Sunday, May 28, 2023

Israeli airstrikes said to hit targets in Syrian capital

Israeli airstrikes said to hit targets in Syrian capital


Israeli fighter jets carried out strikes against targets in the Syrian capital Damascus just before midnight on Sunday, Syria’s state-run media reported.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, said the Israeli Air Force warplanes launched their missiles from over the Golan Heights, targeting a number of sites in and around Damascus.

SANA, citing a military source, said Syrian air defenses responded to the Israeli incursion, downing some of the missiles. Syria regularly claims to intercept Israeli missiles, though military analysts doubt such assertions.

Still, the state-run media outlet said that damage was caused to the sites that were targeted.

SANA did not report any injuries.

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 groups attempting to gain a foothold in the country, over the last decade.

The Israel Defense Forces says it attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for those groups, chief among them Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy. Additionally, airstrikes attributed to Israel have repeatedly targeted Syrian air defense systems.

The alleged strike on Sunday night would mark the first since Syria was readmitted to the Arab League after a 12-year suspension, on May 7.

The last reported Israeli strike in Syria occurred on May 2, when the Aleppo International Airport was targeted and put out of service for several days.


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