The sources, including a Syrian military intelligence officer and a commander in the regional alliance backing Damascus, said Israel had shifted strategies following Hamas’s October 7 massacres, when some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing around 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages — mostly civilians, and Israel’s subsequent military campaign aimed at destroying the Palestinian terror group.
Although Israel has struck Iran-linked targets in Syria for years, including areas where Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has been active, it is now unleashing deadlier, more frequent air raids against Iranian arms transfers and air defense systems in Syria, the sources said.
The commander in the regional alliance and two additional sources familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking said Israel had abandoned the unspoken “rules of the game” that previously characterized its strikes in Syria, and seemed “no longer cautious” about inflicting heavy casualties on Hezbollah there.
“They used to fire warning shots — they’d hit near the truck, our guys would get out of the truck, and then they’d hit the truck,” the commander said, describing Israeli raids on arms transfers handled by Hezbollah before October 7. READ MORE