Syria: Israeli raids near Damascus

The Israel launched strikes in the early morning hours today (27/10) in the Damascus area, announced the Syrian Ministry of Defense, raid which is the third in less than a week.

Explosions were heard in the Syrian capital on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, an AFP correspondent found.

“At around 00:30 (local time – 01:30 Greek time), the Israeli enemy launched an air strike from the direction of the occupied Palestinian territories, targeting several locations on the outskirts of Damascus”the Syrian Ministry of Defense said in a statement. Syrian air defenses intercepted many of the missiles fired, it said.

He did not give any details about the targets, limiting himself to saying that the strikes caused material damage.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based NGO, said for its part that the Israeli strikes targeted facilities near Damascus’ international airport.

It remains to be seen whether the targets were positions of the Syrian army or fighters close to Iran.

Since the war in Syria broke out in 2011, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes, the vast majority of them from the air, against positions of the armed forces of the Syrian government and their allies, Iranian and pro-Iranian armed groups, mainly the Shiite militant group Hezbollah of Lebanon.

On Monday, strikes were carried out on the outskirts of Damascus, injuring a soldier, three days after a raid targeted Syrian military facilities near the capital’s airport.

An Israeli strike killed five Syrian soldiers near Damascus in September.

In June, another shut down the Syrian capital’s airport for two weeks.

Besides, Aleppo airport suffered Israeli raids in August and September.

The Jewish state rarely confirms or publicly comments on the strikes it launches, but it often declares that it will not allow Iran, its sworn enemy, to build a bridgehead or expand its influence on Syrian territory.