Syria Says Israeli Planes Targeted a Position Near Damascus

BEIRUT (Reuters) —
A view of bombed buildings in the Syrian town of Quneitra, on the border with Israel in the Golan Heights. (Hadas Parush/Flash90, File)

Israeli warplanes struck a Syrian military position in a rural area near Damascus on Wednesday, triggering Syria’s air defense system which destroyed most of the missiles, a Syrian army statement carried by state media said.

The statement said several missiles were launched by the Israeli jets from inside the territory of neighboring Lebanon at 3:42 a.m. local time.

“The general command of the armed forces holds Israel fully responsible for the dangerous consequences of its repeated, aggressive and uncalculated adventures,” the army statement said.

An IDF spokeswoman said of the Syrian report: “We do not respond to such reports.”

The Syrian army said it had destroyed most of the Israeli missiles fired at its position, but did not give details of any damage or casualties.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the missiles targeted “positions of the Syrian army and its allies” in the region of Jamraya, west of Damascus, which was also hit in December.

The IDF has said it has struck arms convoys of the Syrian military and Lebanon’s Hezbollah nearly 100 times since the war in Syria began more than six years ago.

Israel regards the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, which is fighting alongside the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as the biggest threat it faces on its borders.

It has grown deeply alarmed by Iran’s expanding clout during the conflict, and has warned it would act against any threat from Tehran.

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