Tehran, August 26 (RHC)-- A senior Iranian official has dismissed as mere “lies” the Israeli regime’s claims that its overnight air raids hit Iranian targets near the Syrian capital city of Damascus.

Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council, was reacting on Sunday to a statement by the Israeli military, which claimed the regime had launched attacks against Iranian sites on Syrian soil.

“This is a lie and is not true,” Rezaei, a former chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), told Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), emphasizing: “America and Israel do not have the power to attack Iran’s centers and positions and the Zionist regime’s claims about targeting Iranian positions are lies.”

The Israeli military claimed its strikes had prevented an attack on the Israeli-occupied territories “using killer drones.”  In a statement issued just minutes after the Israeli army announced its attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the military’s “major operational effort.”

Syria’s official SANA news agency, however, reported that the Arab country’s air defenses had intercepted Israeli missiles flying above Damascus before they could inflict damage on targets in the capital.  It added that the hostile targets were dealt with efficiently before they could reach their destinations south of Damascus.

Iran has frequently announced that it has no forces operating on the ground in Syria and has been only offering military advisory support to Syria at the request of the Damascus government to enable its army to speed up its gains on various fronts against terror groups.

Israel, on the other hand, has launched recurrent attacks on Syria in defiance of all international laws and regulations.