The air defenses from Syria have successfully shot down a number of israeli missiles fired on Damascus and its surroundings early Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry (MOD) said hours after Tel Aviv acknowledged a series of attacks on Syrian positions.
Four Israeli F-16 planes attacked the Damascus area around 1 am local time on Wednesday. Videos of air defense fire rising to meet missiles in the night sky quickly circulated on social media.
Syria intercepted eight missiles
According to the Syrian military, the missiles came from Lebanese airspace, somewhere southeast of Beirut. Eight of the missiles they launched were destroyed by “Russian-made air defense systems in service with the Syrian armed forces,” the MOD said in a statement on Wednesday.
3 SIRIA
3er video llegado por redes: Presunto "Combate misilístico en los cielos de Damasco, capital de Siria. Misiles antiáreos de Siria salen al paso de bombardeo de misioes lanzados desde Israel. Se reportan muertos y heridos"👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/VdwwAnBLRB— Walter Martínez (@WalterDossier) February 9, 2022
While Tel Aviv doesn’t usually acknowledge its frequent airstrikes in Syria, this time it did, with the Israel Defense Forces announcing on Twitter that they had targeted Syrian air defense batteries. They said a missile launched from Syria exploded over Umm al-Fahm, a city south of Nazareth in northern Israel.
That second attack came “from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights” and targeted the outskirts of Damascus, Syrian officials said. One soldier was killed and five wounded, including three members of an air defense battery, Syrian media reported.
The attack claimed the life of a Syrian soldier
Israel’s attack came at around 1:30 a.m. local time and involved ten surface-to-surface missiles launched from the Golan Heights, according to MOD, which also confirmed the death of one Syrian soldier and the wounding of five.
Israeli warplanes have attacked Syria for years. When Tel Aviv acknowledges the attacks, it claims they are targeting the “Iranian” military presence in the neighboring country, which Israel says endangers its existence.
As we have mentioned in AmericanPost.Newsthe Damascus government has repeatedly condemned the attacks as violations of Syrian sovereignty and demanded that they stop.
In addition to filing diplomatic protests, Russia has provided the Syrian army with air defense systems such as Buk, Pantsir S-1 and even S-300. This is not the first time that the Defense Ministry in Moscow has noted the effectiveness of the systems against air strikes.