Syria Reports Israeli Airstrikes Near Damascus

Several explosions were heard near Damascus on Thursday due to alleged Israeli airstrikes, Syrian reports said.

According to Syria's state news agency SANA, Israel attacked several targets near the capital. Saudi state-owned Al-Hadath TV reported the attack targeted Iranian radar systems.

On Saturday, Syrian air defense responded to an "Israeli air aggression," confronting "hostile" targets over Masyaf, near Hama, according to Syrian state TV. No casualties were reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, reported that the strike targeted facilities used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and its close ally, the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.

It has acknowledged, however, that it targets the bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that has fighters deployed in Syria. It says it attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for the militias.

Israel justifies its strikes on facilities and weapons inside Syria by saying that an Iranian presence on its northern frontier is a red line.