Syria: Israeli missiles kill soldier at military post in the south

Most incoming rockets were intercepted but one soldier was killed

Smoke in the Damascus countryside on October 30 after what Syrian state media said was an Israeli air strike. AP

Syria’s military said Israeli missiles hit army posts in the south of the country on Thursday, killing one soldier and causing material damage.

State media, quoting an unidentified military official, said rockets were fired from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, targeting a frontier area where Israel has expressed concern about the deployment of Iran-backed forces. An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on the report.

The attack activated Syria air defences, who said most of the incoming missiles were intercepted. One Syrian soldier was killed and there was damage to the area, the official said, without specifying where the missiles hit.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled areas of Syria in recent years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.

Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets the bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that has fighters stationed 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 in the country.

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