UPDATE - Powerful Blasts Heard In Damascus, Israeli Military Reports Attacks On 20 Targets In Syria

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published November 20, 2019 | 08:00 AM

DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) Powerful explosions occurred in Syria's capital, Damascus, in the early hours of Wednesday, a Sputnik correspondent reported, while the Israeli military said that it attacked about 20 targets in Syria on Wednesday.

The first explosions were heard around 01:30 local time on Wednesday (23:30 GMT on Tuesday). They occurred in five-second intervals. A total of at least 20 blasts occurred, according to the Sputnik correspondent, their frequency increased as time passed.

Syria's state-run Al-Ikhbariya tv (Syrian news Channel) reported that the country's air defense systems were countering an attack on Damascus and the surrounding area in the early hours of Wednesday. Several missiles were shot down south of Damascus, the TV channel said.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday that they had attacked about 20 targets in Syria.

"The attack was carried out in response to the launching of rockets by an Iranian force from Syria's territory into Israel, intending to strike Israeli territory," the IDF said in a statement, quoted by the Haaretz newspaper on Wednesday.

According to Haaretz, over half of the targets were Iranian headquarters and camps in Syria; the rest were Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries. The National Defense Building at the Damascus Airport was also hit, the Israeli newspaper said, specifying that the building houses the headquarters of the Iranian Quds Force.

On Tuesday, IDF said that Israeli air defense systems had intercepted four unspecified launches from Syria.

Israel and Syria share borders along the disputed Golan Heights. The territory has been mostly under Israel's control since the country seized the area during the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel adopted a law in 1981 that annexed the territory, though it was rejected by the United Nations. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump recognized the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.