Israel accused of targeting Syrian military positions

The strike reportedly killed one Syrian soldier and wounded several others.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News Staff

One Syrian soldier was killed, and four others were wounded early Thursday morning in an alleged Israeli air attack in Syria, reports the London-based Al-Quds-Al-Arabi newspaper.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the airstrikes hit two military airports in central Homs and two areas in the Quneitra province.

However, Syria’s SANA news agency denied the report by saying all the rockets were intercepted by Syrian defense forces.

“At 00:30 on Thursday our air defense monitored Israeli warplanes coming from northern occupied Palestine towards Saida, and several missiles were fired from Lebanese airspace towards the central area,” an unnamed military source told SANA.

“The missiles were intercepted successfully,” he said.

Following the attack, civilian aircrafts flying at an altitude of 5000 ft. were ordered by the IDF to stay away from Golan Heights airspace.

Israel has traditionally remained silent regarding attacks on Syrian soil, but that silence was broken last Friday by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett.

Bennett told Channel 12 that after Israel assassinated Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commander Baha Abu Al-Ata in Gaza last November, it tried to assassinate PIJ commander Akram al-Ajouri in Syria.

“As I entered the position we eliminated Baha [Abu Al-Ata] and struck in Damascus,” Bennet told the Israeli news outlet.

On Nov. 12, 2019, Israel assassinated Al-Ata in an airstrike on his home in Gaza City and also struck al-Ajouri’s house in Damascus.

According to  PIJ, al-Ajouri survived the attack, but his son did not.

Al-Ata was responsible for dozens of serious terror attacks against Israel over many years and has reportedly been at the top of Israel’s hit list for years.

In response, PIJ fired hundreds of rockets into Southern Israel.