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Israeli missiles kill 2, injure 7 in Damascus air strike, Syria reports

By Jean Lotus
Israel continued military maneuvers from the Golan Heights into Syria Monday night with airstrikes on Damascus that killed two soldiers and injured seven other people, a Syrian news agency reported.  File Photo by Ateff Safadi/EPA-EFE  
Israel continued military maneuvers from the Golan Heights into Syria Monday night with airstrikes on Damascus that killed two soldiers and injured seven other people, a Syrian news agency reported.  File Photo by Ateff Safadi/EPA-EFE  

Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Two Syrian soldiers were killed and seven other people injured in Israeli airstrikes that hit Damascus and its airport Monday night, Syrian news agencies said.

The Syrian Arab News Agency reported that "Israeli air aggression" around 10:20 p.m. on Monday was confronted by anti-missile defense systems. Missiles were fired from Israeli territory in the Golan Heights, the news agency reported. The missiles appeared to target the countryside outside the city as well as the international airport, where a Hezbollah operative was killed in July during an earlier Israeli airstrike.

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Israel has launched multiple missile attacks on Syria in the past few months, with Israelis pointing to Iranian military groups, including Hezbollah, building a base in the nation torn by civil war.

The Israeli army launched missiles into Syria from the Golan Heights earlier in the month, in retaliation for reports of Syrian personnel planting explosive devices near the border of the disputed territory.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah vowed to kill Israeli troops in retaliation for the death of the Iranian official on July 20th, Israel military officials said.

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In April, the Times of Israel reported that Israel had launched another series of missile attacks into Damascus. Defense Minister Naftali Bennett announced a plan to expel Iranian troops in Syria.

In May, six Israeli attacks in two weeks were reported on Syrian militia from the Golan Heights.

The civil war in Syria has claimed more than half a million lives and displaced more than 11 million people, or half of its pre-war population, the U.S. State Department said. The United States has ramped up economic sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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