Explosions Heard Near Damascus Airport, Syrian State Media Denies Attack

Syria denies attack on Damascus airport as local residents hear blasts

Syrian state media denied reports of an attack on Damascus international airport as residents of the area said they heard the sound of explosions on Sunday night.

Earlier, the official Syrian government mouthpiece SANA reported that the country’s air defenses had been triggered by incoming “hostile” missiles.

However, within hours, the outlet’s articles had been retracted and replaced with a quote from a military source who said there had been no attack on the airport.

Yet residents of southern Damascus reported hearing at least two large explosions. Syria-based journalists said the blasts appeared to have indeed been from the launch of the military’s air defenses, which some speculated was the result of an Israeli electronic warfare attack.

The Israeli military refused to comment on the matter.

The Syrian reports came amid peak tensions between Israel and the Hezbollah terrorist group, which is deeply involved in the Syrian civil war.

Last week, Israel launched Operation Northern Shield along the Lebanese border to find and destroy attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah into Israeli territory. So far, the Israeli military has said it has uncovered at least two tunnels that enter Israel from southern Lebanon.

Last month, Israel reportedly launched a series of airstrikes on Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria, prompting the country’s military to launch a massive barrage of anti-aircraft missiles, including one that landed inside Israeli territory, causing neither injury nor damage.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, the Israeli bombardment hit two positions in the south of Damascus province, including an area believed to be an Iranian weapons depot near the capital.

Once a regular occurrence, reports of Israeli airstrikes in Syria have become increasingly rare in the past three months, after Syria accidentally shot down a Russian spy plane during an Israeli raid, which Moscow blamed on Israel.

Last month’s strike was the first time Syria’s air defenses had been called into action since they inadvertently shot down the Russian plane and the 15 people on board on September 17.