Syria: New Israeli missile strike

A Syrian army official said Israeli missiles had targeted facilities south of the capital, Damascus, according to state media.

The Syrian air defenses intercepted the Israeli missiles and shot down most of them, but at least one civilian was injured and there was material damage, according to the officer.

This is the second Israeli attack in the Damascus region this week, after Monday, in which there were no casualties, according to the authorities.

On May 20, Israeli surface-to-surface missiles killed three Syrian officers near Damascus, according to the non-governmental organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

According to the same source, the Israeli missiles targeted Iranian bases and weapons depots near the Syrian capital.

On May 13, a similar blow killed 5 soldiers; on April 27, another strike killed 10 people.

Since the outbreak of war in Syria in 2011, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes, almost all from the air, against positions of the Syrian government’s armed forces and their allies, the Iranian and pro-Iranian armed groups, especially the Shiite militant group Xi.

The Jewish state rarely confirms or publicly comments on these blows, but often states that it will not allow Iran, its sworn enemy, to build a bridgehead or extend its influence over Syrian territory.

The complicated war in Syria over the past eleven years, in which foreign forces and jihadist organizations have been involved, has claimed the lives of at least half a million people, destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure and turned millions into internally displaced persons and refugees.

Source: AMPE