The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights mentioned greater than 20 strikes hit army targets throughout Syria late Friday, within the “heaviest” assault carried out by Israel on its neighbour this yr.
Syria’s state information company SANA reported strikes close to Damascus and within the nation’s centre, west and south, saying one civilian was killed.
An Israeli army assertion mentioned its forces “struck a army web site, anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile infrastructure in Syria”. It didn’t give additional particulars.
Firas Aabdeen, 32, a member of the safety forces in Harasta close to Damascus, the place one of many assaults hit, mentioned he heard a number of “very loud” strikes and {that a} largely disused Assad-era army barracks was focused.
The barrage adopted an Israeli assault close to the presidential palace in Damascus early on Friday, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz referred to as a “clear message” to Syria’s new rulers.
“We is not going to enable forces to be despatched south of Damascus or any risk to the Druze group,” they mentioned.
Israeli foe Iran, which propped up the now ousted Assad authorities, condemned the strikes, accusing Israel of searching for to “destroy and annihilate the defence, financial and infrastructure capabilities of Syria as an impartial nation”.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group, additionally an Assad ally, mentioned that the assaults have been “a transparent try to undermine” and weaken Syria.