Israel Stages Attacks on Syria over Lebanon
Syrian state media reported late Tuesday an Israeli aerial attack near the Syrian capital of Damascus and in the central province of Homs, prompting a response from national air defenses.
The Syrian state news agency said the Israeli attacks came over Lebanon.
Lebanon's National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes were heard hovering at a low altitude late on Tuesday over the Keserwan district.
The target of the reported Israeli attacks were not immediately clear. The attacks are the first reported since the re-election of Syrian President Bashar Assad for a fourth seven-year term.
SANA said the Israeli attacks came over neighboring Lebanon. Loud explosions were heard in Damascus.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked military targets in Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.
Israel views Iranian entrenchment on its northern frontier as a red line, and it has repeatedly struck Iran-linked facilities and weapons convoys destined for Hizbullah.
The reported attacks are also the first after a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas' militant rulers in the Gaza Strip following an 11-day conflict that killed more than 250 people, most of them Palestinian.
Source: Naharnet, Associated Press
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