Syrian state media says Israeli airstrikes caused damage
SANA says air defenses shot down ‘most’ of the missiles allegedly launched by Israeli fighter jets from over the Golan Heights, but that there were ‘material losses’
Israeli air strikes hit southern Syria, the Syrian defense ministry said Thursday evening, with state media reporting strikes near the capital Damascus.
“At approximately 23:05 today, the Israeli enemy carried out air strikes from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points in the southern region,” the defense ministry said in a statement, reporting no casualties.
“Our air defenses are intercepting hostile targets in the vicinity of Damascus,” official news agency SANA said.
“An Israeli attack targeted the vicinity of the capital Damascus,” state television said.
Citing a military source, SANA said air defenses shot down “most” of the missiles launched by Israeli fighter jets from over the Golan Heights, but that there were “material losses.”
The report does not elaborate on the targets.
There was no comment from the Israel Defense Forces. While Israel’s military does not, as a rule, comment on specific strikes in Syria, it has admitted to conducting hundreds of sorties against Iran-backed terror groups attempting to gain a foothold in the country, over the last decade.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported Israeli strikes targeting a Syrian air defense position in the country’s southern Sweida province, as well as near Damascus international airport.
The attack near the airport came “one whole day after the airport resumed flights,” said the British-based monitor of unclear funding, with a network inside Syria.
Damascus international airport had been out of service since it was targeted by alleged Israeli strikes in late November, just hours after flights resumed following similar strikes the previous month.
The airport was not damaged in the latest strike, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The Israeli military says it attacks arms shipments in Syria believed to be bound for Iran-backed terror groups, chief among them Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Additionally, airstrikes attributed to Israel have repeatedly targeted Syrian air defense systems.
There have been numerous alleged Israel strikes on Syria since the war between Israel and Hamas, a Hezbollah ally, began on October 7 with the Gaza-based terror group’s devastating onslaught.
There have also been several rocket attacks on Israel from Syria, without any injuries.
