Israel strikes weapons depot in Syrian capital

Damascus, March 17 (IANS) A war monitor said that Israeli strikes on Syria early Sunday targeted at least two sites in Damascus province, including a weapons depot, while state media said a soldier was wounded in the attack.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that "Israeli missiles" targeted a weapons depot belonging to the Syrian military and used by Hezbollah in Damascus province's Qalamun mountains, The Times of Israel reported.

Another site near an army battalion in the same area was also targeted, the Britain-based Observatory added, reporting a fire at one of the sites.

The organisation, run by a single person, has regularly been accused by Syrian war analysts of false and inaccurate reporting.

State news agency SANA, carrying a statement from a military source, said earlier that "the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack… targeting a number of points in the southern region," without specifying where.

It said a soldier was wounded in the attack and reported "material losses," adding that air defence systems shot down some of the missiles, The Times of Israel reported.

Since the Gaza war erupted, sparked by Hamas's October 7 massacres, Israel has stepped up a years-long campaign of airstrikes aimed at rolling back Iran's presence in Syria, attacking both Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, which has been exchanging fire with Israel across the Lebanese-Israeli border since October 8.

Israel rarely comments on its attacks in Syria.

Presumed Israeli strikes in Syria in the past have killed high-ranking figures with Iran's Revolutionary Guard and allied groups.