Videos: Syrian Anti-Air Defenses Engage Israeli Fighters Over Damascus

Video posted on social media showed several incoming projectiles being intercepted by anti-air missiles of an unknown type as fighter jets roar overhead.

​The fighters were spotted a few minutes before contact over Damascus while flying low over the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon.

A correspondent from Israel’s Channel 10 posted a video on Twitter of a fire purportedly started by one of the missiles. According to Al-Arabiya, the strikes were aimed at Mazzeh air base north of Damascus and targets in the district of An-Nabek, also known as Qalamoun.

​”As always, the Syrians claim to have intercepted the Israeli Air Force missiles. As always in a miraculous way the missiles reach the targets,” he quipped. The Syrian defense ministry has made no comment as of yet about how many of the projectiles it believes it intercepted.

Another Israeli journalist from Kan 11 public broadcasting station noted that several airline flights in the region suddenly diverted course at the time of the Israeli strikes.

​The strikes have come on the night of Ashura, a day in the Muslim calendar holy to both Shiites and Sunnis, during which the death of Hussein ibn Ali on the battlefield of Karbala in 680 CE is mourned and commemorated.

The Israeli Defense Forces have made no official comment confirming the strikes as of yet, and typically don’t when their attacks on Syria fail. Jerusalem claims its airstrikes against Syria, with which it has no peace treaty or even diplomatic relations, are aimed at alleged Iranian targets it claims are intended to attack Israel.