DAMASCUS: Israel carried out air strikes near Syria’s capital of Damascus, injuring two Syrian soldiers, Syrian state news agency SANA said early Wednesday.
“At around 00:25 at dawn, the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault with missile bursts from the north of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting certain positions in the vicinity of Damascus,” SANA cited a military source as having said.
“The aggression wounded two soldiers and caused material damage,” the agency said, adding that most of the missiles had been intercepted by Syrian air defence systems.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, the strikes hit military positions near the airport in the town of Dimas besides the Beirut-Damascus highway west of the capital, where Syrian army’s elite members are stationed.
The NGO having a vast network of sources in the war-torn country said the strikes also targeted warehouses belonging to the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group.
The strike was the 20th Israeli raid so far in just 2023, according to the Observatory. Earlier in July, Israeli forces carried out air strikes near the government-held city of Homs, according to SANA.
During a war for more than over 10 years in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, primarily directed at Iran-backed forces, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, and Syrian army positions. Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out on Syria. However, it has repeatedly said that it will not allow whom it dubs the archfoe, Iran to expand its footprint there.
