• Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment next door, has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of neighboring Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges them

DAMASCUS: Israel carried out air strikes near Syria’s capital of Damascus, wounding two Syrian soldiers, Syrian state news agency SANA said early Wednesday.

“At around 00:25 at dawn, the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault with missile bursts from the north of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting certain positions in the vicinity of Damascus,” SANA said, citing a military source.

“The aggression wounded two soldiers and caused material damage,” the agency said, adding that most of the missiles had been intercepted by Syrian air defense systems.

The strikes targeted military positions near the airport in the town of Dimas as well as the Beirut-Damascus highway west of the capital, where elite members of the Syrian army are stationed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

The NGO, which has a vast network of sources in the war-torn country, said the strikes also targeted warehouses belonging to the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group.

The incident was the 20th Israeli raid so far this year, the Observatory said.

Earlier this month, Israel carried out air strikes near the government-held city of Homs, SANA said.

During more than a decade of war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions.

While Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out on Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow its archfoe Iran to expand its footprint there.

AFP