An Israeli missile attack targeted the Syrian capital’s airport late Saturday, activating air defenses which shot down a number of the projectiles, state news agency SANA reported.
“Our air defenses responded to an Israeli missile attack on Damascus international airport and shot down a number of hostile missiles,” a military source said, quoted by SANA, which gave no immediate report of casualties or damage.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missile attack targeted an arms depot near the airport where new weapons recently arrived for the Iranians or Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
“The missiles, suspected to be Israeli, destroyed an arms warehouse near the Damascus international airport,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
He had no immediate information on casualties.
A correspondent for the SANA agency reported hearing sounds of explosions during the incident.
AFP’s correspondent in Damascus said a loud blast late Saturday was followed by several smaller explosions.
Video circulated online showed at least one explosion on the ground near Damascus.
#Syria: video purportedly showing one explosion close to #DamascusInternational Airport following #Israel|i airstrike tonight. pic.twitter.com/xhgIxK6Bkd— Qalaat Al Mudiq (@QalaatAlMudiq) September 15, 2018
Videos and images posted online by official Syrian state media showed air defenses appearing to intercept missiles.
In a shaky video, a small, bright explosion is seen in the night sky, with city lights in the distance.
Images reportedly show #Syria's air defense batteries responding to what the Syrian state media said were #Israeli missiles targeting #Damascusinternational airporthttps://t.co/NVZqtU0v7mpic.twitter.com/hwvPd6kmf6— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) September 15, 2018
Israel does not regularly comment on alleged strikes in Syria.
Israel attacked Damascus International Airport with missiles Saturday night, Syrian state media said, adding that air defenses shot down some of them. A war monitoring group said the attack targeted an arms depot for Iranian forces or Lebanon's Hezbollah group.
Explosions during the attack were heard across Damascus. The state news agency SANA posted pictures showing what appeared to be air defenses firing into the air.
State media quoted an unidentified military official as reporting the attack but gave no further details.
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the attack targeted an arms depot near the airport where new weapons recently arrived for the Iranians or Lebanon's Hezbollah group. The monitoring group had no immediate word on casualties, saying the strike did cause material damage.
Israel rarely acknowledges attacks inside Syria, but has said it would use military action to prevent weapons transfers to its enemies.
Earlier this month, an Israeli military official said the Jewish state has struck over 200 Iranian targets in Syria over the past 18 months.
Israel is widely believed to have been behind a series of airstrikes mainly targeting Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria that have joined the country's war fighting alongside the government. It rarely confirms the attacks.
An Israeli official said earlier this month that the targets were connected to Iran's elite Al-Quds force and included air force components, support infrastructure, and weapons storage and manufacturing facilities.
U.S. and Israeli officials have said that Iran and Hezbollah should end their armed presence in Syria. Israel says it is alarmed by the expansion of operations by Iran and Hezbollah in Syria.
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