Israeli airstrikes hit targets near Damascus in night raid

Syrian military claims its air defenses shot down most of the missiles

Israel carried out airstrikes on targets near Damascus early on Friday, triggering Syrian air defenses but causing no casualties, Syrian state media reported, the second such attack in just over two weeks.

The Israeli military refused to comment on the report.

A Syrian military source quoted by state media said Syrian air defenses shot down most of the Israeli missiles and only material damage was done in the attack launched at 1:26 a.m. Syrian TV showed footage of the air defenses being fired.

The Israeli army said a surfaceto-air missile launched from Syrian territory toward Israeli air space had exploded over the Mediterranean Sea and residents in central Israel had located several fragments of the projectile on the ground.

Many residents of central Israel reported hearing a large explosion at the time Syria reported the strike.

Blasts were also heard in Lebanon, from whose air space the attack was launched, a Lebanese security source said.

Israel has for several years been mounting attacks on what it has described as Iranian-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran-backed forces including Lebanon’s Hezbollah have put down a presence since deploying to help President Bashar Assad in the Syrian conflict that erupted in 2011.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry called on the UN secretary-general and Security Council president to halt and condemn Israeli attacks on Syria.

It said in a letter to both that the latest attack continued “a series of violations and crimes by Israel” against Syria, state news agency SANA reported.

“The Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression from the direction southeast of Beirut, targeting some points in the vicinity of the city of Damascus,” the Syrian military source was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Lebanese officials are visiting Damascus to discuss plans to import gas through wartorn Syria’s territory.

The delegation includes Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni, Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar, Genby

eral Security agency chief Abbas Ibrahim and Zeina Akar, who holds the posts of defense minister, foreign minister and deputy premier, Syria’s Information Ministry said in an invite sent to journalists.

A source at Lebanon’s energy ministry said the two sides will discuss plans to import natural gas via Jordan and Syria to ease Lebanon’s

energy crisis.

The aim is to revive a 2009 agreement that allowed Lebanon to import gas from Egypt through Syria, the source said.

Lebanon has maintained diplomatic ties with Syria but it adopted a so-called policy of dissociation from the conflict since it started in 2011, which put a dampener on official dealings.

Lebanese security officials and politicians have made several visits to Syria in recent years, but almost exclusively in a personal capacity or on behalf of political parties that support President Bashar Assad’s government.

They include representatives of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement which has been battling alongside Assad’s forces in Syria since the early stages of the war.

The visit comes after the Lebanese presidency last month said that the US has agreed to help Lebanon secure electricity and natural gas from Jordan and Egypt through Syrian territory.