Syria says Israeli strikes over Damascus injured soldier and caused damage

A file photo of missile fire seen from Damascus, Syria. Reuters

Airstrikes attributed to Israel over Syria's capital early on Wednesday critically wounded one soldier.

The strikes over southwest Damascus also caused “material damage”, Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing military officials.

Syrian air defences shot down some of the missiles, it said, without giving details.

"At around 01:05am (2205 GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights targeting several positions southwest of Damascus," SANA cited a military source as saying.

Israeli authorities did not comment immediately.

The Israeli strikes targeted "arms depots belonging to pro-Iran fighters, and caused a fire," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor that relies on a vast network of sources on the ground.

Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment next door, has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of neighbouring Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges them.

The last suspected Israeli airstrike on Syria was on May 29, targeting locations in the vicinity of Damascus. Israel has also targeted the international airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo several times this past year, often putting it out of commission.