1-Introduction: Middle Eastern media has reported an Israeli Air Force strike on the outskirts of Damascus. The strike reportedly took place in the very early hours of Monday, January 31, 2022. The media specifically reported that the Israeli strikes targeted Lebanese Hezbollah training camps in various regions of the country. Neither the Syrian government, nor Hezbollah officials, have confirmed or dismissed the reports, nor have they provided any details or locations.
2-JaFaJ intelligence sources have confirmed that Israel carried out the attack and that it was against Hezbollah terrorists’ camps in Syria, particularly in the village of Khirbat Al-Ward. [COMMENT: Positioned at 33.39841°N 36.36937°E, with a population of a mere 8,000, Khirbat Al-Ward is a village from the Reef Dimashq (Damascus Suburbs) County, south to the Syrian capital, Damascus. END COMMENT].
3-JaFaJ intelligence sources in Jordan and Israel have confirmed that the Israelis targeted an old Syrian army base that has been undergoing development and reconditioning by the Hezbollah terror group who has mainly been using the base as a training camp. The sources added that the main purpose of the training camp was the use of drones for espionage and attacks. Because of the attack, Hezbollah has extended the concrete areas of the said base to host larger drones in the future. The Israeli sources have confirmed that Hezbollah had members of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Division training within the said base. [COMMENT: The Syrian Air Force Intelligence Division has historically been the closes security agency to the Assad regime and does function as a de facto state within a state within the Syrian intelligence apparatus. END COMMENT]
The Drone War Has Begun
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4-A Western military source reported to JaFaJ that the Israelis took the pre-emptive strike in the aftermath of the Houthi terror militias attacks on Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates capital. The source added “Iran has used its flunkies, the Houthis, to target Abu Dhabi with Chinese Drones that were provided by Iran”. The source added that “This type of terror attack model will increase and the quality and payloads of the terrorist drones are also going to be larger because drones are effective, cheap and they often provide the perpetrators (in this case Iranians) the ability to use plausible deniability and thus claim that it was not them”.
5-An Israeli intelligence source confirmed the following with JaFaJ, “Iran has changed its attack strategy and we will see more drones attacks against UAE, Saudi Arabia and possibly Israel”. The source continued by adding “the Houthis have attacked Abu Dhabi twice within a week, and we cannot tolerate a drone-base just a few dozen miles from our borders”. The source added “we destroyed it once we had the intelligence to confirm the location(s)”.
Kamikaze Drones Are Next
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6-JaFaJ sources have confirmed reports that Iran has purchased Chinese drones and has turned them into “Kamikaze drones” which are capable of self-destructing upon impact with the target. The sources confirmed that Iran has been able to “deliver those to its loyal militias in Yemen and Lebanon but chose not to deliver it to her allies in Armenia for fear of provoking a reaction from Israel, who has sold Kamikaze drones to the Azari government”.
Conclusion
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7-The Israeli attack on Khirbat Al-Ward signifies Israel’s serious concerns about Iran’s new approach of depending on drones for carrying out terrorist attacks and wreaking havoc and unrest across the region. Iran has historically been very generous with sharing technology with Arab allies, especially technology that it acquired cheaply from China, like the drones. As a result, the drone war will escalate this year as Iran finds itself more endangered by the newfound alliance between Israel and Arab Sunni states like the UAE. The use of Kamikaze drones is probable because the UAE and Saudi Arabia are both cracking down on Iranian militia strongholds in Yemen. Nonetheless, it is unlikely that both countries will be impacted by drone strikes because both nations have recently upgraded their air defence systems to deal with most detectable drones. Hence, the use of drones by Iran’s proxies may prove to be far from a game-changer or result in any change of policy by either UAE, Saudi Arabia, or Israel.