Syria says Israel launched missiles at targets in country’s south, killing 2

The Israeli military launched a number of missiles at targets in southern Syria late Monday night, killing at least two soldiers and wounding seven others, Syrian state media reported.

The attack triggered the country’s air defenses at 10:40 p.m., according to the official SANA news outlet.

“The Israeli aggression resulted in two martyrs, seven wounded soldiers, and material damage,” SANA said.

It appeared to be the first reported Israeli airstrike on targets in Syria since a July 20 attack in which a Hezbollah fighter was killed, prompting the Lebanese terror group to vow revenge for his death and sparking as yet unresolved tensions.

The Israel Defense Forces did not comment on the reported strikes, in accordance with its policy.

Syrian media reported that Monday night’s strikes targeted sites south of Damascus and in the Daraa region, specifically in areas suspected of being Iranian and Hezbollah strongholds in the country.

“Violent explosions erupted in rural As-Suwayda and Daraa due to Israeli airstrikes targeting military sites south of Damascus, as well as Sheikh Maskin and Izraa,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.

SANA reported that the incoming missiles were fired from near Mount Hebron, on Israel’s Golan Heights.

SANA quoted a Syrian military source as saying that the country’s air defenses intercepted a number of incoming missiles. Such claims are made by Syrian media after nearly every Israeli airstrike, but defense analysts generally dismiss them as empty boasts.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011. It has targeted government troops, allied Iranian forces and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah.

It rarely confirms details of its operations in Syria, but says Iran’s presence in support of President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah is a threat and that it will continue its strikes.

Following the July 20 strike in which a Hezbollah fighter was killed, the Israeli military went on high alert along the Lebanese border, bracing for an attack by the group. According to the IDF, the terror group has attempted to exact its revenge against Israeli troops a number of times in the ensuing weeks, including with a failed sniper attack last Tuesday night.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Sunday that his group would kill an Israeli soldier in retaliation for the death of its operative in Syria the month before in order to establish “deterrence” against Israel.