Syrian army opens fire on Israeli missiles

DAMASCUS－Syrian air defenses responded to missiles launched from Israeli warplanes on the central province of Homs on Tuesday night, shooting down some of them, state media reported.

The Israeli warplanes fired missiles from inside Lebanese airspace, said the report, adding that a number of missiles were intercepted.

The missiles had targeted military positions, said the report, adding that the Syrian air defenses used extensive firepower to intercept them.

Meanwhile, war observers said the Israeli missiles targeted the Shayrat air base in a rural part of Homs, with eight of them fired.

Residents of the Lebanese capital Beirut heard the sound of warplanes in the air shortly before the airstrikes were reported.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

The strike is the latest in a series of Israeli missile attacks.

On March 5, Syrian air defenses intercepted Israeli missiles fired into Homs and the southern Quneitra Province.

Throughout the Syrian crisis, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against alleged Iranian targets in Syria, as well as on convoys transporting weapons to the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

On Feb 23, the Syrian air defenses intercepted a number of Israeli missiles over the capital Damascus.

On Feb 13, the air defenses intercepted a number of missiles from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that targeted areas around Damascus.

On Feb 6, Israel carried out a similar attack around Damascus, killing a number of pro-government fighters, according to observers.

In January, Damascus accused the Israeli air force of carrying out an attack on the T4 military airport in central Syria.

The strikes further highlighted the sprawling tensions between Israel and Iran in Syria. Clashes between the two countries have escalated over the past months. Israel accuses Iran of entrenching itself near the Israeli border.

In 2019 alone, more than 17 Israeli attacks took place against targets in Syria.

Call for cease-fires

Also on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan underlined the need for cease-fires in Syria and Libya during the coronavirus pandemic, the White House said in a statement.

The two leaders spoke by phone on efforts to "defeat the virus and bolster the global economy", the statement read.

Syria's government has so far reported only a handful of coronavirus cases, but health experts warn that the country, torn apart by years of civil war, is especially vulnerable to the rapidly spreading, sometimes fatal virus.

Xinhua - Agencies