Israel has regularly refused to confirm or deny mounting overnight raids in Syria.
Syrian state TV said late Monday night that two Israeli missiles struck near Damascus international airport, without giving further details.
The pro-Syrian regime online newspaper Al-Masdar News (AMN) cited reports stating that missiles targeted an Iranian cargo plane being unloaded at the airport. According to the reports, regime forces’ air defense systems subsequently intercepted an Israeli drone in south-western Syrian airspace.
The head of the British-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman, told AFP that “Israeli missiles hit arms depots for Hezbollah near the airport,” adding that Syrian air defense systems failed to prevent the alleged Israeli strikes.
Israel has regularly refused to confirm or deny mounting overnight raids in Syria, but has repeatedly stated that it is unwilling to accept Iranian military presence in Syria.
In May, however, Israel said it struck 50 Iranian targets in Syria after 20 rockets were fired towards Israel’s front defensive line in the Golan Heights by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp’s Quds Force.
The targets all belonged to the Quds Force and included intelligence sites, logistics headquarters, a military compound and logistics complex in Kiswah near Damascus; weapons-storage sites at Damascus International Airport; and intelligence systems and installations, as well as observation, military posts and military hardware in the buffer zone.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 11 Iranians were among the 46 killed in Israel’s strikes.
In April, Syria, Iran and Russia all said Israel was responsible for carrying out an attack at the T-4 air base near Homs.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 14 people were killed in the strike, with Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency saying that four Iranian soldiers were among the casualties.
The Israeli military last February accused Iranian-backed militias of operating at the base, from where it said an Iranian drone that was shot down over northern Israel had been launched.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post