Reuters
- SANA said that Israeli aircraft had targeted “our military positions in the provinces of Tartous and Hama”
- The Syrian Observatory said several explosions had been heard in the areas where there are Iranian military facilities
BEIRUT: Israeli planes targeted military positions in Syria on Tuesday, but Syrian air defences confronted and downed some of the rockets, state news agency SANA.
Citing a military source SANA said that Israeli aircraft had targeted “our military positions in the provinces of Tartous and Hama”.
“The enemy missiles were dealt with and some of them were shot down,” SANA said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said several explosions had been heard in the areas around Masyaf and Wadi al-Uyoun near Hama city, areas where there are Iranian military facilities.
The Observatory’s head Rami Abderahman said the attack had also targeted around the coastal city of Baniyas for the first time, with two rockets hitting around one kilometre from an oil refinery.
An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.
Syrian state television said air defences downed five rockets.
SANA said the planes had come at a low altitude from west of neighbouring Lebanon’s coastal capital Beirut.
Reuters journalists in Beirut heard unusually loud aircraft sounds shortly before the strikes were reported in Syrian media.
Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen news said Israeli fighter planes released countermeasures against anti-aircraft fire “and withdrew towards the sea at the same time as the sounds of explosions were heard in Hama countryside.”