State TV: ‘Israeli jets’ bomb Syria
Syrian television says Israel warplanes bombed targets near Damascus airport and the town of Dimas, near the border with Lebanon.
Video posted to a social media website purported to show two Israeli jets flying over a suburb of the Syrian capital. The footage could not be independently verified.
The state television network said: “The Israeli enemy committed aggression against Syria by targeting two safe areas in Damascus province, in all of Dimas and near the Damascus international airport.”
An Israeli army spokesman said he would not comment on the “foreign reports”.
Israel has hit targets in Syria several times since the start of the three-year war, usually targeting weaponry destined for its old enemy Hezbollah in Lebanon, but has avoided taking sides in the wider conflict and does not publicly confirm bombing missions.
Residents in Damascus said they heard loud explosions and opposition activists posted photos online of jet streams in the evening sky and fiery explosions.
A resident in the Damascus suburb of Qudsaya, close to Dimas, said the agricultural airport in Dimas was hit.
Syria’s army general command said there were “material losses in some facilities.” It said the strike benefited al-Qaeda.
The state news agency Sana said the strikes were a “flagrant attack on Syria”, while the official news agency in Lebanon said Israeli jets had breached its airspace on Sunday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict through a network of sources on both sides, said 10 explosions were heard near Dimas.
It said one missile hit a warehouse for imports and exports at the Damascus international airport.
Syrian state media reported in May 2013 that Israeli aircraft struck in three places including the Dimas airport.
Western and Israeli officials said it was a strike on Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah.
