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Syrian air defenses confront Israeli missile attack

Monday, 24 February 2020 12:50 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 24 February 2020 6:25 AM ]

Image shows Syrian air defenses intercepting an Israeli missile attack on the Syrian capital of Damascus on February 23, 2020. (Photo by SANA)

Syrian air defenses have intercepted Israeli missiles targeting the capital city of Damascus.

Syria's official news agency SANA reported that Israeli warplanes launched the attack from above the occupied Golan Heights shortly before midnight on Sunday.

"Most of the enemy missiles were shot down before reaching their targets," SANA quoted a military source as saying.

The report added that the military was still verifying possible outcomes of the Israeli attacks.

Syrian air defence missile scores direct hit pic.twitter.com/BGHbdy3NEQ
— Majd Fahd 🇸🇾 (@Syria_Protector) February 23, 2020

The Israeli military also released a statement claiming that its fighter jets struck targets belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement south of Damascus.

"In the Adeliyah region, outside of Damascus, an Islamic Jihad compound was struck, used as a hub of Islamic Jihad's activity in Syria," it said.

A few hours later, Islamic Jihad released a statement saying that two of its members had been killed in the airstrikes.

Israel has frequently launched airstrikes against Syria while the country has been preoccupied with fighting a nearly nine-year foreign-backed militancy which had once swept over large parts of the country.

Tel Aviv has long despised the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, for its support for Palestinian and Lebanese resistance groups countering Israel.

The missile attacks against Damascus come as Israel also launched multiple airstrikes against what it claimed were Islamic Jihad positions in Gaza early on Monday.

Israeli jets bomb Gaza after retaliatory Palestinian rocket strikes

Israeli jets have bombed several locations across the Gaza Strip.

At least half a dozen Palestinians were reportedly injured in the attacks.

Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian, injure 4 others

The Israeli army has killed a Palestinian man near the border fence in southern Gaza Strip and taken away his body.

The bombings took place after Palestinian resistance groups launched multiple rocket strikes against Israel in retaliation for the brutal killing of a Palestinian man east of Khan Yunis earlier on Sunday.

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