Israeli Warplanes Attack Syrian Capital, Wounding Four Soldiers

Syria says most missiles were shot down by defenses

Syrian state media is reporting that Israeli warplanes operating in Lebanon attacked the capital city of Damascus overnight, with at least four Syrian soldiers reported wounded.

Syrian air defenses were quick to activate during the attack, and Syria reported that they were able to shoot down most of the missiles before anything was hit. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the attacks were aimed at a military post.

Lebanon’s al-Manar TV reported that air defense missiles were heard exploding near the border. The Syrian government has a large array of Russia-provided defenses meant to limit the ability of Israel to attack.

Despite all of that air defense capability, however, Israel continues to regularly attack targets in Syria, nominally on the pretext of targeting Iranian assets. There was no sign that this attack hit or even targeted anything Iran-related, but as usual Israel is not officially talking about it.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.