An airstrike targeted Damascus in Syria late Wednesday night, carrying out attacks against several positions of the Syrian army in the Al-Midan neighborhood of Damascus, injuring two Syrian soldiers and causing "some material damage," state media reported, citing a military source.
Syrian air defense systems were triggered, shooting several missiles down, as Syrian media claimed that Israel was to blame for the attack. The alleged Israeli warplanes carried out the attack from the Golan Heights, the reports claimed, leading several regional sources to report hearing various loud explosions in the region.
#سوريا | تصاعد للدخان وحريق في محيط حي الميدان في العاصمة دمشق نتيجة "العدوان الإسرائيلي"، وتوجه سيارات الإسعاف إلى المنطقة. pic.twitter.com/qww7elCccy
— غرب آسيا - عاجل (@WANbreaking) March 29, 2023
According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, there have been several casualties as a result of the alleged Israeli airstrike.
The foreign ministry condemned the attack in a statement later on Thursday, saying it was Israel's "attempt to escape internal fragmentation" in an apparent reference to recent protests that saw hundreds of thousands rally against a judicial overhaul that was ultimately delayed.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said it was the fifth Israeli strike on Syria this month. Israeli authorities declined to comment.
Recent airstrikes come amid MidEast tensions
Numerous attacks have taken place throughout Syria in recent months and have been attributed to Israel by Syrian and other regional media sources.
An intelligence report by satellite and intelligence solutions company ImageSat International (ISI) was able to determine that an attack in Syria on March 12 included attacks on entrances to underground tunnels.
According to intelligence estimates, these tunnels contained the means for the production of surface-to-surface missiles.
Just one week prior, Syria’s transport ministry announced that it would re-route flights carrying earthquake aid following an overnight aerial attack that put Aleppo International Airport out of commission.
This followed reports from Syrian media that there were a series of explosions in the north. It is currently believed that the explosions are an attack on Iranian militia targets at an airport in Aleppo.
Residents of Damascus wrote on social media early on Thursday that a series of loud booms could be heard over some districts.
"I was going to die of fright," said Lana, a Syrian woman who was spending the night with her infant son in a hospital in the Damascus district of Mazzeh.
"The sound made me feel like the whole hospital was going to collapse on us," she told Reuters.
Reuters contributed to this report.
This is a developing story.