(Jerusalem) The Israeli army announced on Wednesday that it had targeted launch sites for “surface-to-air missiles” in Syria, “including Syrian radars and anti-aircraft batteries”, after firing earlier from there.
Posted at 9:52 p.m.
“Sirens sounded recently in Umm Al-Fahm and the Samaria region following the launch of an anti-aircraft missile from Syria, which exploded in mid-air. No interceptions were made,” the Israeli military also tweeted.
Syrian state media reported that the country’s air defenses had been activated against Israeli fire “in the vicinity of Damascus”.
A soldier was killed and five others injured, in addition to “material damage”, said the SANA agency.
The Israeli airstrikes began shortly before 1 a.m. local time and were accompanied at 1:10 a.m. by surface-to-surface missile strikes “from the occupied Golan,” the agency said, citing a military source.
“Our anti-aircraft defenses met enemy missiles and shot down some of them,” she added.
Israel rarely comments on its airstrikes in Syria, but regularly asserts that it will not allow Syria to become a beachhead for the forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its enemy.
Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syrian territory, targeting positions of Syrian regime soldiers as well as Iranian and Hezbollah forces, which are fighting alongside the regime in Damascus.