Syria accuses Israel of airstrikes near Damascus

Several explosions were heard in the Syrian capital on Friday night as the country’s air defenses opened fire on “objects” coming from the direction of the Golan Heights, state media reported.

By Associated Press

State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying that Syrian air defenses discovered “hostile targets” coming from the direction of the Quenitra region on the edge of the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.

The news agency said Syrian air defenses shot down several “objects.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, reported three explosions southwest of Damascus. It added that it was not immediately clear if the explosions were caused by Israeli airstrikes or surface-to-surface missiles.

The Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, told The Associated Press that the strikes targeted the area of Kiswa, which is home to positions and storage sites for Iranian and Lebanon’s Hezbollah forces allied with Syria’s government.

Last month, SANA said an Israeli airstrike on a military position in central Syria wounded six soldiers and destroyed several buildings.

Israeli military officials declined to comment on the report Friday, but Israel recently acknowledged striking Iranian targets in Syria.

Iran has propped up Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s brutal regime for the past eight years as a bloody civil war has threatened his grip on power.

Iran also uses Syria to transport weapons to its terror proxy Hezbollah in Syria.

The Islamic Republic routinely threatens to destroy Israel and continues to pursue military entrenchment in Syria.

As a result, Israel designated Iran a national security threat and has made it clear it won’t tolerate Iran’s presence on its borders

According to the U.S., Iran is the world’s top state sponsor of terror, supporting Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen.

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