Israel carried out air strikes in Syria on Tuesday night, Syrian state media reported, in the latest in a series of attacks attributed to the Jewish state.
State news agency SANA said Syrian air defenses had engaged Israeli missiles near the capital Damascus.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
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“Our air defenses intercepted the attack and shot down most of the missiles,” a military source told SANA. Defense analysts routinely dismiss these claims by the Syrian regime as empty ostentations.
The Syrian Human Rights Observatory, based in Britain, said the air strikes targeted two ammunition depots belonging to Iranian militias fighting alongside the Assad government, just a few kilometers from Damascus airport south of the capital.
The Israeli Defense Forces have not commented on the nightly attacks, in line with their policy of not confirming or denying their operations in Syria, except those launched in retaliation for an attack by Israel’s northern neighbor.
Late last month, Syrian state media reported Israeli air strikes near Damascus. Israeli media said the targets are linked to Iran.
A month ago, Israeli attacks targeted the area of Damascus International Airport, through which Iran would have flown advanced ammunition, as well as military sites around the Damascus suburb of el-Kisweh, a former Iranian base of operations.
The attacks came days after drones allegedly bombed a shipment of advanced weapons that were being transported through Iraq to eastern Syria by Iranian representatives.
The IDF has launched hundreds of attacks in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011 against movements by Iran to establish a permanent military presence in the country and efforts to transport advanced and revolutionary weapons to terrorist groups in the region, mainly Hezbollah.
Tensions have been high in the Middle East in recent months, while Iran and the United States vie for positions ahead of expected nuclear talks.
A series of incidents at sea also raised the temperature, including an explosion on an Israeli tanker in the Persian Gulf last month, an alleged attack on an Iranian ship and a report that said Israel was targeting a series of Iranian ships with Syria destination.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday blamed Israel for the explosion on the Iranian ship last week and said Iran had a right to respond.
