign powers.
Czech professor and researcher, Prof. Vlasta Havelka, speaking on this topic told the Syrian media:
“The international silence towards these attacks which violate the international law amounts to a hidden support and encouragement for them.”
Regarding the frequent attacks by Israel, Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Majid Takht Ravanchi, said “these attacks and provocative practices represent an outrageous violation of international rights and they endanger regional and international peace and security”. The statements he made on Syria, during a UN Security Council session on September 29, have been many times echoed by Syria itself, which had just months ago filed one of several complaints over prior Israeli strikes.
The only time it seems that the West will jump in to mediate is when Israel occasionally goes too far and Syria retaliates, which hasn’t happened since 2018. However, earlier this year a missile fired from Syria, allegedly a S-200 air defense surface-to-air missile, caused panic amongst Israelis who feared a ballistic missile attack. This situation quickly caught the eyes of the mainstream media and Western governments, yet when Syria is bombed every other month, week or day, nobody bats an eye. The double-standards are shockingly stark, and if one is to be honest with themselves, its because Western governments simply do not care for the lives of Arabs.