Israel launched airstrikes Thursday night on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria’s defense ministry said, confirming earlier reports by state media.

“Around 23:05 (local time, 22:05 Greek time), the Israeli enemy launched airstrikes from the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting locations on the southern outskirts” of the capital, said the Syrian Defense Ministry statement, which did not there is talk of victims.

“Air defense intercepts enemy targets in the Damascus area,” the official Syrian news agency SANA reported earlier. A reference to an “Israeli attack on the outskirts of the capital Damascus” was also made by state television.

Israel rarely comments on strikes in Syria on a case-by-case basis, but has repeatedly stressed it will not allow Iran – which backs President Bashar al-Assad’s government – to build up its presence in the neighboring country.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the targets of the Israeli airstrikes were a Syrian air defense position in the Sweida area (south) and the outskirts of Damascus International Airport.

The attack near the airport came 24 hours after the resumption of flights, which were suspended following Israeli strikes in November – just hours after it reopened following similar attacks a month earlier, the Britain-based but widely networked NGO said. sources in Syria.

Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes against its neighbor since Syria’s civil war broke out 12 years ago, mostly targeting Iran-backed forces, Hezbollah fighters and Syrian army positions. However, it has escalated its attacks since the start of the war with Hamas on October 7, as tensions rise across the wider Middle East region.