Syria claims to have downed Israeli drones near Damascus

Syria's Defense Ministry claimed to have downed two drones launched from Israel toward the Damascus area on Friday afternoon, with Syrian media reporting that an Israeli airstrike had targeted the Mezzeh Military Airport, east of Damascus, at about the same time.

عاجل غارات جوية إسرائيلية استهدفت مطار المزة العسكري #إسرائيل #سوريا pic.twitter.com/jRYKHQGl5O

— Nour Abo Hasan (@nourabohsn) February 9, 2024

Israeli authorities had not responded to the foreign reports as of Friday afternoon.

The incident come just days after alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted sites in Homs in central Syria.

In the strikes in Homs, several people were killed when a missile hit a building in the city, although it remained unclear if the missile in question was an Israeli missile or a Syrian air defense missile as Syrian air defense missiles have fallen short and caused casualties in the past.

According to the Alma Research & Education Center, satellite imagery and photos from on the ground indicated that a logistics complex with warehouses and a parking lot for vehicles was hit amid the airstrikes in the Homs area. The site in question sits on a highway connecting Homs to Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, a central area for Iranian militias.

IRGC member killed in last airstrike in Damascus area

The strikes also come exactly a week after a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in alleged Israeli airstrikes targeting a site south of Damascus.

The Iranian Entekhab news site identified the killed IRGC member as Saeed Alidadi. The strikes targeted Aqraba, south of Damascus, according to Nour Abo Hassan, a journalist in southern Syria.