Syrian air defences intercept Israeli missiles in Aleppo

Damascus: Syrian air defences intercepted Israeli missiles fired towards the eastern countryside of Aleppo province on Friday, state TV reported.

Israel fired several missiles on areas in the vicinity of Aleppo at 1.30 a.m., but most of them were destroyed before reaching their targets, Xinhua news agency quoted a military statement aired by the state TV as saying.

The statement said that the attack targeted the military defence factories and the scientific research centre in Aleppo’s Al-Safira area.

The attack is the latest one in a series of Israeli strikes targeting Syrian military sites.

A total of 79 Israeli strikes have targeted Syria over the past 32 months,



resulting in the destruction of 250 targets, including weapon depots, buildings, and military headquarters, the UK-based human rights organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a report on Wednesday.

The Observatory said it had documented the strikes from the beginning of 2018 until September 2020.

The strikes have killed 509 people, including 12 civilians while the rest are Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters, it added.

Throughout the Syrian crisis, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian targets, as well as convoys transporting weapons to the Shia militant group Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia allegedly backed by Iran.