Israel launches airstrike at Syria military post

Israel has fired several surface-to-surface missiles at a military post near the Syrian capital of Damascus, Syria’s state-run news agency reported.

The airstrike came as violence resumed in the Damascus suburbs after days of calm while the government and opposition delegations attended peace talks in Geneva.

The Israeli military did not comment on the missile attack targeting a military area near the southern Damascus suburb of Kiswah.

SANA, the state news agency, said the attack caused damage but no casualties. The report also said that Syrian air defences shot down two of the missiles.

Israel has carried out a number of airstrikes against suspected arms shipments believed to be bound for Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces in the civil war.

Israel has also struck several Syrian military facilities since the conflict began, mostly near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. In September, Israeli warplanes hit a military position near the Mediterranean coast in western Syria, killing two soldiers and causing material damage.

Rami Abdurrahman who heads the opposition’s Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missile attack targeted an arms depot near Kiswah where the Syrian army’s 1st Division is based.

Meanwhile government forces resumed their airstrikes and bombing of rebel-held areas in the Damascus suburbs on Saturday, killing and wounding several people, according to the Observatory and a Syrian Civil Defence search-and-rescue group, also known as the White Helmets.

The government and opposition resumed peace talks in Geneva this week. The UN-hosted negotiations paused for the weekend but are scheduled to resume on Tuesday.