The Israeli Air Force (IAF) bombed targets in the vicinity of Damascus in Syria on Wednesday night, killing three Syrian soldiers, the country’s state media reported.
The SANA news agency quoted a military source who said that the air attack originated from within Israel, north of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), and targeted some points in the vicinity of the city of Damascus.
“Our air defenses confronted the aggression’s missiles and shot down most of them,” the Syrian military source claimed. However, the attack “led to the death of three soldiers and some material losses.”
This attack, the sixth attributed to Israel since the beginning of 2022, occurred just a day after the IDF shelled a number of targets in the Quneitra Governorate, situated adjacent to Israel’s border with Syria, causing some material damage, probably to military targets used by Iranian-backed Shia militias and the Hezbollah terror organization.
Iran routinely attempts to arm the Lebanon-based Hezbollah with advanced weapons. Israel has exposed and thwarted multiple attempts by Iran to transfer game-changing weapons to Hezbollah, including by air shipments from Iran, through Damascus Airport.
Over the years, the IAF has carried out thousands of attacks to thwart the Iranian entrenchment in the war-torn country and to prevent Hezbollah from accumulating advanced game-changing weapons.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the IAF conducted 29 strikes in Syria throughout 2021. The attacks hit 71 targets and killed 130 people, including 125 combatants from the Syrian military, Hezbollah and Iranian-backed Shiite militias.
The Damascus area was the most attacked area in 2021, with 12 attacks out of the 29. The Damascus airport, which serves as an entry point for weapons coming from Iran on its way to Hezbollah in Lebanon, was one of the main targets.
