Israeli Strikes Target Iran-Backed Militia Missile Depots in Syria

Strikes on Sunday attributed to Israel have targeted missile stockpiles of Iran-backed militias east of Syria's capital Damascus.

Residents of the region reported repeated blasts which came from "the warehouses of pro-Iran militias" in a mountainous area east of the capital, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.

The head of the war monitor, Rami Abdel Rahman, said they do not know if the blasts were from an airstrike or ground operation, adding that it was still unclear if anyone was wounded or killed in the explosion. 

Israel has been attacking what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria since 2017, to prevent Islamic Republic forces getting entrenched near its northern borders and weapons reaching the Lebanese Hezbollah.

The most recent reported Israeli strike was on August 7, when weapons and munitions warehouses and positions of Iran-backed militias around Damascus were targeted. At least four Syrian army soldiers were killed in the attack.

Iran intervened in the Syrian civil war in 2011 to save Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which had close ties with Tehran and allowed weapons and assistance to flow to Hezbollah in Lebanon. With crucial Iranian and Russian military assistance Assad has regained most of the territories lost to the rebels but remains highly dependent on Moscow and Tehran.

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.