Syria says it repelled Israeli missiles in south

Damascus, Jan. 7, (dpa/GNA) – Syrian air defences partly stopped an Israeli missile attack in the southern part of the war-torn country, state media reported on Thursday.

The overnight attack had focused on some targets in Syria’s southern region, the Syrian state news agency SANA said, quoting a military source.

“Our air defence systems repelled them and shot down most of the missiles,” the source said without citing casualty figures.

Residents in south of the capital Damascus said sounds of explosions and ambulance sirens were heard overnight across the city, especially near the suburb of al-Kusawa.

So far, there has been no official comment from Israel.

On December 30, Israeli airstrikes hit a Syrian government air defence unit in rural Damascus, close to the border with Lebanon, killing one person and injuring three others, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.

Israeli strikes in Syria have been seen as an attempt to prevent Iran, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s main allies, from building up its military influence in the region.

GNA