BEIRUT: Syrianair defenses shot down Israeli missiles near the capital Damascus on Tuesday,local state media reported, while Israel said it was protecting itself fromanti-aircraft fire. The official Syrian news agency SANA said air defenses"intercepted hostile missiles launched by the Israeli warplanes" fromover Lebanese territories, citing a military source.
It added that themajority of them were downed before reaching their targets near the capital Damascus.Three soldiers were injured and an ammunition depot damaged. Israel haspreviously carried out several bombings in Syria against what it says areIranian military targets and advanced arms deliveries to Hezbollah, theIranian-backed Lebanese group, both enemies of the Jewish state. Many of themhave been in the area south of Damascus.
An Israelimilitary spokeswoman declined to comment on reports of a strike in Syria whencontacted by AFP. But it added in a statement: "An aerial defense system wentoff against an anti-aircraft missile launched from Syria. No damage or injurieswere reported." The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warmonitor also reported "an Israeli raid".
"Missilesfired from Israeli planes targeted... arms depots southwest and south ofDamascus that belong to Hezbollah or Iranian forces," said Rami AbdelRahman. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to let Tehran-- a supporter of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad -- from entrenching itself militarilyin the war-torn country. Experts say Israel is to be greatly affected by USPresident Donald Trump's announcement of a withdrawal of American forces fromSyria, as it would leave the area open to Iran and its partners to developtheir military capacity.
There have beenwarnings from Israel and others that Iran is seeking to form a "landbridge" across to the Mediterranean, and some analysts have said that theUS withdrawal could help that effort. Yet Israeli officials, who havepreviously applauded Trump's policy in the Middle East, have stressed that ithas long managed that front alone. If confirmed, Tuesday's reported strikewould be the first by Israel since the US withdrawal was announced. At the endof November Syria said its air defenses had targeted and downed a number of"hostile targets" over the Kisweh area south of Damascus. - AFP