Israel bombed Syrian army positions south of the city of Aleppo on Thursday, according to residents, local media and rights groups, marking the latest strikes by Israel against a country whose longtime president was overthrown last month.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said the strikes targeted defense and research facilities.
Residents reported hearing big explosions in their vicinity. Syrian state television reported the strikes early Friday, local time.
It was not immediately clear whether the strikes caused any deaths.
Islamist-led rebels overthrew longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month.
Since then, Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes on Syrian military assets. Israel said the strikes were aimed at keeping military weapons away from extremists.
Israel’s continued bombardment of Syria comes as the Israeli military said Thursday that its special forces had raided an underground missile production site in Syria in September. Israel said the site was set to manufacture hundreds of precision missiles that Iran-backed Hezbollah would use against Israel.
The complex, near the Mediterranean coast, was “the flagship of Iranian manufacturing efforts in our region,” Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
“This facility was designed to manufacture hundreds of strategic missiles per year from start to finish, for Hezbollah to use in their aerial attacks on Israel,” he added.
Shoshani said Israel had been observing the plant since construction began in 2017. Israeli forces raided the complex because it was close to being able to produce precision missiles, some with a range of up to 300 kilometers, or 190 miles.
“This ability was becoming active, so we’re talking about an immediate threat,” he said.
The operation was complex, Shoshani said, and involved dozens of aircraft and about 100 helicopter-borne troops. The troops dismantled the facility after the raid, he added.
“This is one of the most important counteractions we have taken against the Iranian axis’s attempts to arm itself in order to harm us, and it demonstrates our determination and audacity to act anywhere to protect ourselves,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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