AMMAN: Israel launched missiles at several military targets outside the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday, Syria’s defence ministry said, in what regional intelligence and Syrian sources said were stepped up strikes on fortifications of Hezbollah.

Syrian air defences intercepted Israeli “missiles and shot down some of them”, the ministry said in a statement, adding they caused only material damage.

Two Syrian military sources familiar with the strikes said Israel targeted a Hezbollah ammunitions depot near the city of Yabroud in the Qalamoun Mountains, northeast of the Syrian capital.

It was the second strike within 48 hours on the same mountain range that spills over into Lebanon where the heavily armed Hezbollah has several major supply routes into Syria.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2024