Syrian air defenses intercepted Israeli strikes in the vicinity of the capital Damascus, state media said on Wednesday.
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Syrian state media gave no further details about the attacks or the intended targets. Pro-Iranian Lebanese television Al-Mayadeen said a big explosion was heard in the heavily fortified Sayeda Zainab neighborhood of the Syrian capital where a major Shiite shrine is located. It gave no further details.
Elements associated with the Syrian opposition forces reported fatalities among Hezbollah fighters, and that the missiles struck sites belonging to the terror organization and pro-Iranian militias.
Sources affiliated with the Assad regime reported that one of the targets in the strike was a military site named after the martyr Hitham Suleiman, located on the outskirts of the Bebila suburb. According to a radio station close to the regime, the strike also hit the village of Hajira and one of the points in the Al-Sayyidah Zainab neighborhood. Firefighting crews were dispatched to the scenes. The Syrian opposition reported loud explosions at three sites belonging to pro-Iranian militias. There was also a reported fire that broke out in the Al-Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus. It is unclear whether this was debris from an air defense missile or a result of the strike itself.
The Israeli military declined to comment.
Video: The alleged Israeli attack in Syria / Credit: Arab social media
Regional intelligence sources say Iran's Quds Force and militias it backs, whose presence has spread in Syria in recent years, have a strong presence in the Sayeda Zainab neighborhood of southern Damascus where Iranian-backed militias have a string of underground bases. Iran has been a major backer of President Bashar al-Assad during Syria's nearly 12-year-old conflict.
Its support for Damascus and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Tehran's extraterritorial military power.
Those strikes have ramped up during the Gaza war, with more than half a dozen Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers killed in suspected Israeli strikes on Syria since December.
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