Israelis strike Syria arms depots: source
Israeli warplanes flying over Lebanon fired missiles toward areas near the Syrian capital of Damascus late Tuesday, local time, hitting an arms depot and wounding three soldiers, Syrian state media reported, saying that most of the missiles were shot down by air defence units.
The TV, quoting an unnamed military official, identified the warplanes as Israeli. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency earlier reported that Israeli warplanes were flying at low altitude over parts of southern Lebanon.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said Israeli airstrikes targeted three positions south of Damascus that are arms depots for Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group and Iranian forces.
The reported attack near Damascus is the first since US President Donald Trump announced last week that the US will withdraw all of its 2000 forces in Syria, a move that will leave control of the oil-rich eastern third of Syria up for grabs.
Following Trump’s announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel would ‘‘continue to act against Iran’s attempts to entrench itself militarily in Syria, and to the extent necessary, we will even expand our actions there.’’
Nearly an hour after the attacks began, Damascus residents could still hear the air defence units firing towards targets in the air.
‘‘The aggression is still ongoing,’’ said a presenter on state TV, which interrupted its programs to air patriotic songs.
Later the TV quoted an unnamed military official as saying that Syrian air defences ‘‘shot down most of the missiles before reaching their targets and the aggression damaged an arms depot and wounded three soldiers.’’ It added that the Israeli warplanes fired the missiles from Lebanese airspace.
Israel’s military spokesman’s unit did not confirm the raids, but said in a statement that ‘‘an aerial defence system was activated against an antiaircraft missile launched from Syria.’’ No damage or injuries were reported by the Israeli military.
Israel is widely believed to have been behind a series of airstrikes in the past that mainly targeted Iranian and Hezbollah forces fighting alongside the government in Syria.
Tuesday’s attack is the first since a missile assault on the southern outskirts of Damascus on November 29.
Russia announced it had delivered the S-300 air defence system to Syria in October. That followed the September 17 downing of a Russian reconnaissance plane by Syrian forces responding to an Israeli airstrike, a friendly fire incident that stoked regional tensions.