DAMASCUS: Israel launched airstrikes targeting Syrian military positions around Damascus overnight, killing three soldiers, wounding seven others, and causing material damage, state media reported Thursday.
Syrian state media quoted a military official as saying the missiles were fired from Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights just past midnight, adding that the Syrian army was able to shoot down some of the missiles with air defence missiles.
Israel 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 which fights on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
In June, Israeli airstrikes temporarily put Damascus International Airport out of commission.
Since the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out raids in Syria, mostly targeting government positions as well as allied Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces.
Israel has said it is trying to prevent its arch-foe Iran from gaining a permanent military foothold on its doorstep.
Last month, Israeli airstrikes in central Syria killed at least 11 government troops and militiamen.