12 pro-Iran fighters said killed in Syria strikes attributed to Israel
Twelve pro-Iranian fighters were killed in strikes against several targets near Damascus in the predawn hours of Thursday morning, which Syrian state media blamed on Israel, according to a Britain-based monitoring group.
Syrian state news agency SANA claimed the country’s air defenses downed a number of missiles during the strikes. Defense analysts routinely dismiss such claims by the Syrian regime as empty boasts.
“Our air defenses confronted an Israeli attack” west of the capital, said state news agency SANA, adding that the attack was carried out from airspace in the Israeli Golan Heights.
AFP correspondents in several districts of Damascus heard loud explosions around 1:15 a.m.
State television broadcast images showing explosions in the sky as Syrian anti-aircraft missiles detonated in the air.
Read More: Times of Israel