Missile Attacks in Northern Damascus; Two Syrian Military Sources: Israel Attacked Hezbollah Positions

The Syrian Ministry of Defense announced that Israel attacked several military targets outside Damascus, the capital of Syria, on Tuesday, March 19. According to Reuters, the ministry stated that air defenses "intercepted Israeli missiles and shot down several of them," and these missiles only caused material damage. Two Syrian military sources said that Israel targeted a Hezbollah munitions depot near the city of Yabroud. Yabroud is in the Rif Dimashq province and is located about 80 kilometers north of Damascus. This is the second attack in the past 48 hours on a mountain range that extends into Lebanon, where the Hezbollah militia has several main supply routes into Syria. According to a Western intelligence source, another attack occurred near Qatana, about 40 kilometers east of Damascus, in an area where Hezbollah forces have a significant presence. A source who requested anonymity told Reuters: "Recent attacks clearly target Hezbollah's infrastructure in Syria, especially its complex fortifications along the Lebanon-Syria border." Western and regional intelligence sources say that Israeli attacks in Syria have resulted in the deaths of many Hezbollah forces and Iranian-backed militants in the eastern outskirts of Damascus and southern and southeastern Syria. These attacks have also focused around the Albu Kamal border crossing in Deir ez-Zor province, which is a main supply route for Iraqi Shiite militants entering or exiting Syria. Syrian and Western intelligence sources say that Israel has intensified its missile attacks on the Zainabiyah neighborhood in Damascus, where senior militia commanders are present. In recent weeks, at least six members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, mostly in the Zainabiyah area, along with several Hezbollah forces, have been killed in these attacks. Hezbollah claims that at least 20 of its militants have been killed in Syria following Hamas's attacks on Israel on October 7. Israeli airstrike in Rafah; Washington calls for a review of ground operations. Israel claims that in its "anti-terrorism" operations, 20 armed Palestinian men were killed at the "Shifa" hospital.