Footage of attack over Damascus linked to Israel
A Syrian anti-aircraft missile was fired toward Israel and exploded midair, the IDF said overnight Sunday after a loud blast rocked central Israel.
Read more:
The army added that the details of the incident are currently under investigation and relayed no special instructions for the home front.
Ynet readers reported hearing a loud explosion all over central and southern Israel - in Ra’anana, Jerusalem, Ashkelon, Herzliya, Ramat Gan, Petah Tikvah, Ramat Gan, Kiryat Ono and Be’er Sehva. Shrapnel from the missile landed in the southern Bedouin city of Rahat.
Meanwhile, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that the country’s air defenses were activated against Israeli airstrikes in Tartus and Homs. The report claimed that the air defenses managed to shoot down several missiles in the Homs region.
The last time Syria reported an attack on its territory came two and a half weeks ago when state-run TV reported that Israel had targeted several locations in the Damascus area. According to the report, loud explosions were heard, and the air defense systems were activated.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor based in the UK, reported that the targets were weapons depots belonging to pro-Iranian militias.
A Syrian security source in Syria told the Arabic-language Sputnik news agency that "air defense systems operated against an Israeli attack on several targets in the Damascus area. The attack was carried out by Israeli Air Force planes using missiles that were launched from Israeli territory in two waves. Syrian air defense systems successfully intercepted most of the Israeli missiles before they hit their targets."
Sputnik also reported that a fire broke out in the area of the attack in Al-Kiswah as a result of an Israeli missile strike.
Last year, sirens were triggered in Umm al-Fahm and in the northern West Bank after a Syrian missile exploded over Israeli territory. Residents reported hearing explosions in northern and central Israel.
In April 2021, a surface-to-air missile fired from Syria toward Israel fell in the Negev desert following an attack attributed to the IDF. Parts of the missile exploded in the air and fell, among other places, into a swimming pool in the community of Eshel.
Air defenses were activated against the Syrian SAM (surface-to-air missile) fire, but missed the target. In response to the SAM launch, the Israeli Air Force targeted the battery from which the missile was launched, as well as additional SAM missile batteries in the Syrian territory.