Israel has carried out air attacks near Syria’s capital Damascus, wounding two Syrian soldiers, Syrian state news has reported.

The state-run news agency SANA reported early on Wednesday morning that Syrian air defences had confronted Israeli missiles launched at 12.25 am local time (21:25 GMT) from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and “shot down most of them”.

SANA, citing military sources, said two Syrian soldiers were injured in the missile attack and there were “some material losses”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in the United Kingdom, said the air attacks marked the 20th time Israel has struck targets in Syria so far this year.

The attacks targeted military positions near the airport in the town of Dimas as well as the Beirut-Damascus highway west of the capital, where elite members of the Syrian army are stationed, according to the monitor.

The observatory, which has a vast network of sources in the war-torn country, said the missiles hit warehouses of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian government, causing a fire.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air attacks on government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years but it rarely acknowledges responsibility.

The lasted reported Israeli air attack on Syria was on July 2, when Syria’s military said Israel had struck areas near the central Syrian city of Homs, causing material damage but no casualties.

Israel has also attacked the international airports in Damascus and the northern Syrian city of Aleppo several times over the past few years, often putting the facilities out of commission temporarily.

While Israel rarely comments on its attacks on Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-foe Iran to expand its footprint on Syrian territory.

Source: Al Jazeera 

BDST: 1007 HRS, JULY 19, 2023
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