Israel ‘fires rockets at Syrian airbase’

Syrian army command said on Friday that Israeli artillery fired rockets at a major military airbase outside Damascus, and warned Israel of repercussions for what it called a “flagrant” attack.

Explosions were heard in the capital, and residents in the southwest suburbs saw a large plume of smoke rising from the area, while video footage downloaded on social media showed flames leaping from parts of Mezzah military airport’s compound.

Syrian state television reported several rockets were fired from an area near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel just after midnight which landed in the compound of the airbase, used by the elite Republican Guards.

Israel neither confirms nor denies involvement in strikingtargets inside Syria. Asked about Friday’s incident, an Israeli military spokeswoman said: “We don’t comment on reports of this kind.”

The Syrian army statementdid not disclose if there were any casualties, but said the rockets caused a fire. Earlier, state television said several major explosions hit Mezzah military airport’s compound and ambulances were rushed to the area.

Government forces had in the past used the base to fire rockets at former rebel-held areas in the capital’s suburbs.

The airport, located just a few kilometers from President Bashar al-Assad’s presidential palace, had been a base used to fire rockets at former rebel-held areas in the suburbs of Damascus.

Israel in the past has targeted positions of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group inside Syria where the group is involved in fighting alongside the Syrian army.

In November, the Syrian army said Israeli jets fired two missiles on an area west of the capital, close to the Damascus-Beirut highway, in an attack mounted from Lebanese air space.

Past attacks

Diplomatic sources said Israel has in the past few years targeted advanced weapons systems and bombed the elite Fourth Armored Division base in the capital.

An airstrike in Syria in December 2015 killed a prominent Hezbollah leader, Samir Qantar. Israel welcomed Qantar’s death, saying he was preparing attacks from Syrian soil, but stopped short of confirming responsibility for eliminating him.

Earlier that year, an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed six members of Hezbollah, including a commander and the son of late military chief Imad Moughniyah near the Golan Heights. Israeli defense officials have voiced concern that Hezbollah’s experience in the Syrian civil war.

Israel has been largely unscathed by the Syrian civil war, with only sporadic incidents of stray shells falling on its territory.