Syria says Israel conducted airstrike for second time in days

Country’s air defences intercepted missiles aimed at central province

DAMASCUS — Syria accused Israel of carrying out an airstrike in a central province early on Thursday, the second such attack this week. The aerial attack caused material damage, it said.

The country’s state news agency quoted an unidentified Syrian military official as saying the air defence systems shot down most of the missiles in the attack in the region of Quseir in Homs province. The report did not say what was targeted.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on the Syrian report.

Neighbouring Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun, urged his foreign minister to protest with the United Nations the use of Lebanese airspace to carry out attacks on Syria. Lebanese media, meanwhile, reported that a rocket fell inside Lebanon — in Lahfed, a village in the north — on Thursday, causing a large crater in the ground.

A video captured by residents, distributed on social media and broadcast on Lebanese TV, shows a crowd gathering around the crater in the night, inspecting the rocket. One resident said: “If this fell 500 metres away, it would have damaged many homes.”

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked military targets in war-ravaged Syria over the years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. Late Monday, Syria reported an Israeli airstrike near northern Aleppo province, but did not elaborate.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor that has activists on the ground in Syria, said Monday’s strikes targeted weapons depots belonging to Iranian-backed militiamen operating in Aleppo’s Safira region. The group also confirmed Thursday’s strikes, saying they destroyed ammunition and weapons depots belonging to the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group in Homs.