On Wednesday U.S. officials — who said they were given  forewarning of the strike — told  The Wall Street Journal and other outlets that the Israelis were targeting a  convoy of trucks allegedly carrying Russian-made SA-17 missiles to  Hezbollah.

Syria  insisted that the reports about the convoy attack were "baseless," and that  the real target was a military research center in Jamraya, which lies about  three miles from Damascus and eight miles from the Lebanese border.

Maj. Gen. Adnan Salo, a former head of the chemical weapons unit  in the Syrian Army who defected and is now in Turkey, told The New York Times  that the  complex produces both conventional and chemical weapons.

The Azzaman source said that the complex is heavily fortified and houses experts from Russia and has been guarded for years by at least  three thousand Iranian Revolutionary Guards, adding that the Guards  suffered heavy casualties in the strike.