© Instagram/Israeli Air Force/Eran Kaplan
A warehouse in the vicinity of Damascus International Airport was damaged in the apparent Israeli air raid, a military source told SANA, claiming that the jets fired "several missiles" from the direction of northern Israel. Syrian air defense systems were immediately activated to confront the "hostile missiles," and managed to intercept "most" of them, the source claimed.
The damage from the strikes was "limited," the news agency noted, without providing any details about possible casualties. No further details have yet been provided by the Syrian authorities.
In the past, Israeli forces repeatedly bombed sites in the vicinity of Damascus, claiming their right to attack 'Iranian targets' anywhere and at any time, but rarely admitting to having carried out such raids.
On Christmas Day, six Israeli F-16 fighter jets struck a logistics compound on the outskirts of Damascus, having come from Lebanese airspace and recklessly using two civilian flights as cover during the raid, according to the Russian Defense ministry. Syrian air defense systems thus had to limit their response to avoid civilian casualties, so two of the sixteen Israeli-launched laser-guided bombs reportedly reached their targets, wounding three people.
So long as Syria limits the responses to simply defending against the incoming missiles ONLY (instead of actually targeting the aircraft from which they are launched (and/or perhaps the airfields from which the aircraft are launched)), continued aggression by Israel will never be deterred.
Besides, defending only against the incoming missiles can only be a losing proposition, as Israel's weaponry will always be replenished as needed by a complicit US and, no matter how good the defenses may be, SOME missiles will always get through and kill Syrian people and/or destroy/damage Syrian assets.