Israeli warplanes overflew Lebanon at low altitude on Thursday night and missiles were reportedly seen crossing the Lebanese airspace during an airstrike on the suburbs of the Syrian regions of Damascus and Homs.
The sounds of the fighter jets and missiles sparked panic in the Lebanese capital and other Lebanese regions.
The Syrian air defenses were activated during the strikes according to Syria’s state-run media.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based war monitor, said that “Israeli missiles targeted arms depots and military positions of” Hizbullah, between Damascus and Homs.
“The Israeli enemy launched an aerial attack… targeting positions near Damascus and around the city of Homs,” a Syrian military source told SANA.
“Our air defense responded to the missiles and shot most of them down,” it added.
Neither SANA nor the Observatory reported any damage or casualties.
Lebanese media also reported two missiles fell in the Qalamoun region bordering Lebanon.
The Israeli army rarely acknowledges its strikes in Syria and a spokesperson told AFP it did “not comment on foreign media information”.
However, since the start of the war in Syria ten years ago, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, targeting regime positions as well as allied Iranian forces and members of Hizbullah.
Israel regularly underlines that it will not allow Syria to become a stronghold of its sworn enemy Iran.
The Syrian conflict, which began in 2011 with the regime’s repression of pro-democracy protests, has grown increasingly complex over the past decade, drawing in more and more parties.
According to the Observatory, the war has left nearly half a million people dead.