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Syrian Air Defense Systems Shoot Down Israeli Missiles Over Damascus

Syrian air defenses intercepted ‘hostile targets’ over Damascus on Tuesday according to Syrian state agency SANA.

They added that the incoming missiles came from Lebanese airspace, which had been violated by Israeli aircraft. Most of the missiles were intercepted before they reached their targets.

Russia called the Israeli strikes ‘provocative claiming that Israel put two civilian airplanes in “immediate danger.“

A Ministry spokesman said that Israeli F-16s carried out the air strikes as two civilian flights were landing in Beirut and Damascus, putting the passengers at risk.

Shortly after news broke of the strike over Damascus, the IDF tweeted that Israel’s air defenses has intercepted a Syrian anti-aircraft missile.

Press TV reports:  Three soldiers were injured in the attack, which caused damage to a munitions warehouse, according to the source.

Earlier, the state-run al-Ikhbariyah Syria television news network said that air defenses had intercepted “hostile targets” in the skies over the western outskirts of the capital, Damascus.

#BREAKING: Possible strike in West #Damascus, air-defenses highly active, heard all across the City pic.twitter.com/x3x0cZg3mm

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) December 25, 2018

Lebanese media outlets reported that residents near the border with neighboring Syria said the sound of planes could be heard in the sky.

There are reports that the explosions took place around the Mezzeh Military Airport west of the capital and in the areas of Kesawa and Jimraya, which are located northwest of Damascus.

The development came only two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria will not affect the Tel Aviv regime’s policy toward the war-torn country.

“The decision to withdraw 2,000 US troops from Syria will not change our consistent policy: We will continue to act against Iran’s attempts to entrench itself militarily in Syria, and to the extent necessary, we will even expand our actions there,” Netanyahu said.

On November 30, Syrian air defenses were activated against several missiles, which were aimed at the city of al-Kiswah, located approximately 13 kilometers (8 miles) south of Damascus.

They “were able to foil its goals despite the intensity of the aggression,” Syrian state media said at the time.

Israeli media claimed that Iranian military advisers as well as fighters from Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah were the main targets in the attack.

Israeli officials argue that Iran’s presence in Syria, which is part of an advisory mission requested by the Damascus government, poses a threat to the Tel Aviv regime’s security.

The Israeli military, using this pretext, has pounded alleged positions of Iranian and Iran-backed forces across Syria over the course of the seven-year conflict.

The attacks are usually viewed as attempts to prop up foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorist groups that have been suffering defeats at the hands of Syrian government forces and allied fighters from popular defense groups.

Israel and the United States have even put pressure on Russia, another close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the war against terrorist groups, to force Iran out of Syria.

https://newspunch.com/syrian-air-defense-systems-shoot-down-israeli-missiles-over-damascus/