Israeli Missiles Intercepted Over Damascus By Syrian Air Defense
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Syrian Army's air defense forces faced an Israeli missile attack over the skies of capital city of Damascus and managed to shot down the majority of the “hostile” missiles.
According to Syrian official news agency SANA, Israeli planes fired numerous missiles from Lebanon at locations near Damascus at 1:26 a.m. local time on Friday (2226 GMT Thursday), but the majority of the projectiles were intercepted and destroyed before reaching their intended objectives.
Residents of Tel Aviv and the surrounding area in the occupied territories heard at least one blast a short time later, according to Israeli Hebrew language media agencies.
The Israeli military claimed it was looking into whether the explosions were caused by a Syrian surface-to-air missile (SAM) fired at an approaching Israeli missile and then flew into the occupied territory and landed near Tel Aviv.
On August 19th, the Syrian Arab Army's air defense faced an Israeli missile attack fired from the direction of Beirut, targeting several areas in the region of Damascus and Homs, with the majority of them being brought down.
SANA, quoting an unnamed military source at the time, reported that Israel launched an air raid from the direction of southeastern Beirut against some posts in Syria.
“Our air defenses confronted the [Israeli] missiles and shot down most of them, and the outcomes of the aggression are being verified in the meantime,” the source added.
Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates later renewed its call on the United Nations and the Security Council to assume responsibilities based on the UN Charter and act firmly to prevent the recurrence of the Israeli regime’s attacks on Syrian territories.
In identical letters addressed to the UN Secretary General António Guterres and then president of the Security Council T. S. Tirumurti, the ministry said the “Israeli occupation authorities launched an air missile aggression from the southeast side of Beirut, targeting some posts in the surroundings of Damascus and Homs”, Syria’s official news agency reported.
It added that the Israeli regime carried out the act of aggression with the purpose of prolonging the war on Syria and raising the morale of terrorists in the northeastern and southern parts of the country.
The ministry emphasized that the continuation of the Israeli attacks would not dissuade the Syrian people, armed forces and their allies from defeating Takfiri terrorist groups such as Daesh and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as well as other terrorists that are partners of Israel and the US in acts of terror.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.
Israel frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of the resistance movement Hezbollah which has played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight against the foreign-backed terrorists.