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Israeli warplanes launched a series of strikes on the Syrian capital, targeting a number of sites south of Damascus. The local Syrian Arab News Agency confirmed some material damage.
The attack took place at around 6 p.m. local time. Israeli aircraft launched strikes from Golan Heights. The exact number of strikes and their targets were not revealed by the Syrian side. The strikes were reported in the area of Sayyida Zeinab, not far from Damascus International Airport. The Director General of the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority reported that no damage was caused to the air harbor of the Syrian capital. According to unofficial reports, a hotel on the way to the airport and a facility on the outskirts of Najha were struck.
In its turn, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that the targets of the strikes were the facilities of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah deployed in Syria. The attack targeted the local branch of the Hezbollah intelligence service, which, according to the IDF, includes an “independent intelligence gathering, coordination and assessment network.”
The IDF added that during the operation in Syria, the Israeli military eliminated the head of the intelligence unit of the movement in Syria, Mahmoud Mohammed Shaheen, who “led the development and deployment of intelligence and air defense equipment in coordination with various units of the pro-Iranian forces.”
“Attacks on Hezbollah military intelligence facilities in Syria contribute to operations in Lebanon, undermining the intelligence capabilities of the terrorist organization,” the Israeli military stressed.
Earlier, several explosions were reported in the Al-Mazari area near the camps of the Shiite Hezbollah forces fighting on the side of the Syrian army.
Israel escalated its attacks on Syria after the outbreak of the war in the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip last October, targeting Syrian military sites as well as personnel of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah and other factions of the so-called Axis of Resistance.
