Two civilians killed in Israeli strike on Syria: state media

DAMASCUS (AFP): Two Syrian civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike Tuesday, state media reported, the fourth such attack on government-held areas of the war-torn country in less than a week.

“At 00:15 (2115 GMT Monday) the Israeli enemy carried out an air strike… and the attack resulted in the death of two civilians,” state news agency SANA said, quoting a military source.

The strike came from the direction of “the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points in the vicinity of Damascus and the southern region,” it said, adding that air defense intercepted “most of” the missiles.

During more than a decade of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions.

SANA had earlier reported “an explosion heard in the vicinity of Damascus.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor gave the same death toll, adding that Israel fired “barrages of missiles targeting military areas controlled by Iran-backed groups and regime air defense.”

An Israeli missile targeted a regime radar in the countryside of Sweida, while another fell on a glass factory in the Al-Kiswah area of the Damascus countryside, killing the two civilians, it said.

The British-based monitor with a wide range of sources inside Syria had earlier said the missiles also targeted the vicinity of Damascus International Airport and an Iranian complex near the Sayyida Zeinab area.

Syria’s air defense intercepted at least two missiles, the Observatory said.

On Sunday, two Iran-affiliated fighters were killed in an Israeli air strike on targets in Syria, according to the monitor, with SANA reporting five Syrian soldiers wounded.

Israel struck early Sunday near the western city of Homs, after striking the Syrian capital Thursday and early Friday.

A rare car bombing also rocked Damascus on Sunday, with no deaths reported and no side claiming responsibility.

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 in the war-torn country.

The Syrian war broke out in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful anti-government protests, and escalated into a deadly armed conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global jihadists.

More than half a million people have been killed and around half of Syria’s pre-war population has been forced from their homes.