Syrian air defenses intercept Israeli missiles

Damascus, August 20 (RHC)-- Syrian air defenses confronted Israeli attacks against the capital Damascus and the western city of Homs, intercepting most of the missiles fired during the airstrikes.

The attacks were reported early Friday, with Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network saying the Israeli regime fired missiles during the aggression against the Syrian capital’s western countryside and Homs’ southern suburbs.

News sources said explosions rang out across Damascus after the Syrian defenses struck the Israeli projectiles midair.  Israeli media outlets confirmed the attacks that took place against Damascus.

The Syrian Defense Ministry said the attacks originated from the Lebanese capital of Beirut’s southeastern area, saying Damascus was “investigating the results of this aggression.”  Al-Mayadeen cited a source inside the Syrian army as saying that the country’s air defense units had managed to destroy most of the incoming projectiles.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military conducted missile attacks against a city lying north of Quneitra Province located in Syria’s extreme southwest. 

Syria and the Israeli regime are technically at war due to the latter’s 1967-present occupation of the Arab country’s Golan Heights.  The Israeli regime maintains a significant military presence in the territory, which—similar to the Lebanese airspace—it uses as one of its launchpads for attacks against the Syrian soil.

The attacks started to grow significantly in scale and frequency after 2011, when Syria found itself in the grip of rampant foreign-backed militancy and terrorism.

Tel Aviv claims that its attacks target alleged supplies that are headed for the Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah. On countless occasions, though, the strikes have targeted the reinforcement belonging to Syria’s military and its allies.