Damascus (Syria): Three soldiers were killed in an Israeli missile strike targeting military sites in Damascus after midnight, Syrian state news agency SANA said early Thursday morning.
The Israeli attack triggered the Syrian air defenses, which intercepted most of the Israeli missiles, said SANA, citing a military source without providing further details.
The attack came only about a day after Israel struck Syrian military sites in the southern province of Quneitra, causing damage, Xinhua news agency reported.
On February 16, Israel carried out a similar missile strike against points south of Damascus, which resulted in material damage but no casualties.
Israel did not comment on the attack. It has made hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria over the past decade of its civil war, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.
Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah that fights on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed the area. Most of the world does not recognize the annexation, though the Trump administration declared the territory to be part of Israel.
(With inputs from IANS and AP)
