Israeli strikes on Syria kill 'foreign fighters' after attempted 'rocket attack'

Israel said it carried out dozens on strikes against the Iranian elite Quds' Force and the Syrian military near Damascus, in response to four rockets fired at Israel on Tuesday.

MENA

3 min read

The New Arab

20 November, 2019

Wednesday's raid comes a day after Israel's defences intercepted four rockets fired from Syria [AFP]

The Israeli army carried out a "wide scale" attack against Iranian forces and Syrian regime targets in Syria on Wednesday killing at least 11 fighters, the Israeli army and a monitoring group said.

In a rare confirmation of their operations near Damascus, the Israeli army said they carried out dozens on strikes against the Iranian elite Quds' Force and the Syrian military, in response to four rockets fired at Israel a day before.

At least eleven "fighters" were killed in the strikes, said UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Seven were foreigners, its head Rami Abdel Rahman said, though he could not confirm whether they were all Iranian. Four civilians were also wounded, he added.

Iran has fought alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad 's forces in the country's eight-year civil war, heightening Israeli concern over the presence of its arch foe along its border.

"Whoever hurts us, we will hurt him," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

"This is what we did overnight vis-a-vis military targets of the Iranian Quds Force and Syrian military targets in Syria after a barrage of rockets was launched at Israel."

The Israeli army said they had targeted around a dozen military sites, including warehouses and military command centres.

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Syria's state media said Syrian anti-aircraft defences intercepted a "heavy attack" by Israeli warplanes over the capital in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Two civilians were killed by shrapnel when an Israeli missile hit a house in the town of Saasaa, southwest of Damascus. SANA news agency said.

Several others were wounded, including a girl in a residential building in the suburb of Qudsaya, also west of the Syrian capital, it added.

Several large explosions were heard in Damascus in the early hours of Wednesday, The New Arab correspondent said.

The air raid comes a day after Israel's defences intercepted four rockets fired from Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday's rockets were fired from positions around the capital held by groups loyal to the Syrian regime.

The flare-up follows a major escalation in and around Gaza last week when Israel carried out the targeted killing of a top commander of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which is allied with Damascus.

The killing was accompanied by a second strike, unconfirmed by Israel, on an Islamic Jihad leader in Damascus that killed his son and another person.

The hundreds of strikes carried out by Israel in Syria have mostly been against Iranian targets or positions of Iran's Lebanese ally, Shia militant group Hezbollah.

Both are sworn enemies of the Jewish state and both have backed the Syrian president's forces with advisers or fighters.

The war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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