Syria: Israel carried out airstrikes on targets near Damascus

“About 11 p.m. 5 minutes (in local and Lithuanian time) Israel […] carried out an air attack […] targeting various points on the outskirts of Damascus, one security source told the agency. “Our air defense shot down some of the missiles, while others caused limited material damage.”

A correspondent of the AFP news agency reported powerful explosions in the suburbs of Damascus, where there have been strikes before. Syria has also blamed Israel for previous strikes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitor of the Syrian war, said targets of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the Sajida Zeinaba district and near Damascus airport were targeted on Sunday.

An overnight Israeli air strike near Damascus killed two Hezbollah fighters and two Syrians linked to the Lebanese group, a war monitor said on Monday.

“Two Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and two Syrian guards” working at one of the Iran-backed movement’s facilities were killed, while three other fighters and three civilians were wounded, the SOHR said.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the incident, but separately said that shots were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel on Sunday evening.

“The army responded by targeting the source of the fire. Earlier in the day, we struck a Hezbollah terrorist group,” the statement said.

Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi visited forces near the northern border with Lebanon on Sunday and spoke of the need to eliminate Hezbollah operatives and show Israeli superiority.

“It can also be done in the form of strikes and war,” he said.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran, which supports the government of President Bashar al-Assad, to gain a foothold in the country.