UPDATE 12:30 am Israel time Monday:
There are initial, unconfirmed, reports of another Israel strike against Syrian and Iranian facilities in the past few hours. For its part, Syria has let it be known that at the next infiltration it will fire missiles at Israel. There are also reports that the Syrians have issued “free fire” orders to Palestinian groups operating on the Golan Border.
UPDATE 7:30 pm Israel time Sunday:
All airspace in northern Israel has been closed.
UPDATES and TODAY’S BLOG 5:30 pm Israel time Sunday:
Due to the fast-breaking developments with Syria updates and today’s blog will be merged.
Satellite photo of areas struck last night.
The basic facts seem to be that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Division 104 which was encamped at Wardi Barda (purple area with arrow in top left of picture) was completely destroyed, and that the Iranian 105th complexes in and around the Jamraya Military “Research” Center (in the white, yellow, and red areas above) just outside Damascus were attacked (note Damascus city center in lower center right of the picture).
A photo from one of the bombed sites last night (source: Reuters).
As a result of the attack:
*The Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister has declared that the attacks were “an act of war”.
*All Syrian and Hezbollah missile batteries have reportedly been aimed at Israel.
*Israel’s already thin Iron Dome missile defense system has been stretched even thinner with batteries moved northward to Tzfat and Haifa. Hamas has already taken advantage of this redeployment by firing a missile at the Eshkol region this afternoon.
*PM Netanyahu has canceled his trip to China.
Check back at israelstreet for updates throughout the evening and night.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.