Effects of a previous Israeli bombing on the Damascus countryside (social networking sites)
The Syrian regime's army announced that Israeli missiles targeted a number of points in the south of the country at dawn on Sunday, wounding a Syrian soldier and causing material damage. Local reports and human rights sources stated that the strikes targeted sites in the Damascus countryside, one of which was a weapons depot.
The official Syrian news agency, SANA, quoted a military source as saying that “at approximately 00:42 after midnight, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a number of points in the southern region.”
The military source indicated that the air defenses responded to the aggression’s missiles and shot down some of them.
The Syrian military statement did not specify a specific location, but local media reports indicated that the attack targeted the Damascus countryside.
Syrian human rights reports also stated that the Israeli missiles targeted at least two sites, one of which was a weapons depot inside a military base for the regime forces and used by the Lebanese Hezbollah, while the other was located near the engineering battalion.
According to the same source, the targeted area is located between the cities of Yabroud and Nabek in the Qalamoun Mountains in the Damascus countryside.
Since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, Israel has escalated its attacks on armed groups allied with Iran in Syria, and has also bombed the air defenses of the Syrian army and some Syrian forces.
More than 6 Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers have been killed in suspected Israeli strikes in Syria since last December.
Reuters reported last February that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had reduced the deployment of its senior officers in Syria due to a series of Israeli strikes that resulted in deaths, and had become more dependent on Shiite factions allied with it to maintain its influence there.
Last week, the Israeli army announced that it had targeted about 4,500 Hezbollah targets during the past five months in Lebanon and Syria, killing 300 Hezbollah fighters and wounding 750.
Israel rarely comments on specific strikes, but has repeatedly said that it will not allow Iran to establish its military presence in Syria.
During the past years, Israel launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria, targeting mainly Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah targets, including warehouses and shipments of weapons and ammunition, as well as Syrian army sites.
In light of the devastating war waged by the occupation army in the Gaza Strip, Israel has intensified the pace of its raids in Syria, particularly targeting groups loyal to Tehran, including Hezbollah.
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies