The Reported Israeli Strike on Harakat al-Nujaba' in Syria

Overview and Analysis

The unprecedented exchange of fire between Israel and Iran last month, triggered by Israel’s bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, does not mean that Israel will stop trying to disrupt and damage what it sees as Iran’s proxy networks. On the northern front with Lebanon, Israel continues to engage in tit-for-tat exchanges with Hezbollah and target Hezbollah personnel and assets in airstrikes. In the Syria arena, during the early hours of yesterday morning (early morning of 9 May), a rather surprising announcement came from the Iranian-aligned Iraqi faction Harakat al-Nujaba’, which maintains a presence in Syria and has been known to be active in the country since at least 2013. Specifically, the group accused Israel of targeting its cultural and media centre in Syria. This announcement matches Syrian military reporting that at around 3:20 a.m., “the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting one of the buildings in Damascus countryside.”

Screenshot of video footage from the official media of Harakat al-Nujaba’, showing the ruins of the cultural and media centre in Syria.