Alleged Israeli airstrike targets Iranian militia weapons depot - report

Syrian opposition sources said an alleged Israel airstrike targeted Iranian militia sites near Damascus.

Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018. (photo credit: REUTERS/OMAR SANADIKI)
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018.
(photo credit: REUTERS/OMAR SANADIKI)

An alleged Israeli airstrike targeted a site in the Zakya area, southwest of Damascus, on Tuesday night, causing material damage, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. Opposition-affiliated media reported that the airstrikes targeted sites belonging to Iranian militias.

The SANA report added that the airstrike was carried out from the direction of northern Israel, but, unlike in most past reports on such airstrikes, did not mention air defenses being activated.

The Syrian Capital Voice site reported on Wednesday that the airstrikes targeted Iranian militia sites in the Seventh Division in Zakya.

The sites targeted included a weapons storehouse and a gathering point for the militias. According to the report, the entire storehouse was destroyed and a fire broke out at the site. Syrian air defenses responded to the attack.

The Capital Voice stated that the attack was the first of its kind since Israeli airstrikes began on Iranian targets in Syria, without specifying why this was the case.

Missile fire is seen over Damascus, Syria January 21, 2019.SANA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
Missile fire is seen over Damascus, Syria January 21, 2019.SANA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

The strikes come just days after Israel allegedly carried out a rare daytime airstrike on Hezbollah sites in Damascus on Saturday.

The airstrike killed at least one Syrian Armed Forces soldier and wounded three others, according to SANA.

The Capital Voice reported that the airstrike on Saturday targeted a meeting of Iranian militia leaders and Hezbollah leaders, as well as a weapons storehouse to which weapons were transferred just hours before the attack. The strikes additionally hit a vehicle carrying Hezbollah militia leaders and an air defense battery, according to the report.

Earlier in October, Iranian militias warned of a "harsh response" after a number of Syrian and Iranian-backed forces were killed and wounded in an alleged Israeli airstrike near Palmyra in central Syria. 

The Syrian state news agency SANA reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted a communications tower and a number of nearby sites, killing one Syrian soldier and wounding three others. The strike was carried out from the direction of the al-Tanf area near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders with Syria, a Syrian military source told SANA.


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A joint operations room affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Hezbollah and the Assad regime warned at the time that it has decided to respond harshly to the airstrikes after a number of operatives were killed and wounded in them, according to Hezbollah-affiliated media. It is unclear if the statement was referring to casualties other than those reported by SANA.

Just days beforehand, an alleged Israeli airstrike targeted the T-4 airport, also near Palmyra, wounded six Syrian soldiers.