Syrian air defenses fired wildly against what foreign reports said were Israeli airstrikes on Friday.
According to the Syrian regime media, “the Israeli enemy launched an aerial attack... targeting positions near Damascus and around the city of Homs.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based group, said four pro-Iranian fighters allied to the Damascus regime were killed. Syrian air defenses supposedly downed “hostile targets,” with Russian military sources leaking that 22 Israeli missiles were shot down.
But Syrian air defenses also fired wildly, with shrapnel and debris falling over Jordan and Israel, according to varying reports. This was apparently debris from a Syrian S-200. Two commercial airliners also had to divert during the Syrian air defense operations.
Russia has been more outspoken recently about these strikes. It said on July 24 that another Israeli airstrike was interdicted by Syrian air defense. Now Russia has indicated that 22 of the 24 missiles fired at Syria Friday were shot down.
Moscow has also been increasingly vocal in its opposition to the strikes. In November 2019, Russia also opened up about alleged Israeli airstrikes in Syria, claiming that Israel had even overflown Jordan.
Syrian air defenders said after Friday’s incident that "our air defense responded to the missiles and shot most of them down."
Syrian air defenses, which consists of S-200s, Pantir 22 and other systems, has been known to fire wildly in the past.
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