DAMASCUS, Syria — Two people died on Thursday near Beit Jinn, west of Damascus, in an airstrike attributed to Israel.
Palestinian reports said that the men, members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, were riding a motorcycle when they were targeted by a drone strike, about six miles from the border with the Israeli part of the Golan Heights.
“The terrorist organization denied that the slain men were members,” said Lebanese media reports
Last week, two Syrian soldiers were killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting a military site in the port of Tartus, where Russia maintains a naval base.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that six additional people were injured in the “Israeli aggression against some of our air defense positions.”
Hours later, the Israel Air Force carried out strikes in Hama, Syria, reportedly in the vicinity of the Scientific Studies and Research Center, known by its French acronym, CERS, which is involved in the production of chemical weapons as well as Hezbollah’s precision missile project.
Israel has reportedly targeted the facility on several occasions in the past.
The strikes against air defense batteries in Tartus may have been carried out to help Israeli fighter jets to subsequently strike CERS, according to reports.
Late last month, strikes attributed to Jerusalem put Aleppo International Airport out of service, with Ynet citing a Saudi report as saying they had destroyed an “Iranian military shipment containing sensitive equipment.”
Israel is believed to have struck hundreds of targets in Syria in recent years as part of an effort to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in the country. However, Israel rarely acknowledges these incidents.
On Aug. 7, four Syrian soldiers were reportedly killed and four others wounded in an Israeli strike near Damascus.
A week later, unexplained “violent explosions” rocked the city, with the Syria Observatory for Human Rights reporting that the blasts had destroyed an arms depot belonging to Iranian-backed groups.
Iran recently threatened to avenge the strikes. “The criminal practices by the Zionist entity in the region will not remain without retaliation,” said Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian during a visit to the Syrian capital.
The Islamic Republic provided immense support to President Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s long civil war, and continues to arm terrorist outfits such as Hezbollah.
Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate
Edited by Judy J. Rotich and Newsdesk Manager
