DAMASCUS, Syria: Syrian air defenses were active early Wednesday as Israel fired several surface-to-surface missiles at military positions near the capital, Damascus, state media reported. There was no immediate word on casualties.
State media quoted an unidentified Syrian military official as saying that the missiles were fired from northern Israel shortly after midnight and that most of them were shot down. It added that the military was still looking into the “results of the aggression.”
The attacks came hours after the Israeli military said an Israeli drone crashed on the Syrian side of the border Tuesday, adding that an investigation was opened into the case.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said several missiles struck areas near Damascus International Airport on the southern edge of the capital as well as several suburbs. It said the areas hit host Syrian military positions as well as some of Iran-backed fighters.
There was no comment from the Israeli military on the attacks near Damascus.
It was the latest attack on Syria since April 14, when several missiles hit Syrian army positions near Damascus.
Israel has staged hundreds of strikes on targets in Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.
It has acknowledged, however, that it targets the bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that has fighters deployed in Syria. It says it attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for the militias.
Israel justifies its strikes on facilities and weapons inside Syria by saying that an Iranian presence on its northern frontier is a red line.
