Latest reports: Israel has now attacked a facility in Syria

Wars and rumors of wars… OK, let’s sort this out, at least until the next update.  (This is how intelligence works, incidentally.  You work with what you’ve got until the next update.)

The IAF attack on Friday (apparently, early on Friday morning) was targeting an arms shipment.  This was indicated by the profile of the attack, and there has been no reason to revise that assessment.  News and blog sites reference reports that the attack targeted an arms shipment that came from Iran.

New reporting indicates another attack in Damascus, which demonstrates a profile more consistent with an attack on a facility.  The Tower recounts

Advertisement

Interdicting arms to Hezbollah? New report of Israeli air strikes in Syria

The latest report that the Israeli Air Force has conducted an attack in Syria comes not from the Syrian rebels but from U.S. officials.  Why our officials might be talking to the media about this is a separate topic.  More on it in a moment.

The attack

The information disclosed to the media is sketchy; it’s not even clear that the target was actually in Syria, as opposed to Lebanon.  I heard on Fox earlier this evening that people in Lebanon had reported seeing IAF aircraft overhead during the period in question (some time Thursday or Friday).  The statement(s) of U.S. officials indicate that we don’t think the IAF aircraft entered Syrian air space to conduct the attack.

The overall description of the Israeli strike package –