News / Syria

Syrian air defenses intercept Israeli missiles coming from occupied Golan Heights

Thursday, 04 February 2021 12:34 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 04 February 2021 1:46 AM ]

File photo of Syrian air defense systems responding to an attack over Damascus in 2019 (By AFP)

The Syrian Army’s air defenses have intercepted Israeli air-to-surface and surface-to-surface missiles coming from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, state media say.

“At 10:42 p.m., the Israeli enemy perpetrated an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights with air-to-surface and surface-to-surface missiles against some targets in the southern region,” the official Syrian Arab News Agency quoted a military source as saying on Wednesday night.

The interceptions were carried out over the country's southwestern province of Quneitra, the report added.

Video footage from the attack also showed at least one successful interception of an incoming missile.

The unnamed official said the attack caused only material damage, and the Army’s air defenses successfully intercepted most of the missiles.

According to the Associated Press, residents in the capital Damascus reported hearing the sound of explosions, which according to state media were those of the Syrian air defenses responding to the incoming missiles.

Israel frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of the resistance movement Hezbollah which has played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists since 2011.

The Tel Aviv regime mostly keeps quiet about the attacks on Syrian territories which many view as knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian government’s increasing success in confronting terrorism in country.

Early last month, a similar attack was carried out by Israel on the southwestern town of al-Zabadani in the Rif Dimashq governorate, which claimed the life of a Syrian soldier and injured three others.

In mid-January, the city of Dayr al-Zawr and the town of al-Bukamal were targeted by Israeli airstrikes, which were carried out with intelligence provided by the US, according to a US official.

The US official with knowledge of the attack told the Associated Press that then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had discussed the raid with Yossi Cohen, chief of Israel’s spy agency Mossad, at a public meeting in a Washington restaurant two days before the attack.

The Syrian government wrote to the UN late last month to protest another attack that killed four members of a family near the western city of Hama.

The letter by the Syrian Foreign Ministry said Damascus reserves the right to defend the country’s sovereignty and civilians against such acts of aggression.

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