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Damascus accuses Israel of first Syria strike since defence upgrade

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BEIRUT: Damascus on Friday accused Israel of striking Syria, in what a monitor said were the such first missiles to hit the country since an air defence upgrade after the downing of a Russian plane in September.


The Syrian government claimed its air defence systems shot down all “hostile targets” late on Thursday. Israel did not confirm carrying out raids but denied any losses.


The Syrian foreign ministry on Friday said it had complained to the United Nations about “the Israeli aggression yesterday on the area of Kisweh south of Damascus”.


According to the Syria Observatory for Human Rights, the strikes hit two positions in the south of Damascus province, one an area where there are weapons depots in Kisweh.


“Israeli forces bombarded for an hour,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. Two missiles hit weapons depots in Kisweh.


Another missile hit the area of Harfa, where there is a Syrian military base, the Britain-based monitor said.


In Kisweh, “the depots that were targeted are used to temporarily store rockets until they are taken somewhere else,” Abdel Rahman said.


“It appears the Israelis had intelligence that weapons had arrived there recently,” he said. The state news agency said the attack was foiled and did not admit to any losses.


“Our air defences fired on hostile targets over the Kisweh area and downed them,” SANA said, citing a military source.


The pro-government Al Watan daily, quoting a military source, said “the aggression, despite its intensity, was not able to implement any of its goals and all enemy bodies were downed”.


Initial reports by the Observatory suggested there were no casualties.


The Israeli military denied any of its assets were hit but stopped short of denying it had conducted strikes at all.


“Reports regarding an IDF (Israel Defence Forces) aircraft or an airborne IDF target having been hit are false,” it said in an English-language statement.


It said a Syrian surface-to-air missile was fired in the direction of an open area of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights but it was unclear if it had hit Israeli-held territory.


Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in neighbouring Syrian targets, many of them in the area south of Damascus.


The accidental downing of a Russian transport aircraft by Syrian ground batteries during an Israel air strike on September 17 killed 15 service personnel.


Moscow pinned responsibility for the downing on Israel, saying its fighter jet used the larger Russian one for cover, an allegation Israel disputed. — AFP


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