Syria downs Israel's airstrikes targeting Damascus military sites
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Damascus: Syrian air defences on Friday shot down most of the Israeli missile strikes that targeted military sites in Damascus.
Local media said the forces shot down most of the missiles in the sky over Damascus and its vicinity, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Israeli forces carried out their attack from the Golan Heights, targeting military sites in the countryside of Damascus, the Syrian army said in a statement, adding that no casualty was reported.
Xinhua reporters heard several explosions in Damascus amid the attack and the air defence responses.
The attack is the second in 24 hours.
After midnight Thursday, Israel launched a missile strike, injuring two soldiers and leaving damage.
Israel has carried out hundreds of air attacks against targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including two missile strikes this month on Aleppo International Airport.
This was the third attack by Israeli forces on the air transport facility in six months.
Israel claims the strikes are aimed at bases of Iran-allied armed groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Israel says such operations are aimed at preventing Iranian weapons from reaching armed groups in Syria that are backed by Iran.
Nearly half a million people have been killed in Syria's civil war, and around half of the country's pre-war population has been forced from their homes.
