ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Several Syrian soldiers were killed and wounded in an Israeli missile attack near Damascus, state media reported in the early hours of Wednesday, marking the deadliest attack this year.
"At around 12:41am today, the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression," SANA news agency said, citing a Syrian military source, adding that Syrian air defenses intercepted “some” of the missiles.
The source added that following an assessment of the impact “it was found that four soldiers were killed, three others were wounded, and some material losses occurred.” AFP reported that the strike killed nine combatants, including five Syrian soldiers.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Wednesday that an ammunition depot linked to Iranian militia was targeted. It also told AFP that eight people were injured in the attack. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the other four killed were not members of the Syrian military but belonged to Iran-backed militia adding he could not verify their nationality.
The attack comes after another strike near Damascus on April 14, without casualties, according to AFP.
In early March, state media reported that an Israeli attack over the Syrian capital killed two soldiers and wounded six others, prompting calls from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to avenge the killings. On March 13, the IRGC fired a dozen missiles towards Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, claiming it targeted Israeli bases in revenge.
Israel frequently carries out strikes in Syria, targeting Iran-affiliated militias, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah group which supports the Syrian army, in what it says is an effort to prevent them from securing further ground along its borders.
Although Israel has conducted hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria over the course of its 10-year civil war, it rarely acknowledges them.
They have, however, said that they target bases belonging to the Iran-backed militias and attack arms shipments believed to be bound for the militias, AP reported.
Updated at 12:51pm with casualty information.
