video transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: Syrian state broadcaster showed on Saturday aftermath images of last week's Israeli air strike on the sprawling Jamraya site north-west of Damascus. Footage of the damage to the military research center which was targeted on Wednesday morning and of charred vehicles lining up the streets, was played as witnesses recounted the attack. The Jamraya research center is in the town of Jamraya, 8 miles (13 km) from the border with Lebanon, surrounded by heavily militarized areas including several army bases and artillery sites on the Qasioun mountain range, which overlooks Damascus proper 3 miles (5 km) to the east. Details of Wednesday's strike remain sketchy and, in parts, contradictory. Syria said Israeli warplanes, flying low to avoid detection by radar, crossed into its airspace from Lebanon and struck the Jamraya military site. But diplomats, Syrian rebels and regional security sources said the Israeli planes hit a weapons convoy heading from Syria to Lebanon, apparently destined for President Bashar al-Assad's ally Hezbollah, and the rebels said they - not Israel - hit Jamraya with mortars. A statement from the joint military council of the rebel Free Syrian Army described Jamraya as "one of the biggest shabbiha strongholds", where it said Iranian, Russian and Hezbollah members were helping develop chemical and other weapons including 'barrel bombs' used by Assad's air force.