Three killed in 'Israeli aggression' targeting southern Damascus

War monitor says strikes targeted military sites and depots of Iranian militias

Members of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force monitor the Syrian side of the border with Israel in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. AFP

Three people were killed in “Israeli aggression” on southern parts of the capital, Damascus, Syrian state media reported on Saturday.

The rocket attack took place on Friday night and was launched from the Golan Heights, according to a military source quoted by the Sana news agency.

"The Israeli enemy carried out an aggression... that led to the death of three martyrs and some material losses," the source said.

“Our air defences confronted the aggression’s rockets and downed most of them.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack targeted military sites and depots of Iranian militias in the vicinity of Damascus.

The Britain-based watchdog said three Syrian officers from the Syrian air defences were killed and four others were wounded.

A fire broke out at one of the positions near the Damascus airport, where ambulances were seen rushing to the site, the Observatory said.

It was the 13th Israeli attack on Syrian territories this year, according to the pro-opposition monitor, which relies on sources inside Syria to report on the civil war that broke out in 2011.

The latest strike follows one on May 13 that killed five people in central Syria, and another one near Damascus on April 27 which, according to the Observatory, killed 10 combatants including six Syrian soldiers.

Israel usually does not confirm such attacks but has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of strikes to prevent Iran from gaining a foothold near its border.

Tehran-backed forces, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, have established a presence in Syria since arriving to help President Bashar Al Assad's government in the civil war.