Official SANA news agency claims “air defenses downed incoming missiles” in area of populous northern city; no reports of casualties or damage.
The Israeli military launched a number of missiles at targets near the Syrian city of Aleppo in the early hours of Friday morning, Syrian state media said.
The Syrian state news agency SANA claimed that Syrian air defenses had downed the Israeli missiles before they hit their targets.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Most Syrian war analysts dismiss the military’s regular claims of missile interceptions as empty boasts.
The IDF did not comment on the reported strikes, in accordance with its policy.
Aleppo is a major city in northern Syria, near its border with Turkey, and is not a common site for reported Israeli airstrikes.
Earlier this month, SANA said that the Israeli military launched missiles at targets near the central city of Homs.
According to the official SANA news outlet, Israel Defense Forces jets fired “a burst of missiles” at the T-4 Syrian military airbase, the largest in the country, at 10:23 p.m., from the area of al-Tanf, a US-controlled region of Syria near the Iraq border.
A Syrian opposition group claimed that the strike killed 16 Iran-backed fighters.
The Israeli military has long maintained that the T-4 base, also known as Tiyas base, is being used by Iran to move weapons throughout the region, including to the powerful Hezbollah terror group, and to conduct its own operations.
The reported strikes on September 2 came two days after Israel was said to have launched missiles at targets in Syria’s south, killing at least two Syrian soldiers. A Syrian civilian woman was also reportedly killed when a Syrian military anti-aircraft missile struck her home.
The August 31 attack appeared to be the first reported Israeli airstrike on targets in Syria since a July 20 attack, in which a Hezbollah fighter was killed, prompting the Lebanese terror group to vow revenge for his death and sparking as-yet-unresolved tensions.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011. It has targeted government troops, allied Iranian forces, and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite terror group, Hezbollah.
It rarely confirms details of its operations in the country, but says Iran’s presence in support of President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah is a threat and that it will continue its strikes.
Following the July strike in which a Hezbollah fighter was killed, the Israeli military went on high alert along the Lebanese border, bracing for an attack by the group. According to the IDF, the terror group has attempted to exact its revenge against Israeli troops a number of times in the ensuing weeks.
(Times of Israel).