A midday attack outside Damascus that was attributed to Israel by the Syrian military targeted a shipment of advanced weapons intended for Hezbollah as it was making its way to the border between Syria and Lebanon, Syrian media reported Saturday evening.
Earlier on Saturday, Syrian state media cited a military statement that air defenses intercepted "hostile targets launched from the occupied territories" targeted at sites in the countryside around the capital Damascus and downed some of them.
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Smoke rising outside the Syrian town of Al-Dimass west of Damascus
(Photo: Syrian state media
)
It was not immediately known what the TV meant by "occupied territories". But Israel, alarmed by Iran's growing regional influence and military presence in Syria, says it has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria to slow down Iranian entrenchment.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights opposition group that five people have been killed in the strike, all of them were members of Hezbollah and other Shi'ite militias.
The human rights watchdog further said that the area houses arms depots belonging to Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies, as well as Syrian army bases.
Lebanese-based news channel Al Mayadeen reported that the attack was carried out by Israel near the town of Al-Dimass west of the capital and on the way to Beirut, Lebanon.
Asked about the attack, an Israeli military spokesperson said: "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media."
Such attacks on terrorist targets in broad daylight are rare.
Saturday's strikes came days after Syria accused Israel of carrying out an attack in the country's south, without offering details.