Israeli troops are deployed in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on the border with Syria, on Dec. 23, 2019. At least three people were killed in an overnight Israeli missile strike on positions of the Syrian capital Damascus, a war monitor reported on Monday. (JINI via Xinhua)
DAMASCUS, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed in an overnight Israeli missile strike on positions of the Syrian capital Damascus, a war monitor reported on Monday.
The Israeli missile strike targeted areas between the Sayyidah Zaynab area and the Aqraba area near the international airport of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The watchdog group said the targeted positions probably belong to Iranian-backed militia groups. It noted that the three killed are non-Syrian nationals.
On the previous night, the state-run SANA news agency said the Syrian air defenses intercepted some Israeli missiles.
People in the capital heard the sound of powerful explosions as a result of the firing of air defenses that were triggered by the missile attack.
SANA said the air defenses intercepted "hostile targets" fired from inside the "occupied territories." It said one of the missiles fell in the town of Akraba in Damascus countryside.
The official report spelled no further details.
Throughout the Syrian crisis, Israel has carried out "hundreds" of airstrikes in Syria, against Iranian targets and convoys of transporting weapons to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militia.
In 2019 alone, more than 17 Israeli attacks took place against targets in Syria, the latest of which occurred on Nov. 20, when several Israeli missiles targeted sites in the southern and southwestern outskirts of Damascus.
