Jerusalem (BLAZETRENDS)
“During the early hours of Sunday, Israeli Army warplanes attacked an anti-aircraft battery in Syria, in response to the launch of an anti-aircraft missile from Syria into Israeli territory tonight,” a military spokesman confirmed.
Israeli aircraft attacked “additional targets in the area,” the spokesman added, which according to Syrian media would have occurred in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Homs.
“No injuries were reported and no special instructions have been issued for civilians on the Israeli internal front,” the Army clarified about the launch of that Syrian missile, which caused shrapnel to fall on the city of Rahat, in southern Israel, and without causing harm in Israel.
Rahat is located about 230 km from the Israeli border with Syria and 415 km from Homs.
Israeli troops are operating in that area to find fragments and transfer them to Israeli security forces for analysis.
big explosion in the air
Residents in central and northern Israel claimed to have heard a large explosion when the missile detonated in the air, according to Israeli media, which suggests that it was a Russian-made S-200 surface-to-air missile, judging by the images. of his remains published in the media and social networks.
The Army has not given special instructions after the incident for civilians in the area, where the anti-aircraft alarms did not sound either.
Though rare, Syrian surface-to-air missiles fired at Israeli warplanes in the past have caused damage and set off sirens in Israel when they entered its airspace.
In February 2022, sirens sounded across northern Israel and some West Bank settlements after a Syrian air defense missile exploded over the area, spewing shrapnel.
In two separate cases in 2021, shrapnel from S-200 missiles fell on Tel Aviv and the southern community of Ashalim; and in a similar case in 2019, a Syrian S-200 missile that was fired at an Israeli plane crashed in northern Cyprus, causing a huge explosion and starting a fire.
Israel has regularly accused the Syrian army of wildly firing large numbers of anti-aircraft missiles in response to its attacks.
While the Israeli military does not, as a rule, comment on specific attacks in Syria, it has admitted to carrying out hundreds of raids against Iranian-backed militias trying to gain a foothold in the country over the past decade.
The Israeli army says it is also targeting arms shipments believed to be destined for these groups, including the Lebanese Hezbollah; and Syrian air defense systems.
The last reported Israeli attack in Syria occurred on June 14, when a Syrian soldier was seriously injured after Israeli aircraft struck a site near Damascus.
