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Claims Abound That Israeli F-35s Have Already Seen Combat as Early as January of This Year
According to French newspaper Le Figaro, Israel has already put its tiny F-35 Lightning II fleet to use as early as mid-January of this year, having only taken full delivery of the first F-35s in their 75-strong order in mid-December of last year. Reporter Georges Malbrunot, Le Figaro‘s Middle East correspondent, the F-35’s supposed initial foray into combat occurred in the late night/early morning hours of January 12-13 in an airstrike on Mezzeh Military Airport, Syria, where facilities housing surface-to-air missiles destined for use with Hezbollah, an Islamist terror organization based in Lebanon.
Indeed, Mezzeh, located just outside of Damascus, has been the frequent target of Israeli strikes over the past four months. Claims cross between Israel using both aircraft and surface-to-surface missiles to attack the site,and the Israeli government has admitted to carrying out occasional strikes in Syria to deny the transfer of weaponry to Lebanon, where Hezbollah would likely attempt to use said arms to attack Israel, as it has done in the past. News reports indicate that the particular strike Malbrunot says was perpetrated by the F-35 did actually take place, and in the video footage below, you can see some of the hangars at Mezzeh exploding after being hit. At the time, the Syrian Army (which remains in control of Mezzeh) stated that the attack was actually a rocket strike. However, in the background, what sounds like very faint jet noise can be heard briefly before and after the explosions until it fades away altogether...
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[Link mogu videti samo ulogovani korisnici]
