Israel shot down an unidentified flying object from Syria on Sunday, after firing missiles at Syrian and Iranian military targets earlier in the day. Tensions are high following several suspected Israeli attacks on Syria in recent days.
Defense Forces spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Twitter at 3:04 pm ET that an “unknown piece of air” entered Israeli airspace from Syria. The object was described and “wasn’t a danger,” he said.
The incident occurred after a suspected Israeli missile attack on Syria early Sunday morning. The official Syrian news outlet SANA reported that Israel fired missiles at targets in the central city of Homs and the surrounding areas, injuring five Syrian army personnel. Syrian air defenses shot down some of the missiles, according to SANA.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the suspected Israeli attack on Sunday hit a weapons warehouse used by the Iranian-backed Lebanese military organization Hezbollah. Two “Iranian militiamen” were killed, and five Syrian air defense soldiers were wounded, according to the observatory.
Why it’s important: Israel rarely declares its military operations on foreign territory, but it is suspected that it has carried out three attacks on Syria in the past four days. In addition to Sunday’s strikes, Israel allegedly struck Syrian and Iranian forces on Thursday and Friday.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) initially said one of its officers, Milad Heidari, was killed in Friday’s attack. On Sunday, the IRGC said another officer, Captain Meqdad Mahqani Jafarabadi, was killed in the attack. Jafarabadi was serving as a military adviser in Syria, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency.
The flying object that enters Israeli-Iranian airspace continues to threaten the death of IRGC officers. Following the news of Jafarabadi’s death, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that “the blood of these noble martyrs will not be wasted”.
More information: At the end of last month, US and Iranian military forces in Syria clashed positions. The tit-for-tat exchanges began after the US military said a drone “of Iranian origin” had attacked one of its bases in the country. The US military said it had killed eight Iranian fighters in its strikes.
The military escalation in Syria comes as Arab leaders seek rapprochement with President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters reported on Sunday that the Syrian ruler will be invited to the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia next month, 11 years after Damascus was expelled from the regional organization.