Israeli airstrikes near the Syrian capital of Damascus late Monday wounded at least one Syrian soldier, Syria’s SANA news agency has reported.
“At around 11:55 this evening, the Israeli enemy carried out a guided missile attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points in the vicinity of the city of Damascus,” a military source told SANA.
“The aggression resulted in the injury of a soldier and some material losses,” the source added.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claimed the strikes targeted arms depots belonging to Hezbollah and “pro-Iran” militias and killed two “pro-regime fighters.” But the account is not confirmed, and SOHR often changes its estimates.
The attack marks at least the 22nd Israeli bombing of Syria in 2023. Earlier this year, Israeli Defense Yoav Gallant said that the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled airstrikes in Syria since it came to power at the end of December 2022.
Israel frequently targeted Syria’s international airports in strikes this year, including in the wake of a devastating earthquake that killed thousands of Syrians. Israeli attacks since the earthquake hit in February knocked the Aleppo airport out of commission three times.
The Israeli government rarely acknowledges individual airstrikes in Syria and has not commented on Monday night’s attack.
Photo: Syrian air defences intercept Israeli missiles in an area in Damascus, 2019. © Youssef Badawi/EPA
Source: Antiwar.
