Syria says Israeli missiles target sites near Damascus

Syrian army air defences on Sunday confronted an Israeli missile strike on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus, and there were no casualties, state media said.

Citing a Syrian military source, state media said missile strikes coming from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights had targeted several sites it did not identify. "Our air defences confronted the aggressors' missiles and downed some of them with only material losses," the Syrian military source said.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. Israel has for years carried out attacks on what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that started in 2011.

The strikes are part of an escalation of what has been a low-intensity conflict with a goal of slowing Iran's growing entrenchment in Syria, Israeli military experts say. Fighters allied to Iran, including Hezbollah, now hold sway in vast areas in eastern, southern, and northwestern Syria and in several suburbs around the capital.

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