DAMASCUS: Israel carried out missile strikes near Damascus early Thursday that wounded two soldiers, Syria’s defence ministry said.
During more than a decade of war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters, as well as Syrian army positions.
Explosions were heard in the Syrian capital early Thursday morning, an AFP correspondent reported.
“At around 01:20 am, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights targeting several positions in the vicinity of Damascus,” Syria’s defence ministry said.
It did not provide any details on the targets but said the strikes wounded two soldiers and caused material damage.
Syria’s air defences intercepted several missiles, the ministry added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the strikes targeted positions of pro-Iran forces south of the capital, adding that “at least one” of the sites was destroyed.
While Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out on Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-foe Iran to extend its footprint there.
Last month, an Israeli air strike killed 15 people in a Damascus district that houses state security agencies, the Observatory said at the time.
Last week, an Israeli missile strike destroyed a suspected arms depot used by Iran-backed militias at Syria’s Aleppo airport, the war monitor said.
On March 7, three people were killed in an Israeli strike on the same airport that put it out of service. It reopened three days later.
The Syrian war broke out in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful anti-government protests, and escalated to a deadly armed conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global militants.
Some 500,000 people have been killed and around half of Syria’s pre-war population has been forced from their homes.