Four Syrian Soldiers Killed in Israeli Attack on Damascus

Syrian state media reported, citing a military source, that four Syrian soldiers were killed in a missile attack by Israel near Damascus early on Monday. The state news agency SANA reported that areas around Damascus were targeted in these attacks, causing damage, without providing further details. The military source told SANA that Syrian air defenses intercepted and shot down some of the Israeli missiles. The Israeli army has not commented on this matter. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors developments in the country, announced that two non-Syrian militia members allied with Bashar al-Assad were also killed in this attack. Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, stated he could not confirm the nationality of these two individuals. He added that warehouses near Damascus airport were the targets of this attack. Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, soldiers under Bashar al-Assad have received military support from Iran and Russia, as well as militias from Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Iranian-allied militias, led by Hezbollah, control vast areas in eastern, southern, and northern Syria, as well as several regions around Damascus. Israel has been attacking the forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and militias controlled by the Islamic Republic in Syria for years, and recently intensified its attacks on Damascus airport to disrupt the transfer of weapons via air routes. According to Reuters, in February of this year, an Israeli attack targeted a facility where Iranian officials were meeting to advance the Islamic Republic's drone and missile capabilities in Syria. An Israeli institute reported that Iran aims to take control of Syria's chemical weapons industry. Experts have expressed concern over the activities of 19 proxy groups of the Islamic Republic around Israel. A joint military exercise between the U.S. and Israel has begun; the Jerusalem Post reported it as a threat to Iran. A senior Pentagon official stated that the United States is concerned about the expanding relations between the governments of Iran, Russia, and Syria. The Washington Post reported that Iran intends to increase attacks against U.S. forces in Syria.