Israeli Missiles Target Iran-Linked Sites Near Damascus

Israeli missile strikes targeted sites on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus Sunday, while Syrian state media reported that some missiles were intercepted.

Citing a Syrian military source, SANA said missile strikes coming from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights had targeted several sites it did not identify, adding that there were no casualties

"Our air defenses confronted the aggressors' missiles and downed some of them with only material losses," the Syrian military source said.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, two salvos of missiles were fired at a Syrian Air Force base housing militias of Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah in Hafir Al-Foka area in Rif Dimashq, Al-Hama area and the area of Damascus International Airport.

Israel has for years carried out attacks on what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that started in 2011.

The strikes are part of an escalation of what has been a low-intensity conflict with a goal of slowing Iran's growing entrenchment in Syria, Israeli military experts say.

Fighters allied to Iran, including Hezbollah, now hold sway in vast areas in eastern, southern, and northwestern Syria and in several suburbs around the capital.

In April, Israel attacked targets in Syria hitting two bases where Iranian forces operate in Homs province earlier this month killing at least two Iranian officers.

Iran says its officers serve in an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of Damascus. Hundreds of Iranian forces and thousands of proxy militiamen including senior officers have been killed in Syria during the war.

(With reporting by Reuters)