Israel said to fire missiles at Syrian targets across Golan Heights frontier
Syrian state media says several surface-to-surface missiles launched at Quneitra area, causing ‘material damage’ to finance ministry building
Israel fired several missiles at targets in the area of the Quneitra border town in the Syrian Golan Heights after midnight Tuesday, Syrian state media reported.
Quoting military sources, the state-run SANA news agency said that “the Israeli enemy carried out an aggression with a number of surface-to-surface missiles” fired from the Israeli part of the Golan Heights.
The report said the missiles targeted “some points in the vicinity of Quneitra, which led to some material losses.” There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Local journalists claimed the targets included an observation post in the town of Rwihinah, adjacent to the border fence, and a “finance building” in the City of Baath.
SANA later published photos of the damaged building, used by the Assad regime’s Finance Ministry.
Quneitra lies just across the border on the Golan Heights, in the demilitarized zone between the countries.
من الأضرار التي طالت مبنى مالية #القنيطرة جراء العدوان الإسرائيلي فجر اليوم. pic.twitter.com/rXk5OmLEBn
— الوكالة العربية السورية للأنباء – سانا (@SanaAjel) February 23, 2022
Israel’s alleged use of surface-to-surface missiles — in place of munitions fired from aircraft — has been linked to a recent meeting between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s main allies, who has supplied much of Damascus’s air defense system. To avoid embarrassing Russia and its military technology, Israel reportedly agreed to rely less on airstrikes, which had repeatedly defeated the Russian batteries.
The Israel Defense Forces had no comment. Israel’s military does not comment on reports of specific strikes in Syria, save for those that are in retaliation for attacks from the country.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked military targets in Syria over the years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.
Israel has acknowledged that it targets the bases of Iranian forces and Iran-allied terror groups, particularly along the Golan border, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has fighters deployed in southern Syria. It says it also attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for those groups.
The last reported strikes in Syria attributed to Israel — also allegedly with surface-to-surface missiles — took place on Thursday, and reportedly caused damage to a site near the town of Zakiya.
