DAMASCUS – Israeli missile strikes against several targets near Syria’s capital Damascus killed at least six pro-regime militia fighters early today, a Britain-based war monitor said.
“Six non-Syrian militia fighters were killed” in Israeli strikes targeting arms depots, including missile stores, around Damascus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said all the fighters killed were “pro-government” forces.
“Syrian air defences intercepted a sizable number of the missiles but many hit their targets and caused material damage,” added the monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its reports.
The attack began shortly after midnight and lasted for nearly half an hour, it said.
Syrian state media also reported the strikes but said that air defences had intercepted “most” of the missiles.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out raids in Syria, mostly targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces as well as government troops.
“The Israeli enemy launched an assault, firing missiles from the occupied Golan and Galilee”, the SANA news agency reported, citing a military source.
According to the Observatory, Israeli strikes on eastern Syria killed 57 government and allied fighters on January 13.
Israel rarely confirms strikes in Syria, but the army said it hit about 50 targets in the war-torn country last year, without providing details.
It has consistently vowed to prevent its arch-enemy Iran from gaining a foothold in Syria, where Tehran has backed President Bashar al-Assad throughout the nearly decade-long war. – AFP, February 15, 2021
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