Syrian air defense systems shoot down Israeli missiles near Damascus

Syria’s official SANA news agency cited a military source as saying on Tuesday that the Israeli missiles were launched from the Lebanese airspace, and that most of them were downed before reaching their targets, without specifying their location.

Three soldiers were injured in the attack, which caused damage to a munitions warehouse, according to the source.

Earlier, the state-run al-Ikhbariyah Syria television news network said that air defenses had intercepted “hostile targets” in the skies over the western outskirts of the capital, Damascus.

Lebanese media outlets reported that residents near the border with neighboring Syria said the sound of planes could be heard in the sky.

There are reports that the explosions took place around the Mezzeh Military Airport west of the capital and in the areas of Kesawa and Jimraya, which are located northwest of Damascus.

Syrian air defense systems intercept "hostile targets" in the skies near the capital Damascus late on December 25, 2018. (Photo by SANA)

The development came only two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria will not affect the Tel Aviv regime’s policy toward the war-torn country.

"The decision to withdraw 2,000 US troops from Syria will not change our consistent policy: We will continue to act against Iran's attempts to entrench itself militarily in Syria, and to the extent necessary, we will even expand our actions there," Netanyahu said.

On November 30, Syrian air defenses were activated against several missiles, which were aimed at the city of al-Kiswah, located approximately 13 kilometers (8 miles) south of Damascus.

They "were able to foil its goals despite the intensity of the aggression," Syrian state media said at the time.

Israeli media claimed that Iranian military advisers as well as fighters from Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah were the main targets in the attack.

Israeli officials argue that Iran’s presence in Syria, which is part of an advisory mission requested by the Damascus government, poses a threat to the Tel Aviv regime’s security.

 

 

PressTV-Syria downs ‘hostile targets' following Israeli attack

 

 

 

Syria has shot down "hostile targets" following an Israeli attack south of the capital Damascus and foiled its goals despite the "intensity of the aggression," a military source says.

The Israeli military, using this pretext, has pounded alleged positions of Iranian and Iran-backed forces across Syria over the course of the seven-year conflict.

The attacks are usually viewed as attempts to prop up foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorist groups that have been suffering defeats at the hands of Syrian government forces and allied fighters from popular defense groups.

Israel and the United States have even put pressure on Russia, another close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the war against terrorist groups, to force Iran out of Syria.

In October, Russia equipped the Syrian army with the advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles, days after Israeli fighter jets used a Russian surveillance aircraft flying nearby as a shield and misled the Syrian air defenses to shoot it down. Since then Israel has been very careful with its operations over Syria.