Israeli warplanes flying over Lebanon fired missiles toward areas near Damascus early Monday, killing three civilians, the Syrian military and state media said while a war monitoring group said four Iran-backed fighters were also killed. This is not the first time Israel strikes Iran-backed terrorists near Damascus.
Last week, an Israeli airstrike targeted Iranian and Iran-backed terrorists historic Palmyra. A Syrian opposition war monitoring group said the strike killed nine; including six foreign terrorists.
Days earlier, an Israeli drone fired two missiles near an SUV carrying Hezbollah members in Syria.
Two days after the drone attack, Israel accused Hezbollah of “provocative” activity to include multiple attempts to breach the border along the Lebanese-Israeli frontier. Israel said it would complain to the U.N. Security Council.
On March 31, Israeli warplanes fired missiles on the Shayrat air base in the central province of Homs.
RUSSIAN-MADE SYRIAN AIR DEFENSES ARE INCONSISTENT AT BEST
The military said Syrian air defenses may have shot down some of the missiles in the attack, which happened around dawn. A monitoring group said the missiles hit positions belonging to Iran and its regional proxies, killing four fighters and causing damage south of Damascus. It did not give the nationalities of the dead gunmen.
The airstrike is the fourth against Iran-backed terrorists in less than a month.
The Syrian military statement gave no other details about the attack or what it specifically targeted.
Syria’s state SANA news agency said shrapnel from the Israeli missiles hit homes in the Damascus suburbs of Hajira and Adlieh. Allegedly, the shrapnel killed three people. Both areas are close to the holy Shiite shrine Sayyida Zeinab. Iran-backed fighters have a considerable presence there.
ISRAELI OFFENSIVES INDIRECTLY HELPS SYRIAN CIVILIANS
Israel issued no statement with regard to the strike. In the past, Israel has acknowledged carrying out scores of airstrikes over the years; most of them Israel aims at Iranian weapons shipments bound for Hezbollah. In recent months, Israeli officials have expressed concern that Hezbollah is trying to establish production facilities to make precision guided missiles.
Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces in Syria are fighting alongside Syrian government forces. Israel frequently launches attacks on terrorists n Syria using Lebanon’s airspace. It also regularly flies reconnaissance missions over the Mediterranean country.
AP contributed to this article.
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