On August 7th, around 2:20 AM, an airstrike was carried out north of Damascus, apparently between the town of Mneen and Al-Sedanayah. According to different reports, the area of the attack is called “Mneen warehouses”, which is located near the main road connecting the two towns. It was reported that at least 4 soldiers were killed, and several others wounded. Some of the casualties belonged, as expected, to the aerial-defense units, likely operating from Mount Qasioun base. It is our estimation that the anti-aircraft battery was targeted after it launched missiles in response to the attack.
But it was the publication of the death of an officer that did not belong to the aerial-defense array that caught our attention.
The officer, named Issa Taha Hamoud, is an engineer in the Syrian army at the rank of Major (in the picture he is still in the rank of captain). From Hamoud’s picture, as it was published, it can be observed that the uniforms he wears are not those of the aerial-defense forces and that the tag on them reads “artillery and rocket forces” (قوات المدفعية والصواريخ) The color of his uniforms also matches this unit.
This piece of information raises some questions. Does Hamoud’s presence in the attacked location indicate the type of munition attacked?
It is possible that the target of the attack was a warehouse (or several warehouses) containing advanced weapons which were intended for the Syrian army, the Shi’ite axis in Syria, or for Hezbollah in Lebanon.
At this point, it is unclear whether the attacked location belonged to the Syrian army or to other Shi’ite axis forces. There is also uncertainty as to the reason for Hamoud’s presence in the location. Syrian army sites are not usually targeted, with the exception of aerial-defense units, unless they are being used as an infrastructure for Iranian weapons or for the Shi’ite axis activity (The 4th division’s and the Imam Hussien militia’s activity are good examples). In any case, it looks like the Iranian influence over the Syrian army is intensifying.
In addition to the pictures of Major Hamoud, Syrian media published pictures of the other aerial defense (الدفاع الجوي السوري) soldiers killed in the attack. The pictures show the differences between the aerial defense’s dark green uniforms and those of the rocket and artillery forces, which are light brown.
