Israeli army says Iranian Quds operatives planned to attack Israel from Syria

The Israeli army says Iranian Quds operatives, commanded by General Qassem Soleimani, planned to attack Israel from an Iranian base in Syria.

“Soleimani commanded an attack of killer drones on Israel. Iranian Quds operatives flew to the Damascus Intl. Airport with drones & explosives, and continued to an Iranian base in Syria to prepare for an attack on Israel. An attack that never happened. We attacked their base,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a tweet.

The Israeli military attacked targets near Damascus late Saturday in what it said was a successful effort to thwart an imminent Iranian drone strike on Israel, stepping up an already heightened campaign against Iranian military activity in the region.

However, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander denied that Iranian targets had been hit in Israeli air strikes in Syria, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported.

General Qassem Soleimani is the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and the commander of the Quds Force.

The Iranian Quds Force is Iran’s primary military actor in the Middle East and trains, advises, and equips sub-state forces in countries such as Lebanon, the US State Department said earlier in May.