The Latest: Syria says it repelled Israeli air raid
Posted January 20, 2019 3:40 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
DAMASCUS, Syria — The Latest on the Syrian conflict (all times local):
1:40 p.m.
Syrian state media is reporting that air defences have repelled an Israeli airstrike south of the capital, Damascus.
State TV says the air defences “prevented” the attack from achieving its goals.
Damascus residents say they heard five explosions on Sunday, apparently the sound of air defences firing into the air.
Israeli warplanes have used Lebanon’s airspace recently to strike deep inside Syria, including on a warehouse near Damascus International Airport, according to Syrian state media. Israel rarely comments on such reports.
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel has struck hundreds of Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria, including a weapons facility two weeks ago.
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8:45 a.m.
Syrian state TV is reporting an explosion in a southern neighbourhood of the capital, Damascus.
It says the Sunday morning blast, which happened during rush hour on the first working day of the week, appears to have been “a terrorist act.”
There was no immediate word on casualties in the southern neighbourhood of Qazaz, near a main highway leading into central Damascus.
State media say all roads leading to the scene of the blast have been closed.
Explosions have been rare in Damascus since Syrian government forces captured the last rebel-held neighbourhoods and suburbs of the capital last year.
Such blasts had left hundreds dead over the course of the nearly eight-year civil war.
The Associated Press
