Syria: Four soldiers killed in Israeli strikes near Damascus

Four Syrian soldiers were killed and four others wounded early Monday in Israeli strikes on the capital, state media reported, citing a military source. “At 2:20 am (1:20 am French time), the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the occupied Golan, targeting areas on the outskirts of Damascus,” state news agency Sana reported.

In addition to human casualties, the attack also caused property damage, Sana said, adding that the Syrian air defense system intercepted several missiles. An AFP correspondent in Damascus said he heard several explosions during the night.

Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Syrian regime positions, as well as Iranian and Hezbollah forces, Damascus allies and Israel’s sworn enemies.

Several strikes in July

Since the beginning of the conflict, which has killed more than 500,000 people, Tehran has sent soldiers represented as advisers to support the Syrian army. Several of them were killed in Israeli strikes. The Israeli state rarely comments on these strikes on a case-by-case basis, but says it wants to prevent Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.

On July 19, three pro-government fighters were killed and four wounded in Israeli nighttime strikes against army and pro-Iranian faction positions near Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), a UK-based organization. . Damascus, which for its part reported two wounded, called on the UN and the Security Council to “take immediate action” to “put an end to this criminal Israeli policy.”

In early July, according to the OSDH, Israel also struck Hezbollah installations and ammunition depots on the northeastern outskirts of Homs (center), killing a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and injuring four others. According to the same source, Israel also struck an air defense base in Tartus province on the coast.