Report: Israel Tells Iran Its ‘Red Lines’ Have Expanded

Israel has informed Iran, via Russia, that it is expanding its “red lines” in Syria, telling Tehran that any of its facilities or bases in the country are subject to IDF attack. A report in the London-based Arabic daily a-Shark al-Awsat said that Israel had until now targeted Iranian installations in the south of Syria. Israel until now had restricted its attacks only to Iranian bases near the Israeli border, or convoys of weapons being transported to Hezbollah.

The report said that Israel had asked Moscow to pass the message on to Tehran. The request came in a phone call between Israeli and Russian officials last week, it said.

In addition, the report said that Israeli planes had last week hit Iranian targets near the central Syrian city of Homs. The attack on the Al-Da’aba airfield south of Homs on Thursday killed 21 people, nine of them Iranians. According to the report, the planes targeted a weapons warehouse and barracks that housed an Iranian advisory team. Iranian supply planes landed at the base on a weekly basis, bringing in soldiers and supplies. The base was also one of Hezbollah’s largest in Syria, the report said.

Syria did not officially blame Israel for the attack last Thursday, although Syrian opposition groups said that Israeli planes carried out the attack. The Pentagon also denied that the attack had been carried out by U.S. forces, as had been earlier reported.