Syria says Israeli jets conduct rare daytime airstrike on southern coast

Israel carried out a rare daylight airstrike along the southern Syrian coast on Saturday morning, Syria’s state-run broadcaster SANA said. injuring two people.

There was no comment from the Israel Defense Forces, in line with its policy of not generally commenting on air raids in the country.

Quoting a military source, SANA said the missiles were launched by Israeli fighter jets over the Mediterranean Sea, west of the north Lebanon city of Tripoli, at the Syrian town of al-Hamidiyah, south of Tartus.

According to SANA, “poultry farms” were targeted in the airstrike, and two civilians were hurt. Their conditions were not immediately clear. Damage was also caused to the site.

Syria often claims targets of Israeli strikes as being non-military.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes on targets in Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. It says it targets bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that has fighters deployed in Syria, as well as arms shipments believed to be bound for various proxies.

While alleged Israeli attacks in Syria typically take place under the cover of darkness, Saturday’s strike was allegedly conducted at around 6:30 a.m. while the sun was out, according to SANA.

الطيران الحربي الاسرائيلي يشن غارة جوية بعدة صواريخ من فوق البحر المتوسط غرب طرابلس مستهدفا محيط بلدة #الحميدية جنوب طرطوس pic.twitter.com/11lEuOjeRV

— المرصد أبو أمين 80 (@Najdat567) July 2, 2022
Israeli strikes have continued in Syrian airspace, which is largely controlled by Russia, even as ties with Moscow have deteriorated in recent months. Israel has found itself at odds with Russia as it has increasingly supported Ukraine while seeking to maintain freedom of movement in Syria’s skies.

Saturday’s strike marked the first such raid attributed to Israel under Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who entered the role on Friday morning.

The last strike in Syria attributed to Israel was on June 10, when the Damascus International Airport was targeted in a major attack and forced to be shuttered for two weeks, following accusations by Israel that Iran had been smuggling weaponry to the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group, via civilian flights to Syria.