Two people were killed near Damascus overnight Monday in the fourth alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria in less than a week, Syrian state media reported.
The attack occurred just after midnight, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
The report comes after five Syrian soldiers were wounded on Sunday in airstrikes in Homs province also attributed to Israel. The strikes targeted the T-4 Airbase west of Palmyra and al-Dabaa Airport near al-Qusayr, close to the Lebanese border, according to Reuters.
That, in turn, followed strikes attributed to Israel last Friday that reportedly killed five Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers. The day before, two Syrian soldiers were reportedly wounded in Israeli airstrikes.
According to the United Kingdom-based war monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israel has now struck targets in Syria at least 10 times since the beginning of the year.
Earlier Monday, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed that an unmanned aerial object brought down the previous day after it crossed into Israeli airspace from Syria was most probably of Iranian origin.
Debris from the drone was collected and is being examined, according to the Israel Defense Forces, which initially declined to describe the nature of the aircraft.
It was downed using “electronic warfare” after helicopters and fighter jets were scrambled to intercept it over open territory in northern Israel.
According to unattributed reports in Israeli media, there is speculation that the recent attacks on Iranian targets in Syria are connected to a roadside bomb planted by a suspected Hezbollah operative on Route 65 highway near the Megiddo Junction on March 13. The terrorist infiltrated the country from Lebanon using a ladder to climb over the border fence.
Equipped with a suicide vest and a rifle, the terrorist was subsequently killed by security personnel after being stopped at a checkpoint near the village of Ya’ara.
An Israeli Arab man who was seriously wounded in the attack is still recovering in the hospital.
