RUTHFULLY YOURS

The strikes play into a broader conflict unfolding in the Middle East. The fight against Islamic State militants, who have been driven from their strongholds in Syria and Iraq, has given way to a jostling for power among foreign and regional actors.

Israel has watched with concern as Iran has entrenched itself deeper in Syria on the back of its support for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which has reclaimed most of the territory once held by antigovernment rebels.

Over the past year, Israel has sharply increased airstrikes against Iranian assets in Syria, striking targets from its own border area to the far eastern part of the country to neighborhoods near the capital, Damascus.

Saturday’s strike seemingly targeted a warehouse and a recently arrived arms shipment from Iran to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group, which said the launched missiles were likely Israeli.

According to a news report by the Israeli Hadashot TV Sunday morning, the strike also hit an Iranian cargo plane loaded with weapons, which had recently landed at Damascus International Airport from Tehran.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the country’s air defenses repelled some of the incoming missiles, which it said were fired from Israel.

People in Damascus posted footage on social media showing explosions that they described as the airport being hit. The were no immediate reports of casualties.

The Israeli military, in accordance with its usual practice, declined to comment on individual military actions.

But Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday at the beginning of a cabinet meeting that Israel would continue to enforce its red lines, without specifying what they are. He has previously said Israel won’t allow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria.

“Israel is constantly working to prevent our enemies from arming themselves with advanced weaponry,” he said.