Syrian missile lands deep inside Israel, triggering retaliatory airstrike
JERUSALEM — A Syrian anti-aircraft missile landed in southern Israel early Thursday, setting off air-raid sirens near the country’s top-secret nuclear reactor, the Israeli military said. In response, Israel said it attacked the missile launcher and air-defense systems in neighboring Syria.
Israeli media later described the Syrian missile as an “errant” projectile, not a deliberate attack deep inside Israel. In recent years, Israel has repeatedly launched airstrikes on Syria, including military targets linked to Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, both allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Such strikes routinely draw Syrian anti-aircraft fire.
Thursday’s exchange was unusual because the Syrian projectile landed deep inside Israel.
Syrian state news agency SANA said the exchange began with an Israeli airstrike on Dumeir, a suburb of the capital of Damascus. Dumeir is believed to house Syrian army installations and batteries as well as bases and weapons depots belonging to Iran-backed militias. SANA said four soldiers were wounded.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war-monitoring group that tracks Syria’s civil war, said the Israeli strikes hit an air-defense base belonging to the Syrian military and destroyed air-defense batteries in the area. It said the Syrian military fired surface-to-air missiles in response.
Syrian media made no mention of an anti-aircraft missile landing deep inside Israel.
‘Shadow’ conflict takes to the spotlight as Iran accuses Israel of attacking key nuclear site
The Israeli military described the projectile that landed near the nuclear site as a surface-to-air missile, which is usually used for air defense against warplanes or other missiles. That could suggest that the Syrian missile had targeted Israeli warplanes but missed and flew off errantly.
However, Dimona, the Negev desert town where Israel’s nuclear reactor is located, is some 185 miles south of Damascus, a long range for an errant surface-to-air missile.
The Israeli army said it had deployed a missile-defense system to intercept the projectile and that there had been no damage. The Israeli military later said in a statement that an initial investigation indicated that the Syrian missile was not intercepted.
Air-raid sirens sounded in Abu Krinat, a village just a few miles from Dimona. Explosions heard across Israel might have been the air-defense systems.
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Israel TV’s Channel 13 reported that apparent missile fragments were found in a swimming pool in Ashalim, a community about 20 miles southwest of Dimona.
The military said that in response to the incoming missile, it launched an airstrike at the battery that launched the anti-aircraft missile and other surface-to-air batteries in Syria.
The exchange between Israel and Syria comes against the backdrop of growing tensions between Israel and Iran, a key ally of Syria. Iran, which maintains troops and proxies in Syria, has accused Israel of a series of attacks on its nuclear facilities, including sabotage at its Natanz nuclear facility April 11, and vowed revenge.
The hostilities also threatened to complicate U.S.-led attempts to revive the international nuclear deal with Iran.
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