Israeli missiles target Damascus airport: state media

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DAMASCUS, Sept 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – An Israeli missile attack targeted the
Syrian capital’s airport late Saturday, activating air defences which shot
down a number of the projectiles, state news agency SANA reported.

“Our air defences responded to an Israeli missile attack on Damascus
international airport and shot down a number of hostile missiles,” a military
source said, quoted by SANA.

The agency, without giving any information on casualties or damage, posted
footage and images of the air defences being activated.

In a shaky video, a small, bright explosion is seen in the night sky, with
city lights in the distance.

AFP’s correspondent in Damascus heard a loud blast late Saturday, followed
by several smaller explosions.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the incident.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said
Saturday’s strikes hit a weapons depot outside the airport.

“The missiles, suspected to be Israeli, destroyed an arms warehouse near
the Damascus international airport,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told
AFP.

He had no immediate information on casualties.

Israel has vowed to prevent its arch-foe Iran, which is a main backer of
Syria’s government, from gaining a foothold in neighbouring war-torn Syria.

Earlier this month, Israel acknowledged having carried out more than 200
strikes in Syria over the past 18 months, mainly against Iranian targets.

It has also admitted to striking Syria to prevent what it says are
deliveries of advanced weaponry to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an armed movement
backed by Iran and which fights alongside Syrian troops.

The last reported Israeli strikes on Syria took place on September 4, when
Syrian state media said the military’s air defences downed several missiles
in the coastal province of Tartus and in central Hama.

The Observatory also reported those raids and said they killed three
Syrian soldiers.

Syria’s conflict erupted in 2011 and has since killed more than 360,000
people, with millions more displaced internally and to neighbouring
countries.

After losing swathes of territory to rebel groups, President Bashar al-
Assad’s troops have regained the upper hand and are now in control of around
two-thirds of the ravaged country. They were bolstered by nearly three years
of air strikes by their key ally Russia and Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese, and
other foreign fighters on the ground.

Soldiers and other loyalist fighters had been amassing around Idlib, the
largest rebel-held zone left in Syria, for several weeks.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied that Syrian troops were
planning a major offensive for the area.