Syrian state media says soldier killed in Israeli strike on Damascus

DAMASCUS — A Syrian soldier was killed early on Sunday and three others injured in Israeli strikes on several positions in and around Damascus, Syrian state media said.

The Israeli army, meanwhile, said it had targeted a Syrian military command centre as well as targets and infrastructure belonging to the Syrian army and air defence in response to two drones launched towards Israel from Syrian territory.

The statement was a rare acknowledgement by the Israeli military of action in Syria, where it has launched hundreds of strikes since the country's civil war erupted in 2011, which have mainly targeted army positions and Iran-backed fighters.

"A soldier was killed and three others injured following an aerial aggression launched by the Israeli enemy after midnight" on Sunday, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.

The strike "was launched from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights targeting several military positions in the southern region and a residential building in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus", it added.

It said that aerial defence systems had intercepted and downed a number of missiles "despite their intensity".

The news agency published a photo showing a fire in what appeared to be a crater caused by the blast.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights meanwhile said a Syrian pro-government fighter had been killed and six others injured in Israeli strikes targeting a building in Kafr Sousa and a military headquarters south of Damascus.

The building in Kafr Sousa, which hosted fighters from the so-called “axis of resistance” — Iran-backed armed factions opposed to the US and Israel — was destroyed, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources in Syria.

Local radio station Sham FM had reported “the explosion of a munitions depot following an Israeli attack that targeted a position near the capital”.

“The blasts were very strong and came in succession,” a resident of the eastern Damascus neighbourhood of Mezzeh told AFP, adding that this was followed by “the strong odour of gunpowder”.