The outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus were targeted by Israeli airstrikes on Saturday that killed at least three people, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.
According to that non-governmental association, which has a network of sources of information in Syria, a large number of people were wounded in the attack on the neighborhood “with mansions of members of the army and high-ranking officials”.
The official Sana news agency, citing a military source, announced that “after midnight, the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression (…) targeting several targets in the vicinity of Damascus”, adding that “air defense systems intercepted some rockets, while others caused material damage”.
SOHR also reports that “on Friday, the area of Mazzeh military airport, west of Damascus, was the target of an attack”, without specifying who was behind the missile attack.
Namely, SOHR adds, “militant groups are present there, including the Lebanese Shia pro-Iranian Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian armed groups.”
Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the Israeli military has carried out hundreds of attacks against these groups.
Since the start of the war with Hamas last October, the Israeli military has stepped up attacks on armed groups backed by Iran, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and a key sponsor of Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Israel says it will not allow the strengthening of Iran’s presence in Syria.
