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Syria military says Israel strikes hit Damascus weapons depot Russia condemns 'Israeli' air strikes on Syria
(about 13 hours later)
Loud explosions have been heard close to Syria's capital Damascus overnight, in what the Syrian military says were Israeli air strikes on a weapons depot. Russia has branded as "provocative" an alleged Israeli air strike on Syria late on Tuesday.
A Syrian military official told state media the depot was hit, and three soldiers were injured. Syria said most of the missiles were intercepted. Reports from Syria said an arms depot in Qatifah, about 40km (25 miles) north-east of Damascus, was hit, injuring three soldiers.
Israel has not confirmed the strikes. It said it activated its air defence systems to bring down a Syrian missile. Israel has not commented, but after the reported strikes it said it had fired at a Syrian anti-aircraft missile. It did not report any damage or injuries.
There were no casualties or damage to property in Israel, the military said. Israel has carried out dozens of strikes on Syria in recent years.
Late on Tuesday, Syria's state media published footage of an object moving over Damascus being intercepted. It says it is acting to thwart advanced weapons transfers from Iran to the Lebanese pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement and the strengthening of Iran's military presence in Syria.
A loud explosion is then heard, followed by burst of artillery shelling. Israel considers Iran and Hezbollah to pose a particularly dangerous threat.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have not commented on the reported air strikes. 'Launched from Lebanon'
The IDF later tweeted that its air defence systems were "activated in response to an anti-aircraft missile launched from Syria". The foreign ministry of Russia, a key Syrian ally, said it was "very concerned" by the alleged Israeli air strikes.
Israel has on numerous occasions targeted Iranian and Hezbollah sites in Syria that it regards as threats to its own security. "The provocative actions of the Israeli air force... directly threatened two airliners," it said.
Israel rarely admits carrying out such strikes. The statement said the unidentified airliners "not from Russia, were preparing to land at the airports of Beirut and Damascus".
But in May, Israel said it had struck almost all of Iran's military infrastructure inside Syria in its biggest assault since the start of the civil war there in 2011. The Syrian military said the attacks were carried out from within Lebanese air space. Syrian state news agency, Sana, said most of the missiles were intercepted.
The strikes came after rockets were fired at Israeli military positions in the occupied Golan Heights overnight. Video footage posted on social media shows an object moving over Damascus. Then the sound of a loud explosion is heard, followed by a burst of artillery shelling.
Newsweek magazine quoted an unnamed US defence department source as saying several Hezbollah leaders had just boarded a flight to Iran and were injured in the strikes.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later tweeted that its air defence systems had been "activated in response to an anti-aircraft missile launched from Syria".
Israel rarely admits carrying out attacks on targets in Syria.
But in May, Israel said it had struck almost all of Iran's military infrastructure there in its such biggest assault since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Those strikes came after rockets were fired at Israeli military positions in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.