Airstrikes Hit Damascus Area, Syrian Air Defenses Shake Tel Aviv

The Syrian state agency SANA reported airstrikes in the Damascus region that the Syrian military attributed to Israel. “The Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression from the direction southeast of Beirut, targeting some points in the vicinity of the city of Damascus,” state television quoted a military source as saying. “Our air defense confronted the aggressor’s missiles and shot down most of them, and the losses were limited to materiel,” the statement continued. The Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights said the targets were weapons development centers used by Iran-backed militias. Israel has allegedly carried out hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria over the past few years, but rarely acknowledges or comments on these attacks. Minutes after the airstrikes on Syria, Israelis in the Tel Aviv area were woken by a blast apparently caused by a Syrian air defense missile that overshot its target, crossed Israel’s airspace, and exploded over the Mediterranean Sea. The Israeli military is investigating the incident.