Israel has launched new airstrikes against Syria’s west coast, near the ancestral home region of President Bashar al-Assad, killing two Syrian soldiers and leaving six others injured.
Syria’s official news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military source as saying that the Israeli strike hit air defense units in the coastal city of Tartous on Wednesday.
“At exactly 17:22 [1422 GMT] this afternoon, the Israeli enemy carried out strikes … from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea targeting some of our air defense sites in Tartous,” the news agency reported.
“The aggression led to the death of two soldiers, and wounded six others,” it added.
A security official told the Arabic-language Sputnik network that this was an “Israeli attack against several targets in the Tartous region. Several fighter jets fired missiles. Syrian air defense systems managed to intercept some of them.”
Syrian air defense systems were activated in response to the alleged attack, and most of the missiles launched in the attack were intercepted, Israeli media reported, according to Jerusalem
The strikes were close to the Russian Navy’s only Mediterranean base in Tartous where Russian warships are docked, while Moscow’s major Hmeimim Air Base is also in nearby Latakia province.
Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that later in the evening, Israeli aircraft again targeted Syria, targeting the scientific research center in the mountains of the village of Taqsis, in the province of Hama, where explosions were heard.
The UK-based group reported no casualties.
Israel has frequently attacked the positions of Syria’s military and its allies since 2011, when the Arab country found itself in the grip of rampant foreign-backed violence and terrorism.
The regime’s attacks mostly target the positions of Syria’s allies that have been aiding the country in its battle against foreign-sponsored terror groups.
Damascus has repeatedly complained to the United Nations over the Israeli assaults, urging the world body’s Security Council to take action against Tel Aviv’s crimes. Its demands, however, have fallen on deaf ears.
