ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Syrian military said it downed a number of Israeli missiles targeting the capital Damascus early Friday morning, state media reported.
“At approximately 4:20 a.m. today, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan [occupied Golan Heights], targeting a number of points south of Damascus,” state-run SANA reported, citing a military source.
The military source said that Syrian air defense systems intercepted some of the missiles, without specifying the number, adding that there were no casualties.
Saeed Alidadi, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps advisor, was killed in the strike, Tasnim news agency reported.
UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) stated that Israeli airstrikes targeted a farm controlled by Lebanese Hezbollah south of Damascus, in the vicinity of the airport.
According to the monitor, Israel has targeted Syria eight times since the beginning of the year. Strikes have intensified since the outbreak of the war in Gaza on October 7, with Israel striking positions of Iran-backed militias, as well as high level commanders linked to Iran.
At least seven people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Monday in the same area of Damascus.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its 12-year civil war, often claiming to strike pro-Iran militias such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that supports the Syrian army.
While it rarely claims responsibility for attacks, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Wednesday announced that its jets had struck military positions of the Syrian army in the city of Daraa, south of the country, also launched from the Golan Heights.
The Golan Heights were previously controlled by Syria but were seized by Israel during the Six Day War in 1967 and annexed in 1981, although this is not recognized by most of the international community.
Updated at 2:30 pm ...
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