Amman (Reuters) – Israel carried out an aerial attack targeting military sites in southern Syria leading to some material losses, Syrian state media said on Wednesday, citing a military source.
The source quoted by state media said missiles flying over Lebanon’s Baalbek region had targeted several sites, but it did not identify them.
Israel has for years carried out attacks on what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran’s influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that started in 2011.
The strikes are believed to have targeted Syrian army air defence base and a radar station in Tel Qulaib and Tel Maseeh in the Sweida province in southwestern Syria, according to two Syrian military defectors familiar with the matter.
A resident of the area near the city of Shahba in Sweida province said red flames were seen from a distance as ambulances were heard rushing to the site.
Israel’s military declined to comment on reports of an Israeli strike in Syria.
The Syrian army’s elite pro-Iranian Fourth Division along with Iranian militias who have a foothold in the southern region are believed to run a billion dollar drug trade across the border to Jordan, according to Western intelligence sources.
