During the night from Sunday to Monday, Israeli attacks targeted anti-aircraft positions of the Syrian army, where Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are also stationed, wounding five people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said.
The Syrian Defense Ministry said overnight that an “Israeli aggression” had attacked “positions around Damascus” and reported loud explosions in the capital.
Anti-aircraft defenses went into action and “were able to shoot down several missiles,” the ministry added, without reporting any casualties.
According to the observatory, the Israeli attacks twice targeted Syrian anti-aircraft positions also hosting pro-Iranian Hezbollah fighters.
Those positions are north of Damascus, about six miles from the border with Lebanon, said the OSDH, which has an extensive network of sources on the ground in Syria.
According to the same source, anti-aircraft batteries stationed between Damascus International Airport and Sayyida Zeinab, a major Shia pilgrimage site south-east of the capital where pro-Iranian fighters are heavily based, were also attacked.
These are the first Israeli attacks on Syria since early May, when raids in the north of the country disabled Aleppo Airport and killed nine people, according to a new report by the OSDH.
Since the war in Syria began in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against regime positions and against Iranian and Hezbollah troops, allies of Damascus and arch-enemies of Israel.
Israel rarely details these attacks on a case-by-case basis, but says it wants to prevent Iran from establishing a foothold on its doorstep.