The Israel Air Force hit military targets in Syria for the second time in less than a week late Monday night, Arab media report.
According to the reports, the target of Monday night’s attack was the Jamrya military research center, some five kilometers northwest of the capital, Damascus.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said violent explosions had rocked Damascus and its vicinity.
The pro-regime Al Masdar News said Israeli jets had fired at least seven missiles from Lebanese air space, scoring a direct hit with at least four of the missiles on a target in Jamraya. Three missiles were intercepted by Syrian air defense systems, the report claimed. Al Masdar said the target was a military outpost.
Strikes on targets in the Jamraya area were attributed to Israel in January and May of 2013. Western intelligence reports at the time said the strikes had targeted advanced weapons transfers to Hezbollah, including a shipment of Russian-made SA-17 missiles.
On Friday, Arab media reported that Israel had hit an Iranian an Iranian base under construction in the Keswah area south of Damascus. In November, the BBC reported that it had been told by a western intelligence source that Iran is establishing a permanent military base on a Syrian Army compound. The BBC published what it said were satellite images that it had commissioned that showed construction activity at the site between January and October this year. Fresh satellite images showed extensive damage at the site following the reports of Friday night’s attack.