DAMASCUS: A Syrian soldier was killed and five others were wounded in an Israeli attack near the capital Damascus, Syrian regime media reported late Wednesday. The Israeli military said it attacked targets in Syria shortly after an anti-aircraft missile was fired from the Arab country into northern Israel.
Israel said the Syrian rocket exploded in the air and was not intercepted by Israeli air defenses, but it activated warning sirens in northern Israel. There were no reports of injuries or damage there.
In a rare statement acknowledging attacks inside Syria, the Israeli military said it struck Syrian facilities used in targeting Israeli aircraft, including a radar and anti-aircraft batteries.
Syrian official news agency SANA reported that Israel fired surface-to-surface missiles in the vicinity of the capital city Damascus and some of them were brought down by air defenses. It said a Syrian soldier was killed in the attack, which also caused material damage, and five soldiers were wounded.
Israel has made hundreds of strikes on targets inside regime-controlled parts of Syria over the past decade of the civil war in the Arab country, but its government rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.
Israel has acknowledged, however, that it is targeting bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Hezbollah, which is fighting on the side of Bashar Assad’s forces in the country’s civil strife. –Agencies
