Syria says Israeli jets hit targets in Homs and Damascus

Syria said Israeli jets attacked several military sites near the capital Damascus and the central city of Homs early Monday, lightly injuring several people.

State news agency SANA said that Syrian air defense had intercepted several of the incoming missiles that were fired from Lebanese airspace.

The report said explosions damaged some houses and lightly injured several people in Sahnaya, a neighborhood of Damascus.

There was no response from the Israel Defense Forces, which rarely comments on reported strikes.

Israel accuses Iran of seeking to set up a military presence in Syria that could be used to threaten the Jewish state.

The Israeli military has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years on targets linked to Iran, which is backing President Bashar Assad’s regime in the Syrian civil war.

The reported strikes came just hours after an Israeli satellite imagery analysis company said Syria’s entire S-300 air defense system appeared to be operational, indicating a greater threat to Israel’s ability to conduct airstrikes against Iranian and pro-Iranian forces in the country.

Satellite photos released by ImageSat International appear to show all four missile launchers of the S-300 air defense system in the raised position in the northwestern Syrian city of Masyaf on June 30, 2019. (ImageSat International)

Until now, only three of the country’s four surface-to-air missile launchers had been seen fully erected at the Masyaf base in northwestern Syria.

Israel has threatened to destroy the S-300 system if it is used against its fighter jets, regardless of the potential blowback from Russia.