JERUSALEM, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz implied Wednesday that the Israeli army was behind an attack targeting south of Damascus Tuesday evening, Israeli media reported.
The attack was launched the night before Syria carried missiles attacks targeting Israel, Katz told Israeli media Ynet.
"Iran threatened, both in public and through messengers, to hurt Israel. We take this very seriously. We both defend soldiers and civilians and act through intelligence and all of our capabilities to locate and prevent (attacks) in advance," he was quoted as saying.
According to the report, Katz also asserted that "only strikes now, today, could prevent violence and wars tomorrow. The Iranians don't understand any other language."
Katz stressed that the strategy of Israeli cabinet under the leadership of the Israeli Prime Minister is to "prevent war."
"We don't want to conquer Syria," he added. "We want to force the Iranians to make a decision to strategically withdraw from Syria."
Syrian media outlets reported a strike on a base in the Al-Kiswah area south of Damascus late Tuesday. Syrian state media said that its air defenses had brought down two Israeli missiles.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor group said Wednesday that the death toll of the missile strike has risen to 15 pro-regime fighters, eight from Iran's Revolutionary Guards and others not of Syrian nationality.
The strike came shortly after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it had identified "irregular activity" by Iranian forces in Syria. The IDF declined to make a comment on the reports.
