After anti-aircraft missile explodes midair in Israeli territory, military attacks battery missile was launched from, other targets, spokesman says ■ Syrian state media reports air defense systems activated in response
The Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said early Sunday morning that an anti-aircraft missile was launched from Syrian territory into Israel and apparently exploded while in the air, with no casualties reported. The army later targeted the Syrian air defense battery from which the anti-aircraft missile was launched.
Shrapnel from the missile launched from Syria fell in the southern Bedouin city of Rahat, as Israeli police and IDF engineering forces were working to clear the debris. The police asked citizens to avoid coming to the scene.
In response, Israeli warplanes targeted a Syrian air defense battery from which the anti-aircraft missile was launched towards Israel in the early hours of Sunday morning, an Israeli military spokesman said.
The warplanes also attacked other targets in the area, according to the army.
A Syrian military source told state news agency SANA that Israel attacked from the air around 12:20 A.M. from the northeastern area of Beirut, toward targets around the city of Homs. The attack caused damage to property, with no casualties.
It said air defenses intercepted the Israeli missile strike across central parts of the country and downed most of the missiles.
The Syrian Center for Human Rights reported that the targets of the attack were Hezbollah weapons depots, in an area where facilities and positions of Iranian militias are located.
An army statement confirmed the missiles that flew over parts of Lebanon’s capital Beirut hit locations in the vicinity of the city of Homs, resulting only in material damage.
According to attorney Ra’ed Aloubrah from the southern Israeli city Rahat, the shrapnel struck the home of family members who live near him. “We sat at home and suddenly heard an unusually strong explosion… Here in the south we’re used to rockets flying overhead but something like this we have not experienced,” he said.
“No ambulances came, nobody checked if anyone was traumatized. There was a direct rocket hit and nobody from Home Front Command came, no one even came from the city to speak to people. It doesn’t make sense,” he added.
Israel has in recent months intensified strikes on Syrian airports and air bases to disrupt Iran’s increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to allies in Syria and Lebanon, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Israeli strikes are part of an escalation of what has been a low-intensity conflict that has been going on for years with a goal of slowing Iran’s growing entrenchment in Syria, Israeli military experts say.
Tehran’s influence has grown in Syria since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that started in 2011. Fighters allied to Iran, including Hezbollah, now hold sway in areas in eastern, southern, and northwestern Syria and in several suburbs around the capital.