Date: Jan 21, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Israeli military strikes Iranian targets in Syria kills 11 Agence France Presse BEIRUT: Israeli strikes that hit several targets in Syria overnight Monday killed at least 11 pro-regime fighters including two Syrians, a war monitor said. Israel's military said it had targeted a number of Iranian installations in the country early Monday, hours after intercepting a rocket fired from Syrian territory. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said they were the deadliest Israeli strikes in Syria since May last year. "Israeli strikes targeting Iranian and Syrian military positions near and south of Damascus killed at least 11 fighters including two Syrians," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. The targets included weapons depots belonging to Hezbollah and Iranian fighters, he said. Air strikes and ground-to-ground missiles hit several targets around the capital including near the Damascus airport, as well as near the Thaala military airport to the south of the capital, the Observatory said. Israel has pledged to stop its main enemy Iran entrenching itself militarily in neighboring Syria. In May, Israeli strikes killed 27 pro-regime fighters including 11 Iranians in strikes on dozens of Iranian targets inside Syria. Israel said at the time it was responding to a salvo of rockets fired by Iranian forces into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. More than 360,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the start of Syria's civil war with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011. Israeli military strikes Iranian targets in Syria Reuters BEIRUT/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israeli fighter jets struck Iranian Quds targets inside Syria Monday and, after coming under fire from anti-aircraft missiles, struck Syrian defense batteries as well, the Israeli military said. Syrian state media cited a Syrian military source as saying Israel launched an "intense attack through consecutive waves of guided missiles," but that Syrian air defenses destroyed most of the "hostile targets." Witnesses in Damascus said loud explosions rang out in the night sky for nearly an hour. Israel's military said its aerial bombardment targeted "Iranian Quds military sites in Syria," including munition storage sites and a site located in the Damascus International Airport, along with an Iranian intelligence site and an Iranian military training camp. "During the strike, dozens of Syrian surface-to-air missiles were launched, despite clear warnings to avoid such fire. In response, several of the Syrian Armed Forces' aerial defence batteries were targeted," the military said in a statement. The Quds Force is in charge of Iran's Revolutionary Guards’ overseas operations. Syrian air defenses, supplied by Russia, had destroyed more than 30 cruise missiles and guided bombs, the Russian Defence Ministry said, according to RIA news agency. Syrian state media, citing a military source, said the country had endured "intense attack through consecutive waves of guided missiles, but had destroyed most "hostile targets." Syria said it was Israel that had attacked, and its own air defenses that had repelled the assault. Israel did not say who it suspected of carrying out the rocket attack. Monday's overnight strikes followed cross-border attacks Sunday in which Syria said it repelled an Israeli air attack. Israel said it intercepted a rocket fired at the Golan Heights. "We have a permanent policy, to strike at the Iranian entrenchment in Syria and hurt whoever tries to hurt us," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier. The Israeli army said a popular ski site on Mount Hermon in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights would be shut for the day. It added that otherwise things remained "routine" along the frontier with Syria. Netanyahu last week acknowledged an Israeli attack on what he called an Iranian arms cache in Syria, where Tehran provides Damascus with vital support. He told his cabinet Israel had carried out "hundreds" of attacks over the past years of Syria's war to curtail Iran and its ally, Lebanon's Hezbollah. Usually silent about its attacks on Iranian targets near its frontier, Israel has lifted the veil this month, a sign of confidence in a campaign waged amid occasional tensions with Syria's big-power backer, Russia.