Israel strikes targets in Syria after missile attack

Jerusalem/Damascus, Apr 22 (EFE).- The Israeli military on Thursday said it had struck targets in Syria after an anti-aircraft missile was fired from the Arab country.

Sirens were triggered after the missile from Syria landed in the southern Israeli region of Negev, near a secret nuclear reactor. Israeli authorities have not reported any damage or injuries.

“A surface-to-air missile was fired from Syria to Israel’s southern Negev. In response, we struck the battery from which the missile was launched and additional surface-to-air batteries in Syria,” the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) tweeted.

Citing a military source, Syria’s state-run news agency SANA said that air defenses intercepted an Israeli missile attack in the vicinity of Damascus.

The attack wounded four soldiers and caused “some material damage,” SANA added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack targeted the Dumeir region, located east of the capital Damascus, striking an air defense base for forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, leaving casualties and material damage.

Israel often targets Syrian government forces and its Lebanese and Iranian Shia militias, although it rarely announces such strikes.

The Israeli authorities consider the presence of Iranian troops in Syria a risk to its security.

Iran is one of the main allies of al-Assad, who has been fighting a deadly civil war in Syria since 2011 that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. EFE

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