Syrian state media reported that three Syrian soldiers were killed after the Israeli army bombed targets using surface-to-surface missiles near the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Friday night.
This is the second alleged Israeli attack in Syria in a week after last Friday’s air strikes targeting structure In the Masyaf region, northwest of the country.
A Twitter account affiliated with the Israeli military activity in Syria claimed that the strikes targeted locations in the Sayeda Zeinab suburb, south of Damascus. The Syrian Sham FM radio said that a fire broke out near Damascus International Airport, southeast of the city, as a result of the bombing. The allegations could not be immediately verified independently.
The strikes came hours after an Arabic-speaking Israeli army spokesman accused the son-in-law of assassinated Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Qassem Soleimani of smuggling weapons from Iran to its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. Using civilian flights across Syria.
Avishai Adraee accused Iran and Hezbollah of “endangering civilians” by smuggling weapons via civilian flights to Damascus International Airport in order to “maintain secrecy.”
State broadcaster SANA said most of the rockets – which were launched from the Golan Heights – were intercepted. It did not immediately provide details of the damage caused to the sites that were hit.
According to local media reports, the three dead soldiers were members of an air defense system crew.
The Syrian military claims to have shot down incoming missiles after nearly every alleged Israeli raid, an assertion that Israeli military officials and civil defense analysts have largely dismissed as an empty boast.
SANA has released a video that purports to show an air defense missile shining in the night sky.
who blocked # Our air defense media For hostile targets in the countryside sky # Damascus pic.twitter.com/9AwlToL2jA
– Syrian Arab News Agency – SANA (SanaAjel) May 20 2022
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which usually does not comment on individual strikes.
Israel has carried out hundreds of sorties over Syria in the past decade, mostly to thwart attempts by Iranian forces to transfer weapons or establish a foothold.
In the air strikes last Friday, six Syrian soldiers, all of them air defense system crews, were killed, according to media reports.
Israeli strikes in Syrian airspace, which is largely controlled by Russia, have continued, even as relations with Moscow have deteriorated in recent weeks. Israel has found itself at odds with Russia as it has increasingly supported Ukraine, while seeking to maintain freedom of movement in the skies over Syria.
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