Syrian soldier killed in Israeli missile attack: state media | Conflict News

Air defences downed most of the missiles, and the attack caused some material losses, according to state media.

Syrian air defences confronted an Israeli missile attack targeting the southern area of the country and a Syrian soldier was killed, state news agency (SANA) said on Thursday citing a military source.

The air defences downed most of the missiles, and the attack caused some material losses, SANA added.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes on targets inside areas controlled by the Syrian government over the years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.

Earlier this month, Syria’s military said Israeli fighter jets fired missiles on the port of Latakia, damaging containers but without inflicting casualties. The port of Latakia is a vital facility where much of Syria’s imports are brought into the war-torn country.

In late November, Israeli missile attacks in the west of Homs province also killed five people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In two separate Israeli attacks in October, five pro-Iranian militiamen were killed near the Syrian capital Damascus, while nine pro-government fighters were killed near the T4 airbase east of Palmyra in central Syria, the UK-based Syrian rights group said.

Israel has acknowledged that it targets the bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, which has fighters deployed in Syria. It says it attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for the militias.

Hezbollah is fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces in the decade-old civil war.

Israel says Iranian presence on its northern frontier is a red line, justifying its strikes on facilities and weapons inside Syria.