Damascus
Three civilians were killed and four others wounded on Monday during fresh Israeli missile strikes in the countryside of Syria’s capital Damascus, state news agency SANA reported.
The four, including a child, were wounded when shrapnel from Israeli missiles fell on houses in Hajjira and Adliyeh in Damascus’ countryside, SANA said.
The Israeli missiles were fired from inside the Lebanese airspace at dawn, it added. Most of the missiles were intercepted by the Syrian air defenses before reaching their targets, the report said.
Israel has carried out dozens of missile attacks during the Syrian war against what it claims are Iranian positions in the country.
Syrian air defence intercepted several missiles fired during an ‘Israeli’ air strike on Monday against targets near the capital Damascus, the official SANA news agency reported. It did not give details of the positions targeted shortly before dawn but said the military ‘shot down a number of missiles before they reached their targets’.
SANA described it as ‘Israeli aggression’ carried out from Lebanese airspace.
Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, targeting government troop. On April 20, SANA said Syrian air defences had downed Israeli missiles near the ancient city of Palmyra.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the targets were ‘military posts for Iranian militias in the Palmyra desert’. That raid killed three Syrian fighters and six foreigners, according to the Observatory, which was not able to determine their nationalities. Syria accused Israel of carrying out airstrikes near Damascus just before dawn on Monday, saying that its air defense units had ‘confronted the Israeli aggression’, EDNews.net reports citing Bulgarian Military News. Syrian state media SANA said Israeli jets had fired several missiles from Lebanese airspace and these had been intercepted. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Syria media regularly claims alleged Israeli strikes fail to hit their targets, though those assertions are questionable.
There was no immediate comment from Israel. Though Israeli officials generally refrain from taking responsibility for specific strikes in Syria, they have acknowledged conducting hundreds to thousands of raids in the country since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
These have overwhelmingly been directed against Iran and its proxies, notably the Lebanese-based Hezbollah terror group, but the IDF has also carried out strikes on Syrian air defenses when those batteries have fired at Israeli jets.
Last week Syria accused Israel of hitting targets near Homs. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the targets were ‘military posts for Iranian militias in the Palmyra desert.’ Jerusalem says Iran’s presence in Syria, where it is fighting in support of President Bashar Assad, is a threat, as Tehran seeks to establish a permanent foothold along Israel’s northern borders.—Agencies
