Civilians among ’15 killed’ in Israeli airstrikes on Iranian sites in Syria
Smoke rises following the Israeli airstrike on the Damascus area
Date of publication: 1 July, 2019. The New Arab
Israeli warplanes attacked military positions in central Syria early on Monday killing nine fighters and six civilians, including three children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Israeli warplanes fired missiles from
Lebanese airspace targeting military positions in the central province of Homs
and suburbs of Damascus, said Syrian regime news agency SANA, adding that
Syrian air defence forces opened fire toward the Israeli missiles.
“Our air defences confronted enemy missiles launched by Israeli
warplanes… towards some of our positions in Homs and in the vicinity of
Damascus,” SANA said, quoting a regime military source.
The Israeli strikes targeted a research centre and a military airport where
Iranian and Hizballah militia were based.
The strikes around Damascus targeted a
base hosting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and a research centre in the
suburb of Jamraya.
SANA said the dead included a baby
and that other children were among the wounded in the town of Sahnaya,
southwest of Damascus.
One of the pro-regime fighters killed was Syrian, while the rest were of other
nationalities, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Israel does not usually comment on reports concerning its strikes in
neighbouring Syria, though it has recently acknowledged targeting Iranian
positions there.
On June 12, Israeli
warplanes struck a Syrian regime army position in the country’s south.
For years, Israel has remained largely silent about its
attacks against Iran and its militia proxies, who are fighting on the
side of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime against Syrian rebels.
But in recent months, Israeli military
and political leaders have become increasingly outspoken about these
activities, saying that they will not allow Iran to “entrench” itself
in Syria.
Categories: Rumors and Threats of Wars